Georgia guard Gerald Robinson spun 360 degrees in the lane, blowing by Erving Walker with his sights set on the rim. But Robinson didn’t see a trailing Patric Young, who swatted the layup attempt into the sixth row.
Minutes later, Young closed out on a 3-point look from UGA’s Dustin Ware, projecting his nearly 7-foot frame into Ware’s face and forcing the shot to bounce off iron.
“(Robinson) was trying to make the highlight reel for ESPN SportsCenter right there,” Young said. “But maybe I made the top 10 on making a block on him trying to get a little fancy.”
The two standout plays from Young highlighted a renewed emphasis on defense headed up by coach Billy Donovan after a lackluster effort in a road loss to Tennessee on Saturday.
The Gators allowed the Volunteers to shoot 51 percent from the floor and 50 percent from beyond the arc in a disappointing 67-56 loss in Knoxville, Tenn., and Donovan challenged the Gators in practice during the weekend.
Florida (13-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) responded Tuesday night with a 70-48 victory against rival Georgia (9-7, 0-2 SEC) in the O’Connell Center.
“I was much more pleased with our effort on that end of the floor, our level of awareness, being alert, sharp, focused,” Donovan said. “I thought we defended them very, very well. Obviously, we held them to 48 points. Any time you hold a team to 48 points, you’ve done a pretty good job defensively.”
Donovan made a concerted effort to emphasize defensive intensity in practice leading up to the game, and what better opportunity for a turnaround then to have Georgia, with the lowest scoring average (62.9 ppg) and the second-worst field goal percentage (.409) in the SEC, come into Gainesville for a home game.
The Gators took full advantage, limiting the Bulldogs to a 20-for-55 shooting performance (36.4 percent) and setting a season low in points allowed (48).
“We could have done even better than we did,” Young said. “We gave up too many 3-point shots. We had a lot of breakdowns. They offensive rebounded on us a lot. I feel that even though we had a season low, we could have done even better than we did tonight.”
Young finished with eight points, 10 boards and one of six UF blocks on the evening. The Gators also created five steals and turned the Bulldogs over 10 times.
Still, Georgia held a 14-6 advantage on the offensive glass and made 7 of the 18 threes it attempted, momentarily allowing the Bulldogs to pull within 13 points late in the second half.
But for the majority of the game, Florida pursued aggressively each loose ball and rebound, something it failed to do in the road loss to Tennessee.
Against the Volunteers, Donovan said the Gators gave up too many easy shots and didn’t maintain focus on defense. That wasn’t a problem Tuesday, as Florida contested nearly every shot Georgia put up until the game was out of reach.
“We played a lot harder,” guard Brad Beal said of how UF was able to architect the quick turnaround on defense. “UAB and Tennessee, we gave up too many points in transition. We were too lackadaisical on defense, and tonight I feel we did a pretty good job.”
On the other end of the floor, Beal broke out of a miniature freshman slump, tying Kenny Boynton for the game-high in points with 17. Beal, the Gators’ leader in minutes and rebounds and the team’s second-leading scorer, had not broken double digits in Florida’s last two games.
“He had a much, much better feel and flow today offensively than he’s had in a few games,” Donovan said.
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
Florida's Scottie Wilbekin (5) tries to break the ball lose from Georgia's Connor Nolte (20) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Gainesville, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012.
Florida sophomore center Patric Young (4) blocks Georgia guard Gerald Robinson’s shot attempt in the second half of the Gators’ 70-48 win on Tuesday in the O’Dome.
