Somto Cyril’s ejection paves way for Florida’s frontcourt’s dominance against Georgia

With Florida up by one with 10:14 left in the first half, “you can’t do that,” chants echoed from the Gators fans in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. 

Georgia’s Somto Cyril was ejected from the contest after his elbow on Rueben Chinyelu's head/neck area was called a flagrant 2 foul. With the No. 5 shotblocker in the nation out of the picture, Florida’s frontcourt came to life.

The Gators went on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a Chinyelu alley-oop, which was quickly followed by a Thomas Haugh slam, forcing Georgia head coach Mike White to call a timeout. 

While the Bulldogs kept pace and only trailed 41-40 at the break, the Gators, who came into the game No. 1 in rebounding margin, offensive rebounds per game and total boards per contest, took full advantage of Cyril’s absence in the second half.

"That was a big part of the game when he got ejected,” junior forward Alex Condon said. “Since then, we just outrebounded them, and the game was kind of upwards from there for us."

Florida finished Tuesday’s game with a 56-35 rebounding advantage and scored 20 more paint points than the Bulldogs en route to a 92-77 upset over No. 18 Georgia. The Gators picked up their first ranked wins of the season in their Southeastern Conference home opener.

"Tonight was a game that we needed, and an opportunity for us to play against a very good team,” head coach Todd Golden said. “To beat a really good Georgia team at home here by 15 is a really good win for our program.”

Haugh was at the heart of Florida’s frontcourt, racking up 21 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. He also led the Gators with four blocks and three steals. 

At the break, he had a team-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds and four assists.

Meanwhile, Alex Condon finished the night with 21 points and eight rebounds. He logged 11 points at the break on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. He opened the scoring for Florida in both halves, including on a dunk from Boogie Fland’s lob pass in the second half.

To round out Florida’s starting frontcourt, Chinyelu recorded 10 points. His block on a Marcus Millender layup led to a Xavian Lee 3-pointer that gave the Gators a 69-54 lead with 8:03 left in the contest.

Off the bench, Micah Handlogten also benefited from Cyril’s absence, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds, marking his fourth double-digit rebounding effort on the season. His put-back score put Florida up by 10 with about 14 minutes left in the second half.

Urban Klavzar also provided some support off the bench with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. His third 3-pointer gave Florida a 76-53 lead with 6:24 left in the contest. 

Defensively, the Gators’ frontcourt kept Cyril’s replacement, Justin Abson, out of the contest. The senior forward ended the night with 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting.

Moreover, Florida’s defense also held UGA’s guards in check.

Jeremiah Wilkinson, who came into the contest leading UGA with 18.3 points per game, recorded 2 points, going 1 for 9 from the field. Blue Cain, who came into the game averaging 15.6 points an outing, finished with 8 points on 3-of-9 shooting 

“We had a great urgency on the perimeter,” Golden said. “Our game plan is we’re going to live with tough twos over hands, but we’re not going to live with good threes. And I thought they took some tough ones and I think that shows in their percentage.”

Florida will look to build off its first conference victory of the season as it hosts No. 21 Tennessee Saturday at 12 p.m.

Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.

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