One of the things that defined the Mike White Era during his time at Florida was that he wasn’t a “bad” coach; he was just mid. He could get the Gators to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, but unless he had Chris Chiozza hitting a miracle runner, that was his ceiling. Eventually, Gator fans grew tired of being mid, White left for Georgia, and Todd Golden came in and won a national title.
Tuesday night was a reminder of why Gator fans who wanted White out have been validated as Florida pulled away from Georgia in the 2nd half for an easy 92-77 victory to move to 10-5 on the year and 1-1 in SEC play.
Florida makes light work of Georgia
If someone had told you prior to the game that one of the two teams was ranked, you would have never guessed it was Georgia. To White’s credit, the Bulldogs came to Gainesville noted for a newfound uptempo style and had the highest scoring team in the country.
Florida was quick, though, to pop the mirage that has been Georgia this season, as the Bulldogs have yet to beat a Quad 1 opponent, and eight of their 13 wins have come against Quad 4 teams. The Gators had zero points from their starting guards in the 1st half (Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland) and still had a halftime lead, in part because Bulldogs center Somto Cyril got himself ejected after throwing a UFC-style elbow at Rueben Chinyelu.
Once Lee and Fland started scoring, the rout was on. Florida’s one-point halftime lead quickly turned into a 12-point lead with 14 minutes to play, and Georgia got no closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Thomas Haugh had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Alex Condon also had 21 points to go with eight rebounds. Even Fland managed eight points in the 2nd half to go along with eight total rebounds and six assists.
For Florida, Tuesday night was a validation of what the advanced metrics keep hinting at:
The Gators still have the ceiling to make the Elite Eight and beyond if they can just get average play from their guards.
Florida fans, it was a validation that Mike White was never going to be the guy to get it done in Gainesville, as he is now 1-7 against Florida since moving to Athens.
Florida is now 1-1 in SEC play and will take on Tennessee this Saturday.