ATHENS, Ga. — For the past four years, Georgia has put up a fight at home against Florida. Wednesday night was no exception.
In the Gators’ past four trips to Athens, Ga., they only came home with a win once, defeating Georgia 104-91 in double overtime on Jan. 25, 2011.
Early in Wednesday’s game, Florida looked like it was going to return to Gainesville with its first loss in Southeastern Conference play.
But thanks to a game-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from junior Scottie Wilbekin, the No. 8 Gators (15-2, 5-0 SEC) defeated the Bulldogs (7-11, 1-4 SEC) 64-47 in Stegeman Coliseum.
“We knew they were going to come out with a lot of pride and a lot of passion with playing in front of their home crowd,” Wilbekin said. “But I don’t think we did a good job of being ready for how hard they were going to come out, and I think we did a better job in the second half.”
The Bulldogs got off to a quick 6-0 start when their leading scorer, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, made a three with 18:11 remaining in the first half. Georgia’s lead grew to 11-2, but Florida responded.
Starting with guard Mike Rosario’s layup with 15:32 remaining in the first half, the Gators scored eight points in the span of four possessions.
Still, it wasn’t enough for Florida to reclaim the lead.
The Gators had won their four SEC games by an average margin of 26.8 points but finished Wednesday’s first half with a three-point deficit.
“In the first half they played harder than us,” guard Kenny Boynton said. “Our intensity changed in the second half, and we got after it.”
Wilbekin added: “We knew what happened last year, and we didn’t want that to happen again, so we just tried to push through.”
Florida came to life in the second half.
After leading the Gators with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the first half, Wilbekin tied the game at 27 by netting a three with 18:59 remaining. Less than a minute later, Florida forced a turnover from Caldwell-Pope, and a Rosario three gave the Gators their first lead with 18:11 left in the second half.
“It felt like it was back to normal in the second half — like the way it should be,” Wilbekin said.
After shooting 11.1 percent behind the arc in the first half, Florida made 63.6 percent of its threes on 7-for-11 shooting in the second.
The Gators outscored the Bulldogs 40-20 during the final 20 minutes.
Erik Murphy scored 13 points during the second half after being held scoreless in the first.
Florida’s defense also improved in the second half, holding UGA to only one three-point attempt.
Overall, Florida allowed only 47 points, making Georgia the ninth team to score fewer than 50 against the Gators this season.
“You look down at the stat sheet, and they’re shooting over 50 percent from three,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I knew they were going to come out like that. I give our guys some credit. We made some adjustments in terms of guarding some pick and rolls, because I thought our coverage was a little bit late, and they hurt us in some of those situations.”
Florida remains one of two teams in the SEC that are undefeated in conference play, which Donovan credits to Wilbekin’s performance, the nine turnovers Florida forced in the first half and its defense in the second half.
“We probably should’ve been down by a much, much larger margin (in the first half),” Donovan said.
“I thought it was their nine turnovers and Wilbekin’s 13 points that really kept us close in the game. … “Our guys did an outstanding job in the second half defensively. That was key.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Florida guard Scottie Wilbekin (right) dribbles past Missouri guard Phil Pressey during the Gators’ 83-52 win against the Tigers on Saturday in the O’Connell Center.
