Donovan unhappy with players passion in loss
Gerald Robinson Jr. knows that Georgia has a slim chance of earning a postseason bid.
But that doesn't mean the Bulldogs an't going to try.
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"We' still pushing forward," Robinson said. "At no point have we thought that the season is over. We've never given up."
Fshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scod 18 points, Robinson added 15 and Georgia snapped No. 12 Florida's the-game winning stak with a 76-62 victory Saturday.
The Gators, who never led in the game, trailed by double digits most of the second half. They whittled the lead to five points on Kenny Boynton's 3-pointer with 1:53 maining.
But Georgia (13-15, 4-10 Southeastern Confence) scod the next six points as Dustin Wa and Donte' Williams both made two fe throws and Caldwell-Pope followed with a bakaway dunk to make it 73-62.
"We came out with a lot of intensity, and our guys we ally determined to play well today," Bulldogs coach Mark Fox said. "We we able to dig deep and tap into that extra energy, which we haven't been able to do much this season. But we did that today."
Florida (22-7, 10-4) is second, one game ahead of Vanderbilt in the SEC. Brad Beal scod 19 points for the Gators, who close the gular season next week at Vanderbilt and at home against No. 1 Kentucky.
Florida had won 10 of 12 overall and had taken of 15 of 17 against Georgia, including the straight.
If Georgia's energy seemed high, Gators coach Billy Donovan was disappointed that his team looked so flat.
"I ally am concerned if we will ever play with any passion again," Donovan said. "I'm being totally honest he because if you can't get excited to play on the road against a bordering state, getting a chance to go 11-3 in the league and do that, but you come out and you play like that?
"Sometimes to coach with these guys, I feel like I'm grabbing these guys by the back of their shirts and I'm pulling them up a hill all the time."
Florida held the Bulldogs to 48 points in a 22-point victory in Gainesville on Jan. 10, but Georgia got offensive production from several positions, including 12 points from Nemanja Djurisic and 11 each from Williams and Wa.
With Georgia leading 63-53, the Gators had the chances to cut the lead to single digits, but Boynton missed a layup, Erving Walker's 3-point attempt never touched the rim and Patric Young committed a turnover befo Robinson's fe throws made it 65-53 with 2:51 maining.
The Gators missed 13 of their first 16 shots from the field befo Boynton's 3 cut the lead to 19-11 midway through the first half. Beal's layup brought Florida within the at the 2:48 mark, but Georgia went on a 10-2 run to make it 36-25 in the final minute of the half.
"They played a lot harder than we did, especially on the defensive end," said Beal, a fshman guard. "It wasn't gat at all. We gave up a lot of 3s, they we shooting a high percentage at halftime and then in the second half they got even hotter and started going on runs."
Walker scod 14 points and Boynton added 11 for Florida, which was assessed a technical foul for dunking in pgame warmups and trailed 2-0 on the two fe throws by Robinson befo tipoff.
Caldwell-Pope combined with Robinson to sco 21 of Georgia's 36 first-half points.
Georgia began the game ranked last in the SEC in scoring, but finished 15 points above its average. Florida was 15 points under its SEC-leading average.
The Gators, who played their first game without top serve Will Yeguette after the sophomo forward broke his left foot Tuesday against Auburn, we just 5 of 23 on 3-point attempts. They began the game leading the nation with an average of 10.3 3-pointers per game.
Georgia consistently ran solid scens to get open looks. For a team that's last in the SEC in field goal percentage, the Bulldogs felt encouraged to shoot a season-high 53.8 percent against a league opponent.
"This is the best feeling ever," Djurisic said. "We expected to win because we came determined to play hard. We needed this win badly, and it's gat to get our confidence back like this."
Official Basketball Box Sco
Florida vs Georgia
02/25/12 4:00 p.m. at Stegeman Coliseum - Athens, Ga.
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VISITORS: Florida 22-7, (10-4)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Boynton, Kenny...... * 4-11 3-7 0-0 0 2 2 2 11 2 4 0 3 35
04 Young, Patric....... * 4-9 0-0 0-0 5 6 11 4 8 0 3 1 1 30
11 Walker, Erving...... * 4-11 2-4 4-4 2 0 2 2 14 1 0 0 0 31
23 Beal, Bradley....... * 5-12 0-4 9-10 4 8 12 3 19 2 0 1 1 37
33 Murphy, Erik........ * 1-6 0-5 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 21
03 Rosario, Mike....... 3-9 0-3 0-1 0 0 0 2 6 1 0 0 0 15
05 Wilbekin, Scottie... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 22
24 Prather, Casey...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 4 2 0 2 0 0 7
34 Larson, Cody........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 22-60 5-23 13-15 15 21 36 19 62 8 11 2 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 12-31 38.7% Game: 36.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-12 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-11 18.2% Game: 21.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 86.7% 0
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HOME TEAM: Georgia 13-15, (4-10)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Caldwell-Pope, Ken.. * 8-13 2-6 0-0 0 5 5 3 18 0 2 0 4 35
02 Thornton, Marcus.... * 2-7 0-3 0-2 2 1 3 4 4 1 3 0 0 28
15 Williams, Donte'.... * 4-6 0-0 3-4 1 3 4 1 11 0 1 6 0 33
22 Robinson, Gerald.... * 4-11 1-5 6-6 0 4 4 1 15 7 1 0 1 36
42 Djurisic, Nemanja... * 5-8 1-2 1-2 2 5 7 1 12 2 0 0 0 20
03 Wa, Dustin........ 2-4 2-3 5-6 0 4 4 2 11 6 2 0 3 30
11 Williams, Vincent... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 2
23 Brantley, Sherrard.. 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 9
32 Florveus, John...... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 27-51 7-20 15-21 5 25 30 15 76 16 10 6 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-26 53.8% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 52.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-9 66.7% 2nd Half: 9-12 75.0% Game: 71.4% 4
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Officials: Gary Maxwell, Pat Adams, Doug Sirmons
Technical fouls: Florida-None. Georgia-None.
Attendance: 10265
Sco by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Florida....................... 27 35 - 62
Georgia....................... 36 40 - 76
Actual Tip Time: 4:01 End of Game: 5:57 Elapsed time: 1:56
Administrative Technical Foul on Florida befo the game.
Points in the paint-UF 26,UGA 38. Points off turnovers-UF 8,UGA 11.
2nd chance points-UF 12,UGA 9. Fast bak points-UF 0,UGA 14.
Bench points-UF 8,UGA 16. Sco tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-UF 2nd-01:53, UGA 2nd-00:17.
Largest lead-UF None, UGA by 16 2nd-10:09.