Gators look scary good in routing Georgia by 30, 89-59

Walter Clayton Jr. sizes up his opponent (Gator Bait Photo by UAA)

What Florida did to Georgia Saturday afternoon at the O-Dome is the result of what head coach Todd Golden calls “mentality and approach.” To Golden, Florida’s 89-59 win over Georgia was the perfect example of what the Gators are capable of doing when they get their offense and defense going at a very high level at the same time.

For all practical purposes, this game could have been mercifully called long before halftime. Shrugging off four quick whistle touch fouls, the 5th-ranked Gators (18-2, 5-2 SEC) launched into an all-out assault that kicked the Bulldogs into the tall grass on the side of the road. The Gators had their first 10-point lead (21-11) with 12:54 left in the half when Alex Condon completed a 3-point play with a free throw.  It was 17 (30-13) on a Will Richard 3-pointer with 9:26 to go. A pair of Walter Clayton Jr. free throws gave the Gators their first 20-point lead (40-20) with 4:41 remaining. A steal by Clayton that led to a dunk finish by Alijah Martin with 1:14 left gave the Gators a 51-24 lead.

In between that flurry of activity, the Gators hit 18 of 27 shots from the field, 7-14 from the 3-point line and 8-9 from the foul line. Eleven Florida steals led to 24 points off Georgia turnovers. Clayton (5 steals) and Martin (3) were so active that Georgia struggled to get the ball past halfcourt. The Gators had 20 deflections in the first half, which Golden said were “a number that we have not gotten close to for a long time.”

While his active hands helped make Georgia positively miserable, Martin was in a first half shooter’s coma. He hit 7-8 from the field, his only miss a 3-pointer (he had two). Richard, the hero of Florida’s come-from-behind win over South Carolina back on Wednesday, picked up where he left off with 13 first half points on 4-6 shooting that included 3-5 from the 3-point line. Clayton scored only seven in the first half. He was content to lead Florida’s defensive effort and down at the offensive end, he was good for four assists.

“When we shoot the ball well to start the game like that and our defensive activity is the way it is, we’re not going to be beat in here [the O-Dome] is the bottom line,” Golden said. “But you’re not always gonna start the game going 10 for 12 from the field or whatever it was and make every shot, but we had great momentum and again, I thought the crowd gave us a big lift today.”

Georgia didn’t pack it in at halftime, but chose to fight back in the second half. Unlike last year when Georgia erased a 21-point deficit to send their game with Florida at the O-Dome into overtime, the best the Bulldogs could do was chip the lead down to 19 (55-36) with 15:49 to go in the game. At that point, Clayton took the game over. During a two-minute stretch he put the ball on the deck, drove to the rack and finished three straight times and there was absolutely nothing Georgia could do about it. It was 63-37 at that point, order restored on the court and there was still 12:15 left in the game.

Clayton finished the game with 17 points, three rebounds, five assists (just one turnover) and five steals. In so many respects, Clayton made it look easy. Nothing was forced. Anything he wanted to do, he did.

“He does a great job of playing with good pace and patience,” Golden said. “I don’t want to say it comes easy to him, but a little bit. He sees things other guys don’t and is able to get to his spots. I think he played with great poise. I thought his floor game was fantastic: five assists, one turnover, passed up a couple shots that he turned into assists for other guys or some two-point field goals. But he’s being discussed as an All-American for a reason. He deserves that conversation, one of the best guards in America and continues to deliver for us in big moments.”

Martin finished the game with 17 points, two rebounds, three assists and four steals. Richard finished with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. Off the bench Denzel Aberdeen had seven points, one rebound and two assists.

Those totals are similar to the ones Florida’s backcourt foursome put up in the South Carolina win. Unlike the South Carolina game, however, the Gators got plenty of help from their frontcourt mates. Condon had 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a blocked shot and a steal. Tommy Haugh had a double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds to go with a blocked shot and a steal. Chinyelu only scored one point but he had six rebounds, an assist and two steals. Sam Alexis scored two, grabbed two rebounds and blocked a shot.

Florida’s big guys combined to put the clamps on Georgia stud freshman Asa Newell, who is being discussed as an NBA lottery pick. Newell went 4-14 from the field including 0-5 from the 3-point line. He had six rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot. All told, Georgia shot 21-59 from the field overall (35.6 percent) and 5-21 from the 3-point line after getting off to a 5-6 start.

