No. 9 Florida 77, Georgia 44: Casey Prather scored the game’s first six points and the host Gators stormed to a 19-4 lead, easily winning their Southeastern Conference opener.
Florida (11-2, 1-0 SEC) hit 5 of its first 7 shots from the field, building an 11-0 lead just five minutes in against the Bulldogs (6-8, 0-1). Mike Rosario scored seven points in the first 10 minutes and Erik Murphy’s second 3-pointer of the game stretched the lead to 15 points with 8:55 left in the half.
Playing with a fractured rib, Murphy finished with 11 points and shot 3-for-6 from 3-point range. Rosario scored a game-high 19 points to lead Florida, which won for the third time in four games. Prather finished with 10 points.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11 points to lead the Bulldogs, who committed 19 turnovers and saw their four-game winning streak snapped.
Florida’s Kenny Boynton, who hit eight 3-pointers on Sunday against Yale, finished 1-for-7 beyond the arc and scored just seven points.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Florida shot 52.7 percent from the field and finished 12-for-26 from 3-point range. Georgia had held opponents to 29.8 percent shooting beyond the arc entering the matchup. … The Gators scored 11 of the first 15 points of the second half, pushing their lead to 39-19 with 16:36 remaining. … Georgia had no player grab more than four rebounds, but only lost the rebounding battle 26-25.
Georgia | Florida | |
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 11 | Scoring | Mike Rosario 19 |
Charles Mann 2 | Assists | Scottie Wilbekin 6 |
Brandon Morris 4 | Rebounds | Casey Prather 7 |
Charles Mann 4 | Free Throws Made | Mike Rosario 4 |
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1 | Steals | Casey Prather 3 |
Tim Dixon 2 | Blocks | Patric Young 4 |