OGT-Florida vs. Georgia 1/27/2024 12:00

Florida 13-6/3-3 SEC vs. Georgia 14-5/4-2 SEC
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Billy Donovan Court
Gainesville, Fla. | Game 20 | Jan. 27, 2024 | 12 p.m

BROADCAST INFO
ESPN2 | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Roy Philpott
Analyst: Brooke Weisbrod

Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD
Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Lee Humphrey
Producer/Engineer: Steve Egan

 

HEAD COACHES
Todd Golden
29-23 | 2nd season at UF
86-59 | 5th season overall
Mike White
30-21 | 2nd season at Georgia
273-149 | 13th season overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 122-103
All-Time Home: 69-38
Series under Golden: 2-0
Home under Golden: 1-0
Last Meeting: W, 77-67, 2/28/23 (Away)

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
4 Tyrese Samuel F 6-10 239 Gr. 27.5 13.5 8.3 1.3 stl
3 Micah Handlogten C 7-1 235 So. 19.0 6.5 7.4 .658 fg%
0 Zyon Pullin G 6-4 206 Gr. 30.9 14.6 3.4 4.6 ast
1 Walter Clayton Jr. G 6-2 195 Jr. 29.9 15.8 3.8 2.1 3fg
5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 Jr. 28.8 11.4 3.8 2.0 3fg

OPPONENT POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
10 RJ Sunahara F 6-8 205 Gr. 11.3 2.1 1.8 0.5 ast
54 Russel Tchewa C 7-0 275 Gr. 23.2 6.7 6.6 1.1 ast
1 Jabri Abdur-Rahim G 6-8 215 Sr. 27.1 13.7 3.9 2.5 3fg
3 Noah Thomasson G 6-4 210 Gr. 26.8 12.1 3.1 1.8 3fg
4 Silas Demary Jr. G 6-5 190 Fr. 27.3 10.2 4.5 2.6 ast

 

NUMBERS OF NOTE
16.3​

Florida averages 16.3 offensive rebounds, including seven games
with 20 or more offensive boards.

15​

The Gators have committed just 15 total turnovers over their past two
contests, eight vs. Missouri and seven against MSU. Entering their
respective games against Florida, Missouri had been forcing 14.3
turnovers per game and MSU 12.9.

8​

Florida looks to extend its eight-game winning streak against
Georgia, dating back to 2020. It marks UF’s third-longest streak vs.
UGA in series history (11, 2004-09; nine, 1964-68).

 

NOVEMBER
6 Loyola Maryland SEC+ W 93-73
10 vs. RV Virginia (Charlotte) ACC Net. L 70-73
14 Florida A&M SEC+ W 89-68
17 Florida State SEC Net. W 89-68
22 vs. Pitt (Brooklyn) ESPN2 W 86-71
24 vs. #13/12 Baylor (Brooklyn) ESPN L 91-95
29 at Wake Forest ESPNU L 71-82

DECEMBER
5 Merrimack SEC+ W 77-57
9 vs. Richmond (Sunrise) SEC Net. W 87-76
14 vs. ECU (Lakeland) SEC Net. W 70-65
19 vs. Michigan (Charlotte) ESPN W/2OT 106-101
22 Grambling State SEC+ W 96-57
30 Quinnipiac ESPNU W 97-72

JANUARY
6 #6 Kentucky ESPN L 85-87
10 at RV/#23 Ole Miss SEC Net. L 85-103
13 Arkansas ESPN W 90-68
16 at #6/7 Tennessee ESPN L 66-85
20 at Missouri ESPNU W 79-67
24 Mississippi State SEC Net. W 79-70
27 Georgia ESPN2 12 p.m.
31 at #6 Kentucky ESPN/2 8 p.m.

FEBRUARY
3 at Texas A&M ESPN2 4 p.m.
10 #8 Auburn SEC Net. 3:30 p.m.
13 LSU SEC Net. 8 p.m.
17 at Georgia SEC Net. 1 p.m.
21 at RV Alabama ESPN2/U 7 p.m.
24 Vanderbilt SEC Net. 1 p.m.
28 Missouri SEC Net. 6:30 p.m.

MARCH
2 at South Carolina SEC Net. 1 p.m.
5 RV Alabama ESPN/2 9 p.m.
9 at Vanderbilt SSEC Net. 4:30 p.m.
13-17 SEC Tournament (Nash

 

THE TIP-OFF​

• Florida looks to build off back-to-back wins against Missouri and Mississippi State, renewing its most-played
rivalry with Georgia.

• Will Richard led the Gators with 23 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday’s win vs. Mississippi State as Florida committed a season-low seven turnovers. Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr. each added 15 points.

• The Gators have taken great care of the ball during their last two games with just 15 combined turnovers against Missouri (eight) and Mississippi State (seven).

