Georgia withstands No. 3 Florida’s comeback to topple Gators
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia guard Blue Cain sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 47 seconds remaining after No. 3 Florida took its first lead while scoring 13 unanswered points, and the Bulldogs beat the Gators 88-83 on Tuesday night.
Florida, which trailed by 26 points in the first half, rallied from a 78-67 deficit with the 13-0 run to lead 80-78. Cain’s 3-pointer ended the run.
Georgia (17-11, 5-10 Southeastern Conference) boosted its hopes for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2015. Tuesday night’s win was its first against a team ranked in the top five of the Associated Press poll since the Bulldogs beat then-No. 5 Kentucky in January 2004. Georgia’s 28-game losing streak in such games was the third-longest in SEC history.
The Bulldogs also ended Florida’s 12-game winning streak in the series and gave coach Mike White his first win against his former Florida team. White had been 0-6 against the Gators, including a 30-point loss in the first meeting this season in Gainesville.
Will Richard scored a career-high 30 points but Florida (24-4, 11-4) fell short of pulling off its second comeback in four days. The Gators rallied from an eight-point, second-half deficit to beat LSU 79-65 on Saturday night. Had they won Tuesday night, it would have been the second-largest comeback victory in Division I this season, after Arkansas State rallied from a 27-point deficit to beat UAB on Dec. 15.
Only one team in SEC history has won a game after trailing by 25-plus points: Kentucky, which overcame a 31-point deficit to beat LSU in 1994.
Thomas Haugh’s layup with 1:28 remaining gave the Gators their first lead at 79-78.
Silas Demary Jr. led Georgia, which snapped a four-game losing streak, with 21 points. His four made 3-pointers matched his career high and helped him to his third career 20-point game, all of which have come against ranked opponents. Asa Newell had 15 for the Bulldogs.
Georgia fans obliged repeated requests from the public address announcer to give Florida’s team and officials 90 seconds to leave before charging the court. Fans then flooded the court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Isaiah Evans scores 16 points in the first half after going 5-for-6 from beyond the arc. (1:11)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Jai Lucas came up with a plan to beat Miami. Going forward, the Hurricanes want him to keep that from happening.
Lucas, in his role as Duke’s associate head coach, drew the task of coming up with the scouting report for the Blue Devils’ game at Miami on Tuesday night — one that No. 2 Duke won 97-60.
The teams met three days after sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello that Lucas has emerged as the focus of Miami’s search for a new basketball coach. A deal is not completed, and the plan is for the search to come together on a traditional timeline close to the end of the regular season.
“Jai is a special coach,” said Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who has had Lucas on his staff for three seasons. “We’ve been through a lot together for three years. He’s everything you could want. Attention to detail, great with relationships, great on the floor — and so, he’s a great coach. Bottom line, he’s a great coach. One of my closest friends in the world. Been through a lot together.”
Sources told ESPN on Saturday night that the Miami job has not been formally offered to Lucas, nor is a deal expected to be imminent. The Hurricanes’ season is likely to end March 8 and the transfer window opens March 24, so it would make sense for them to want someone in place by that date.
Duke, meanwhile, is a national championship contender and could play until early April in the NCAA tournament.
“This is not our news to share,” Scheyer said. “We’ll let Miami handle that.”
Lucas was one of the first assistants on the court for Duke during the warmup window that started about 90 minutes before the game. He briefly greeted a few people, including a couple of members of the Miami staff, before running players through drills.
At Miami, Lucas would take over for Jim Larranaga, who stepped down suddenly in December and was replaced on an interim basis by longtime associate head coach Bill Courtney, who will finish the season.
Courtney has not addressed the coaching search with his team, and he said he hasn’t been told of any decision by the Hurricanes’ administration.
“It’s not really a big change for us,” Courtney said. “We’ve got to remain focused and keep the main thing the main thing. I’m sure some guys, especially the younger guys, may have thought about it. It’s almost impossible not to hear the noise.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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After a rough run in the SEC, Georgia picked up its biggest win of the season on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs, after building up a massive lead in the first half, held on down the stretch to stun No. 3 Florida 88-83. That set off a huge celebration at Stegeman Coliseum. It marked Georgia’s first win over a top-3 opponent since 2004, and their third Quad 1 win of the season.
Georgia led nearly the entire way on Tuesday night, and opened the game on a massive 39-13 tear. That 26-point lead dwindled down slightly by halftime, though the Bulldogs still entered the locker room with a 16-point advantage.
Florida chipped away at that lead slowly in the second half, and then went on a 13-0 run of its own in the final minutes to finally take their first lead of the game off a layup from Tomas Haugh with just less than 90 seconds left. Georgia, however, quickly fended off that comeback, and retook the lead almost instantly after Blue Cain drilled a perfect 3-pointer from the wing to seal the five-point win.
Silas Demary led the Bulldogs with 21 points in the win. Asa Newell added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Cain finished with 12 points and six rebounds. His final 3-pointer was his only attempt from beyond the arc all night.
Will Richard led Florida with 30 points and five rebounds. Walter Clayton Jr. added 18 points, and was the only other player to hit double figures. The Gators shot just 18-of-29 from the free throw line.
The loss marked the first for Florida since it fell at then-No. 8 Tennessee earlier this month. The Gators now sit at 24-4 on the season. The loss moves them back to third in the conference standings, behind top-ranked Auburn and No. 6 Alabama.
While Florida isn’t out of it yet, the loss may put the SEC regular season title out of reach. The Gators will host No. 12 Texas A&M next on Saturday before closing the regular season with Alabama and Ole Miss next week.
Georgia, which entered the night at just 4-10 in conference play, now hold a 17-11 overall record. The win snapped a four-game losing skid, and undoubtedly kept the Bulldogs in contention to earn one of the final spots in the NCAA tournament. They were listed in the “Next Four Out” section of ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s mock bracket as of Tuesday morning.
It will take a strong finish, including a big victory or two at the SEC tournament in Nashville, to get them there, but the Bulldogs finally have their signature win. Their first NCAA tournament bid in a decade is now in sight.
The Bulldogs escaped with an 88-83 win over No. 3 Florida on Tuesday night
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Joe Rexrode is a senior writer for The Athletic covering college football. He previously worked at The Tennessean, Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal, and covered the Pyeongchang, Rio and London Olympics for USA Today.
