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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>Dorian Finney-Smith dunks during Florida's season-opening win against William &amp; Mary on Friday in the O'Connell Center.</p>

Dorian Finney-Smith dunks during Florida's season-opening win against William & Mary on Friday in the O'Connell Center.

Another dramatic game, another buzzer beating basket and another loss No. 18 Florida (2-2). The Gators fell to the Georgetown Hoyas 66-65 in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island, Bahamas, on Wednesday night.

For the second straight game Florida was forced into overtime, except this time the Gators could not get out alive.

Georgetown’s major statistical win was in field goal percentage. The Hoyas were good for 49 percent while Florida completed 35.9 percent.

“They're very, very quick and athletic on the perimeter,” Coach Billy Donovan said of the Hoyas before the Gators’ road trip on Monday. “They're a really good driving team, they get to the free-throw line.”

Even the return of injured junior guard Eli Carter and junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith couldn’t propel the Gators to a win. Georgetown defeated Florida with a last second, or last three seconds, basket to give them the one-point lead needed to end the game.

Finney-Smith shot 6-for-9 from the field and was a perfect 2-for-2 from both the three-point range and free throw line.

Carter had a less successful return. He managed six points on 2-for-14 shooting and four rebounds in 33 minutes.

Donovan said he was unsure of what Florida’s lineup would look like on Wednesday night, since he planned on making decisions about Carter and Finney-Smith’s play after the team practiced in the Bahamas on Tuesday. Neither made the returns to Florida’s starting lineup, though Finney-Smith was Florida’s first substitution less than two minutes into the first half.

Donovan started freshman forward Devin Robinson instead of senior walk-on forward Jacob Kurtz.

Kurtz made just one shot and one of two free throws in 21 minutes played while Robinson was 2-for-9 in field goals and 1-for-5 in three-point shots in 18 minutes played.

The Gators have little time to make any major adjustments. Now in the losing bracket of the holiday tournament, Florida will take on Alabama-Birmingham (2-3) on Thanksgiving night.

“We’re still nowhere where we need to be,” Donovan said. “But I’ll tell you the thing that I was really impressed with this weekend with these guys, ...I've had some teams that think they've got it all figured out and they don't want to work. These guys know they don’t have it all figured out and they’re trying to work and get better and to me that was encouraging.”

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Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa

Dorian Finney-Smith dunks during Florida's season-opening win against William & Mary on Friday in the O'Connell Center.

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