• Zyon Pullin not only leads the SEC in assist/turnover ratio (4.3) and rates second in assists (4.6), but has also scored in double figures in all 16 appearances this season.

• Florida has three of the top 10 offensive rebounders in the SEC in Micah Handlogten (3.7), Tyrese Samuel (3.3) and Alex Condon (2.3). Handlogten averages 3.4 second-chance points per game, getting more than half of his points from the offensive glass (57 of 110).

2023-24 HIGHLIGHTS​

• Five Gators scored in double figures in the victory at Mizzou, led by Tyrese Samuel’s 17, while Micah Handlog-ten posted a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double.

• Five Gators in double figures highlighted UF’s win vs. Arkansas, as Riley Kugel scored 20 points off the bench to lead the way and Tyrese Samuel added a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Zyon Pullin scored 22 and Tyrese Samuel posted 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Gators’ double-overtime victory vs. Michigan in Charlotte. Pullin’s 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining in the first overtime forced the second extra session, where an 11-0 UF run put the game away.

• In his homecoming game at Lakeland vs. East Carolina, Walter Clayton Jr. exploded for 20 first-half points on the way to a team-leading 22. Clayton scored 10 of the Gators’ first 12 points out of the gate playing just down the road from his hometown of Lake Wales.

• Will Richard earned Orange Bowl Classic MVP honors as he scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half to lead the Gators vs. Richmond. Richard posted a solo 9-0 run as he hit three 3-pointers in a 90-second span that helped create separation vs. the Spiders.

• Walter Clayton Jr. scored 21 of his 26 points vs. Merrimack in the second half. Freshman Alex Condon added his first career double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Condon’s 16 boards were the most by a Florida freshman since Al Horford’s 18 vs. Alabama during the 2004-05 season.

• The Gators topped Pitt in the first game of the NIT Season Tip-Off behind 28 points from Walter Clayton Jr. on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, a 20-point, 10-rebound performance from Tyrese Samuel and a 24-to-8assist-to-turnover showing as a team.

• Florida blitzed Florida State, leading 27-5 before taking a 52-22 advantage into halftime. The Gators shot .643 and held the Seminoles to .258 from the field during the first half.

 

BOUT THE OPPONENT​

• Georgia posted a 10-game winning streak earlier this season and enters Saturday’s game off a win vs. LSU. The Bulldogs posted wins vs.
Florida State and Wake Forest in nonconference action and owns road
victories at FSU, Missouri and South Carolina.

• Jabri Abdur-Rahim leads the team with 13.7 points per game and has
a team-leading 47 made 3-pointers at a .405 clip.

• Noah Thomasson (12.1 ppg) and Silas Demary (10.2) both average
double-figure scoring, as well, and Demary has 30 steals.

• Russel Tchewa leads the Bulldogs with 6.6 rebounds per game and 13
blocked shots, while Justin Hill has a team-best 64 assists.

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES
Jan. 10 Arkansas W 76-66
Jan. 13 Tennessee L 79-85
Jan. 16 at South Carolina W 74-69
Jan. 20 at Kentucky L 96-105
Jan. 24 LSU W 68-66

OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES
Jan. 31 Alabama
Feb. 3 South Carolina
Feb. 7 at Mississippi State
Feb. 10 at Arkansas
Feb. 17 Florida

LAST 20 VS. GEORGIA (16-4)
Jan. 9, 2013 H W 77-44
Jan. 23, 2013 A W 64-47
Jan. 14, 2014 H W 72-50
Jan. 17, 2015 A L 61-73
Jan. 2, 2016 H W 77-63
Feb. 16, 2016 A W 57-53
Jan. 14, 2017 H W/OT 80-76
Feb. 7, 2017 A W 72-60
Jan. 30, 2018 A L 60-72
Feb. 14, 2018 H L/OT 69-72
Jan. 19, 2019 A W 62-52
March 2, 2019 H L 61-55
Feb. 5, 2020 H W 81-75
March 4, 2020 A W 68-54
Jan. 23, 2021 A W 92-84
Feb. 20, 2021 H W 70-63
Feb. 9, 2022 H W 72-63
Feb. 26, 2022 A W 84-72
Jan. 7, 2023 H W 82-75
Feb. 28, 2023 A W 77-67

UF VS. PAST HEAD COACHES (4-1)
March 19, 2000 vs. Illinois (Kruger) W 93-76
Jan. 28, 2017 at Oklahoma (Kruger) W 84-52
Nov. 21, 2018 vs. Oklahoma (Kruger) L 67-74
Jan. 7, 2023 Georgia (White) W 82-75
Feb. 28, 2023 at Georgia (White) W 77-67