Florida Gators outlast UGA for first SEC Tournament win since 2021
The Gators outlasted Georgia 85-80 on Thursday to open postseason play, marking their first SEC Tournament victory since 2021 and 11th straight win over UGA.
Clinging to a 1-point lead with starting point guard Zyon Pullin fouled out, Walter Clayton Jr. came up with a critical steal and an and-one play at the 1:55 mark.
Will Richard then had a huge offensive rebound and putback on Florida’s ensuing possession before Riley Kugel closed out UGA with six free throws.
“I just thought we stayed the course,” Florida coach Todd Golden said on SEC Network. “I thought we played alright in the first half, we just were down. And then second half, they extended it a little bit. But I felt pretty confident the whole way.”
Clayton led the team with 22 points, his 13th 20-point game this year. He was one of five Gators in double figures, including Richard and Tyrese Samuel with 17 apiece.
“We knew it was going to be a game,” Clayton said. “End of the year, SEC Tournament. Everybody brings their ‘A’ game. So, we just had to be mentally strong.”
Samuel posted his 11th double-double of the season with a career-high 15 rebounds. He also set an SEC Tournament record for free throw attempts (23) and misses (14).
“This guy was a monster,” Golden said of Samuel. “Obviously, we would like him to be a little more efficient from the foul line, but he changed the game and got us that lead in the second half. And he kept going. Even though, you know, a weaker player might have been dejected and wouldn’t want the ball. This guy was a fighter as he is, and he’s a big reason why we’ve had so much success this season.”
Samuel was 8-for-15 from the line in the second half and made four straight at one point, including a possession where he had three of UF’s four offensive rebounds in one trip.
The Gators outrebounded Georgia 12-3 on the offensive glass after the break and 52-36 for the game.
“We were down three on the glass at halftime and we won the glass by 16 in the game. That’s why we won tonight,” Golden said. “Getting back on the glass was the difference. We didn’t give ourselves enough opportunities in the first half because of that. We had 12 offensive rebounds in the second half.”
Richard scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half and finished 7-for-10 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from downtown. Pullin had 11 points and matched his season high with eight assists for the second game in a row.
Alex Condon and Kugel added 10 and 8 points off the bench, respectively. Kugel stepped up with Pullin in foul trouble and played with great effort, grabbing seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs rallied from an 8-point deficit with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 68 with 5:12 left. Florida responded with six consecutive points and led the rest of the way.
Trailing by three at intermission, the Gators regained the lead in the second half with a 12-2 run and made six of their eight field goal attempts during that 4:30 stretch.
“At halftime we were a little dejected because we had so much great energy, we were playing really hard, but we were down,” Golden said. “And it was just like, let’s take a deep breath here, let’s calm down. It’s a one possession game. Let’s get back to making some free throws, settling down, getting on the glass a little bit. And we knew if we would do that, we’d be in really good shape.”
Florida built a 9-point lead in the game’s first 10 minutes, but UGA scored nine straight to kickstart an 18-3 run. UF made just one of nine field goal attempts during that stretch.
Florida cut the deficit to one in the final minute of the opening half and trailed 37-34 at the break. UF was just 4-for-13 from the line in the first period, including a 1-for-8 mark from Samuel.
“We played great early, got a good lead. And then just some fluky plays, things didn’t go our way. We go into halftime down three and we felt like we were playing hard. If somebody would have made some free throws, we probably would have been up a little bit,” Golden said jokingly, sitting next to Samuel.
The Gators (22-10, 11-7 SEC) will face No. 3 seed Alabama in the quarterfinals on Friday at 9:30 p.m. Florida had a 98-93 overtime loss in Tuscaloosa but blew out the Tide at home, 105-87.
