Georgia basketball lost to Florida on Senior night Wednesday 68-54. The Bulldogs fall to 15-15 on the year and 5-12 in SEC play.
Georgia basketball blew another lead to the Florida Gators. The lead wasn’t as large, but the loss was still painful. The Bulldogs led 19-6 five minutes into the game after sinking their first seven shots. Georgia wouldn’t score for nearly seven minutes afterwards. Florida outscored Georgia 62-35 in the last 35 minutes of the game. Here are a few more stats that explain why Georgia fell apart at home.
16 turnovers, four in a row
Just like the first meeting with Florida, turnovers killed Georgia basketball. The Bulldogs gave the ball away 16 times, but the amount of turnovers wasn’t the issue. The issue was when the turnovers occurred.
The lead had already been blown, the Gators led 47-46 with 7:30 left in the game. For the next two and a half minutes, Georgia turned the ball over on every possession; four possessions and four giveaways. By the time Georgia finally ended a possession with a basket (a three-pointer by Sahvir Wheeler with 4:11 left in regulation), Florida had already opened up a 55-46 lead.
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Wheeler’s three-pointer and Toumani Camara’s technical foul shot before it did little to halt Florida’s momentum. Just like in the first game, consecutive bad possessions deflated the young Georgia basketball team and it wasn’t able to mount a comeback.
Only three shots by Hammonds in second half
The Rayshaun Hammonds that started the game was not the same player who ended the game. Hammonds opened the game red-hot with eight points in the first four minutes. His next points came with just under two minutes left to play in the first half and he entered the break with 10 points on eight shots.
He vanished on offense in the second half, only taking three shots and making just one of them. Florida adjusted to Hammonds after gifting him open shots in the first four minutes. Georgia had to look elsewhere for points, but without a true, experienced big-man on the roster, Georgia had nowhere to go against Florida’s stout zone.
Allowing 11 offensive rebounds
Georgia just gave Florida too many second chances. In its defense, a lot of those rebounds came off some terrible shots by the Gators that led to rebounds away from the basket. Nothing for a Bulldog boxing out down low to do. Regardless of how Florida got their second chances, it made the most of them. Florida made baskets after three of its 11 offensive rebounds and drew fouls on three others, making one shot on each trip to the line.
Between the turnovers and offensive rebounds, it’s no wonder why Florida outscored Georgia by 27 points in the last 35 minutes. Too often, a Florida miss didn’t even lead to a shot for the Bulldogs.