ATHENS, Ga. - Defense wins championships - or at least road games against winless conference opponents.
UF was unable to clamp down on Georgia, who poured in jump shot after jump shot in front of the home crowd on its way to an 88-86 upset win on Saturday.
The Bulldogs shot 69 percent in the first half and burned down the nets on their way to a 54-47 halftime lead. Three days earlier, Georgia could only muster 48 points in a blowout loss to Tennessee.
"When you start to make shots, it creates a different level of energy," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "They made their first couple shots, and I think what happened is their confidence grew in terms of their ability to shoot the basketball."
Confidence was all the Bulldogs had to rely upon.
Coming into the matchup with UF, Georgia was averaging a league-low 64.8 points per game and shooting 41 percent from the floor as well as 32 percent from the 3-point line, good for last and ninth in the conference, respectively.
When Erving Walker's final jump shot bounced off the rim and sealed the Bulldogs' first SEC victory, the scoreboard showed that the Gators allowed their opponent to shoot 57 percent from the field, including 14 of 26 from beyond the arc.
"Every SEC team is going to play above their level," UF guard Nick Calathes said. "They were hungry, they wanted a win and they got the win."
Georgia forward Terrance Woodbury set the tone early and led the charge in exploiting UF's defense, which is ranked 10th in the SEC in both field goal and 3-point percentages allowed.
The Bulldogs' senior leader connected on his first eight shots and dumped in 20 points by halftime. Woodbury, who came into the contest shooting 39 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3-point range, converted seven of his 10 shots from deep on his way to scoring a game-high 32 points.
Donovan described Woodbury as a "streaky player" and hinted he didn't expect that type of performance when he watched the forward on tape.
Both Donovan and UF guard Walter Hodge, who led the Gators with 22 points, said the team played well on offense but couldn't defend well enough to win. Though Hodge pointed to Georgia's ability to spread the court as the main reason for the Bulldogs' success, his coach was displeased with the team's mental mistakes on the defensive side of the ball.
With 7:14 remaining and UF up by 3 points, Calathes was called for a foul while attempting to trap Woodbury in the backcourt, resulting in two made free throws and putting Georgia in the bonus for the rest of the game.
Just 17 seconds later, forward Dan Werner was called for an over-the-back foul on Georgia's Trey Thompkins, giving the Bulldogs two more free throws and a 1-point lead.
"The balance between maintaining the level of aggressiveness and maintaining the level of discipline is a balance we're still trying to figure out," Donovan said.
