GAINESVILLE, FL (352today.com) – UPDATE, 1/27/24: The Florida Gators defeat the Georgia Bulldogs 102 to 98 in overtime on Saturday at home.
NEXT UP: The Gator men’s basketball team takes on Kentucky’s Wildcats on the road on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m.
PREVIOUSLY, 1/26/24: The Gators are looking to get their third SEC win in a row this Saturday as they host the Georgia Bulldogs.
They’re coming off of a win over the other Bulldogs defeating Mississippi State 79-70 Wednesday night at home.
Junior guard Will Richard scored a season-high of 23 points, and also had 8 rebounds. Other notable performances were from junior guard Walter Clayton and senior guard Zyon Pullin both putting up 15 points and 5 rebounds each.
Overall, the team shot around 42 percent for the game and around 32 percent from the arc.
Georgia is also coming off a close win over LSU defeating the Tigers 68-66 Wednesday. The Bulldogs are 4-2 in conference play with losses against Kentucky and Tennessee.
Florida and Georgia last faced off in Athens last year on February 28. The Gators returned home with win defeating the Dawgs 77-67. Florida leads the all-time record with 121 wins and 100 losses. UF has consecutively beat UGA 8 times and are looking to make that nine Saturday afternoon.
Florida head coach Todd Golden is Georgia’s head coach Mike White’s successor. Golden joined Florida in 2022 after White who coached the Gators from 2015-2022.
Golden says his team’s momentum is high after winning at home on Wednesday.
“I respect him as a coach, I respect him as a person… I have a lot of respect for how he coaches his teams, they’re really organized, they’re really disciplined,” shared Golden in a news conference in regard to Coach White. “This is going to be a tough game tomorrow; you know he’s going to have his team ready to go coming back here obviously you know there’s an extra added element for him coming back here and you know we’ve got to be ready to go.”
According to Georgia’s basketball program, it is the 228th time the two teams will face off. They say this is the most games they’ve ever played against an opponent of theirs.
According to Florida’s program, the rivalry game is sold out. They say it is the Gator’s third straight weekend sellout at Exactech Arena. If you weren’t able to secure a ticket in advance, the program says there are a “limited number of obstructed-view seats” remaining that will be available for walk-up purchases starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.
If you’d like to watch the game, you can catch it a noon eastern time on ESPN2.