Bulldogs fall to Gators, 88-82

ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia men’s basketball team lost to Florida, 88-82, before 10,523 spectators on Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.

Noah Thomasson led all scorers with a season-best 26 points, knocking down five of his 11 attempts from 3-point range. Russel Tchewa scored 15 while Justin Hill contributed 14 points and four assists. Jabri Abdur-Rahim also reached double figures with 10 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. The Bulldogs (14-11, 4-8 SEC) turned the ball over 14 times, seven of which were stolen by the Gators (18-7, 8-4 SEC).

The Bulldogs opened the game by hitting their first seven shots led by Thomasson knocking down his first four buckets and a pair of 3-pointers before the first media timeout. The Houston, Texas-native got up to 17 points to close out the first half, helping Georgia create a 46-40 advantage headed to the locker room. Florida opened the second period on a 12-4 run, giving the team its first lead of the afternoon. Georgia trailed 58-53 at the under-12 media timeout due in part to seven turnovers to begin the half and being held without a field goal for just over 10 minutes. Blue Cain ended the drought with his first made shot from beyond the arc on the afternoon, putting the Bulldogs down three with over nine minutes remaining. Georgia again found itself down, 83-80, after Thomasson knocked in his fifth 3-pointer. The team was unable to come back, though, with Florida sinking key free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Georgia’s next contest will come in Nashville as the Bulldogs take on the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium. The game, which will be televised on the SEC Network, is set to tip off on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The programs have split their previous 10 meetings dating back to Jan. 17, 2017.

Five Fast Facts
• This is the 228th all-time meeting between Georgia and Florida. The Bulldogs lead the series in Athens 63-45.
• Noah Thomasson led the team with 17 points in the first half, marking his his 51st double digit point game.
• By reaching 15 points on Saturday afternoon, Russel Tchewa now has 31 career double-digit games.
• In the first half, Georgia held the lead for 19:12 and never trailed.
• Thomasson finished with 26 points, which marks the 23rd time reaching at least 20 points. He also notched five 3-pointers, which is a career best.

Key Quote
Head Coach Mike White: “I think that the road team, when they can collect some turnovers, get out in transition, and get some easy ones, generally speaking, sometimes that fuels you a little bit, defensively. I thought [Florida’s] Pullin did a great job defensively in the second half staying in front of our guards, but again you take 10, you can take some of the empty possessions – an open three, a good look, a free throw didn’t go – we can’t control all of that. We’re going to continue to preach here that you can win games despite that, but the other 10 possessions – the turnovers – it’s easier to control some of those. You get six or seven of those back, instead of 82 you probably have 90. We still gave up too many.”

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men’s Basketball on social media on Facebook, Instagram and X @UGABasketball, and the web at GeorgiaDogs.com.

Georgia vs Florida Postgame Notes and Quotes

Team Notes

• The starting lineup was graduates Russel Tchewa and Noah Thomasson, senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim, junior Jalen DeLoach, and freshman Silas Demary Jr.
• Georgia led 46-40 heading into the locker room.
• Nine Bulldogs entered the game to contribute to the scoring effort.
• Four Georgia players had double digit performances: Noah Thomasson with 26, Russel Tchewa with 15, Justin Hill with 14, and Jabri Abdur-Rahim with 10.
• Georgia’s largest lead was 11 points during the first half.
• Georgia held the lead for 19:12 of the first half.
• Today’s game marked the 228th all-time meeting between both programs. Georgia leads the series in Athens 63-46.

Individual Notes

• Noah Thomasson recorded a season-high 26 points on the day.
• Noah Thomasson led the team with 17 points at the half, marking his 51st double digit point game.
• Noah Thomasson’s 26 points on the day marked his 23rd career 20+ point performance. He also notched a career-high five 3-pointers.
• Russel Tchewa finished with 15 points. This is his 31st career double digit performance.
• Jabri Abdur-Rahim recorded his 15th double digit socring performance of the season.
• Justin Hill recorded his 60th career game in double figure scoring, marking his 11th of the season.

GEORGIA HEAD COACH MIKE WHITE

On what he saw in the second half that contributed to the loss…

“Offense and defense. Turnovers, live ball turnovers, continue to harm us in some of these close games. If we take away live ball turnovers and a couple of their offensive rebounds, we’d probably be sitting here feeling a lot different. Our transition defense too, off of makes too at times. It’s something we’ve talked about all year. I want to say it before I forget, and I don’t think I would though, but I’ll continue: It was rocking in there. I want to say it on the front end, we’ve struggled as of late. I’m really appreciative to our fans that came. They were loud and they were a big factor. It shows the commitment to men’s basketball here. Our administration has done a great job, really appreciative of them, our fans were awesome. We’ve got to continue at home to learn that when you score, they can be as loud as they want. That’s great. You can’t jog back. This isn’t high school basketball. You can’t look up in the crowd. We’re not good enough to do that, maybe some teams are, but we’re not. On Monday we’ll continue to work on sprinting back, getting in a stance and getting matched up, if we want to be competitive on Wednesday.”

