Georgia will try to avoid a season-long four-game losing streak when it hosts reeling Florida in Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday in Athens, Ga.
The Bulldogs (16-13, 6-10) have dropped nine of their past 12 games after an 85-63 loss to visiting Missouri on Saturday. The Gators (14-15, 7-9) lost for the sixth time in their past seven games with an 88-72 setback at Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Georgia, outscored 290-187 in its past three games, fell apart in the second half and was outscored 45-22 by Missouri.
Georgia committed 19 turnovers that the Tigers converted into 32 points, while the Bulldogs had just 11 points off Missouri’s 13 miscues.
“In the second (half), they came out strong, and both offensively and defensively we just didn’t respond well to adversity,” Georgia coach Mike White said. “We have got to be mentally tougher than that, we disconnected the second half, and it snowballed on us.”
Kario Oquendo, who averages 12.9 points per game, had 14 points, while Mardrez McBride added 12 against the Tigers. Braelen Bridges had a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Terry Roberts, who averages a team-high 13.4 points per game, was held to just five points against the Tigers.
Georgia has dropped its past seven games against Florida, which has struggled even more without injured star Colin Castleton, who leads the team in points (16.0), rebounds (7.7) and blocks (3.0). He is out indefinitely after breaking his right hand in a win over Ole Miss on Feb. 15.
The Gators are 0-3 in his absence.
“He was a good part of our team on both sides of the ball,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “Senior leader, a guy that we played through offensively, a guy that did a great job protecting us on the backside of our defense.”
The Gators trailed Vanderbilt 46-36 at halftime and didn’t get closer than nine the rest of the way.
Riley Kugel had 20 points and Kyle Lofton chipped in 15 points against the Commodores. Will Richard, who averages 10.0 points per game – second on the team behind Castleton — finished with nine points and seven rebounds.
The Gators knocked off the visiting Bulldogs 82-75 in the teams’ first meeting of the season on Jan. 7 behind Lofton’s 18 points. Roberts scored 25 to lead Georgia.
–Field Level Media
