No. 18 Georgia loses against ‘rowdy’ Florida

Georgia suffered its first SEC loss of the season at Florida on Tuesday night, falling to the defending national champs, 92-77.

The Gators’ 36th home win in their last 38 games at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville snapped the seven-game win streak No. 18 Georgia brought into the action.

The Bulldogs (13-2, 1-1 SEC) battled the Gators (10-5, 1-1) early and led at the start of the second half, but they could not overcome the loss of starting center Somto Cyril.

Cyril, who averages 10 points, 6.4 rebounds and ranks fifth in the nation with 2.86 blocked shots per outing, was ejected midway through the first half after being called for a flagrant two foul.

Florida out-rebounded Georgia, 56-35, and outscored the Bulldogs in the paint, 58-38.

Fourth-year Georgia coach Mike White, who previously coached the Gators from 2015-2022, was disappointed Cyril lost his cool but didn’t put the loss completely on the ejection.

“Obviously making a poor decision and taking yourself out of the equation is not what your teammates need from you, and there’s no place for flying elbows in the game,” White said.

“Is he a big factor for us? Absolutely. Enormous factor for us. Is that why we lost the game? No. It didn’t help, but there’s a lot of things that we could have done better.”

White noted Georgia had just six assists in the game and too many empty possessions in the second half as the game got out of reach.

Combo guard Marcus “Smurf” Millender was one of the few bright spots, coming off the bench to keep upset hopes alive with 11 of his 18 points in the first half.

Kanon Catchings stepped up with 12 points, including a 3-pointer that opened the second half and gave Georgia a 43-41 lead.

The Bulldogs’ final lead of the night proved short-lived, however, as Florida preseason All-American center Alex Condon (21 points) dunked to pull the Gators even at 43-43 and trigger a game-changing 18-4 run that made it 59-47.

The Bulldogs drew back within single digits when Blue Cain hit a jumper and Catchings followed with a 3-pointer, but Florida surged back with a 9-0 run and led by double-digits the remainder of the game.

The fact Florida held a slim 41-40 lead at halftime was somewhat surprising considering Cyril’s absence — the Gators were a 9.5-point home favorite and entered the night leading the nation in rebounding, outrebounding opponents by an average of 15 per game.

Georgia has compensated for its relative lack of size by relying on an up-tempo offense that led the nation in scoring (99.4 points per game), but the Bulldogs could not outrun Cyril’s absence.

A UGA team that led the nation entering the night with an average of 27 fast-break points per game managed only 10, unable to get its transition offense going with the lack of stops.

“(Florida) is incredible on the offensive glass,” White said, noting the Gators’ 22 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. “Getting their guys layups and dunks was a huge factor in the game.”

Cyril’s rim-protecting presence has been pivotal to Georgia’s hot start this season, including UGA’s 104-100 OT win over Auburn on Saturday, when he had 15 points and six blocked shots.

White said there was an incident at the other end of the floor that led up to Cyril’s retaliatory action, which came at the 10:14 mark of the first half.

Florida was leading 22-21 when Cyril threw his forearm up into Florida post Rueben Chinyelu after the pair got tangled up battling for position in the paint leading to the officials’ review and the ejection.

The Gators went on an 8-0 run over the next 1:36 to expand their lead to 30-21, forcing a UGA timeout at the 8:38 mark.

Jeremiah Wilkinson, who missed his first five shots, hit his first bucket at the 8:27 mark to spark a 9-2 run and cut the Florida advantage to 32-30.

Thomas Haugh (21 points, 12 rebounds), one of three starters back from the Gators national championship team, hit a 3-pointer for Florida to get the lead back up to 35-30.

The Bulldogs charged back with a 6-0 run capped by a Dylan James floater (he finished with 16 points), briefly reclaiming the lead at 36-35 with 3:33 left in the half.

“Dylan James played his best game in a long, long time and played hard,” White said of the 6-foot-9 forward. “He played out of position and gave us a lot.”

It proved to be a losing battle for Georgia, however, as Wilkinson — who suffered a mild ankle injury in the overtime period against Auburn — failed to heat up.

Wilkinson followed his 31-point performance against the Tigers with just 2 points at Florida, making 1 of 9 shots in the 19 minutes he played.