On his message to the team moving forward…

“We’ve got to guard a lot better. We’ve got to make simpler decisions with the basketball. We did some stuff today that you could say is out of character, but when you’re saying that as often as we’re saying it, unfortunately that is our character right now. Again, some of the live ball turnovers, some of the other turnovers, ill-advised fouls, getting out of a stance and not understanding that a screen is coming and dying on screen and giving up a big 3-pointer, those things add up and you can’t win in this league unless you’re more accountable and disciplined than that. Unfortunately, throughout this losing streak, we’ve spent a lot of time focused on those things. We didn’t see as much carry over as we’d like to see. I mean we just gave up 88 at home, when I feel like in practice, we’ve gotten a lot better defensively here in the past couple of weeks. It’s unfortunate. And I’m sitting here for 10 minutes talking about us, but Florida is a NCAA tournament team. They’re really good, they’re doing a great job. They share it, they’re long, they’re skilled, they’re incredible on the offensive glass. They got stops and forced turnovers when they needed to.”

On the team’s overall turnover rate and Russel Tchewa’s five turnovers from the high-post…

“We are going to work on those things on Monday. He has some reads. Sometimes we make emotional decisions as young people to where we know this is the action, this is the read, these are my checks, but I am going to call an audible. Some of us do that and it happens too often right now. It’s been harped on a bunch and will continue to be harped on.”

On Dylan James’ injury and why he did not return to the game…

“He got poked in the eye and then other guys got into a rhythm and before you know he’s been sitting over there for a while. We probably should have called his number in the second half in retrospect. He has practiced really well lately and we will continue to try to get him experience.”

On the scoring drought in the second half…

“I think that the road team, when they can collect some turnovers, get out in transition, and get some easy ones, generally speaking, sometimes that fuels you a little bit, defensively. I thought [Florida’s] Pullin did a great job defensively in the second half staying in front of our guards, but again you take 10, you can take some of the empty possessions – an open three, a good look, a free throw didn’t go – we can’t control all of that. We’re going to continue to preach here that you can win games despite that, but the other 10 possessions – the turnovers – it’s easier to control some of those. You get six or seven of those back, instead of 82 you probably have 90. We still gave up too many.”

On his confidence in having everything he needs here to build his program…

“Absolutely. We’re going to get it done here, and we’re going to be prepared on Wednesday. We’re going to have a great practice on Monday. I wish we could go practice in an hour. I would like to go get a bite, some more caffeine, and get right back to it. But unfortunately, we have to wait until Monday. But again I am super appreciative, and I’m super disappointed – and I don’t talk, I haven’t done this much in my career – but I was really impressed. Mid-second half, we go on a little run. It’s really, really loud in there. As loud as I’ve ever heard in like a couple games this year, which is as loud as I’ve ever heard it in this building. And you look up, and at one point I looked around at the entire arena, whether it was full or almost full, and I said, ‘My gosh, this is full, and we’ve struggled lately.’ I don’t want to repeat our losing streak again right here, and you guys are probably going to write that. But the fact that, despite us losing the way that we are losing, and the environment that we just got, it is exciting, and I’m disappointed for our fans. I’m more disappointed for our guys because they are the ones putting in the work everyday, and I really look forward to getting back to it on Monday.”

#11 | NOAH THOMASSON | SR. | G

On Georgia’s long scoring drought in the second half…

“I think it was just not making shots. Credit to them, they played pretty good defense against us down the stretch and then we just couldn’t capitalize on certain plays that we really needed and we couldn’t come up with some loose balls down the stretch.”

On what the team needs to figure out going forward…

“Just putting an emphasis on not turning the ball over, doing the little things. We have to crash and hit, we have to get stops down the stretch. The good teams, they do that, the really good teams do it at a high rate. We just have to get back to doing that.”

On the team’s frustration level right now…

“It’s really frustrating because we obviously want to win every single game. We just have to keep learning. We’re a new team, so at times you can tell just that we’re still learning how to put together a full 40 minute game. We just have to figure it out.”

#54 | RUSSEL TCHEWA | GR. | C

On the difference in second half…

“I think first all, the turnovers. We turned the ball over ten times in the second half, so I think that’s what cost us the game.”

On what the team worked on coming into the game…

“We worked on executing. Execute a call and make sure everybody is executing.”

On what Florida changed in the second half…

“They started doubling me on the post so I had to pass it to my teammates.”

On Georgia’s away game coming up next…

“I think we just have to keep working, focus on the next one in Vanderbilt next week.”