Georgia Bulldogs end Florida’s 24-game SEC win streak
The Georgia Bulldogs did something that no SEC team had been able to do since 2013, and that was to beat the Florida Gators.
The Gators were beginning to surge, and the Bulldogs stumbled out of the gate in conference play, but none of that mattered on Saturday as the Dawgs brought a halt to Florida’s 24-game SEC winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum.
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“I didn’t even realize that until now,” Georgia forward Marcus Thornton said of the Gators win streak after the game, via ESPN.com “We knew that we had to get a win and that was our goal.”
Georgia (11-5, 2-2 SEC) used a fast start, and strong games from both Thronton and Kenny Gaines to take down Florida (10-7, 3-1 SEC), in a game in which the Dawgs never trailed.
This looked more like the Bulldogs who had notched some impressive wins in the weeks leading up to conference play, and was the second straight conference win after Georgia started 0-2 in SEC play.
“It was a great bounce-back week,” said Thornton, who finished the game with 16 points and six rebounds on the game, and was dominating the Gators in the paint all afternoon.
J.J. Frazier (11 pts, 6 assist, 3 reb) drained two 3-pointers and Gaines added another as Georgia jumped to a 12-0 lead to begin the game. Florida did not score a basket until almost five minutes into the game. It was that fast start that allowed the Bulldogs to fight against the Gators full court press and keep a lead going into the half.
Beating the Gators is always a big deal for the Bulldogs, but to end the Florida winning streak and to bring their own conference record back to .500 in the process made it an absolute “how sweet it is” win for the Dawgs.
Georgia will have a few days off before welcoming Ole Miss to Stegeman Coliseum on Jan. 20, for a 7:00 pm tip-off.
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