The Gators countered Georgia’s rotten shooting game with a 34-64 day from the field overall (53.1 percent) and 34.6 percent (9-26 from the 3-point line. The Gators had 19 assists, their best game since they got 19 against Stetson back in December. The Gators outrebounded the Gamecocks, 39-32. They were outrebounded by South Carolina back on Wednesday night.

If the Gators can sustain playing at this level, they will be one of the most difficult teams to handle once March and the NCAA Tournament arrive. Currently, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Gators as a No. 2 team in his latest bracketology.

What could make the Gators downright scary is if Micah Handlogten elects to play. Handlogten, who suffered an horrendous broken leg in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament last March, was determined to take a redshirt for the 2025 season, but since being cleared to work out with the team and do some individual work, Handlogten has been torn with the decision to get into the portal or continue to bigger and stronger during the redshirt year.

Handlogten was cleared to play against Georgia but he changed his mind prior to the game. At this point it is unclear whether Handlogten will elect to play starting in February or keep his redshirt going.

“As of this moment, I would say he’s probably out,” Golden said. “But he could wake up tomorrow and call me and say, ‘Hey man, that looked fun. Maybe let’s get out there next Saturday.’ But we’re gonna let him create his own timeline for returning. Whether that’s next week or next year is really gonna be up to him.” 

Handlogten has been practicing full contact with the team in recent weeks. Friday afternoon he practiced but between Friday practice and Saturday afternoon he was unsure what to do.

“I think he had kind of gotten himself to the point where he was ready,” Golden said. “He actually had a great practice yesterday, and you know as he continued to think about it he just had some second thoughts and the bottom line is with a situation like that you have to be all the way in if you’re gonna come back, and he understood. He knows, we weren’t pressuring him into this decision this was something we told him, this was up to him, when he wants to come back. I think he was really excited about the possibility of playing and then once it became real, I think he just had some more thoughts about it, and it is what it is, we would love to have him out there but at the same time we understand the injury was really severe and it’s gonna be his decision on when he comes back.”

SEC BASKETBALL

Saturday’s scores

No. 5 FLORIDA (18-2, 5-2 SEC) 89, Georgia (14-6, 2-5 SEC) 59

No. 1 Auburn (18-1, 6-0 SEC) 53, No. 6. Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) 51

No. 4 Alabama (17-3, 6-1 SEC) 80, LSU (12-7, 1-5 SEC) 73

Vanderbilt (16-4, 4-3 SEC) 74, No. 9 Kentucky (14-5, 3-3 SEC) 69

Texas (14-6, 3-4 SEC) 70, No. 13 Texas A&M (15-5, 4-3 SEC) 69

No. 14 Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3 SEC) 65, South Carolina (10-10, 0-7 SEC) 60, OT

No. 22 Missouri (16-4, 5-2 SEC) 83, No. 16 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3 SEC)

Oklahoma (15-4, 2-4 SEC) 65, Arkansas (12-8, 1-6 SEC) 62

Tuesday’s games

No. 9 Kentucky (14-5, 3-3 SEC) at No. 6 Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC)

Oklahoma (15-4, 2-4 SEC) at No. 13 Texas A&M (15-5, 4-3 SEC)

South Carolina (10-10, 0-7 SEC) at Georgia (14-6, 2-5 SEC)

Wednesday’s games

No. 1 Auburn (18-1, 6-0 SEC) at LSU (12-7, 1-5 SEC)

No. 4 Alabama (17-3, 6-1 SEC) at No. 14 Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3 SEC)

Texas (14-6, 3-4 SEC) at No. 16 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3 SEC)

Saturday, February 1 games

No. 5 FLORIDA (18-2, 5-2 SEC) at No. 6 Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC)

No. 1 Auburn (18-1, 6-0 SEC) at No. 16 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3 SEC)

Georgia (14-6, 2-5 SEC) at No. 4 Alabama (17-3, 6-1 SEC)

Arkansas (12-8, 1-6 SEC) at No. 9 Kentucky (14-5, 3-3 SEC)

No. 13 Texas A&M (15-5, 4-3 SEC) at South Carolina (10-10, 0-7 SEC)

No. 22 Missouri (16-5, 5-2 SEC) at No. 14 Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3 SEC)

Vanderbilt (16-4, 4-3 SEC) at Oklahoma (15-4, 2-4 SEC)

Texas (14-6, 3-4 SEC) at LSU (12-7, 1-5 SEC)