Mike White does something rare against Florida and still gets blown out by the Gators

One of these days, it might get old for Florida to lay the smackdown on Mike White, but Wednesday was not that day. The Gators rolled into Athens and cruised to an 86-66 win to move to 8-1 against Georgia since White left Gainesville for the Bulldogs. 

The irony of the beatdown is that Georgia actually did something against Florida that almost no one has been able to do all season, and the night still ended with Rueben Chinyleu busting out a BTA celebration as time expired.

Florida beats down Georgia in Athens

Called a jinx if one must, but prior to Wednesday’s game, we had highlighted how only once this season had Florida given up a run of 10-0 or more. That came during the opening minutes of the loss against Auburn.

After a layup by Chinyelu with 47 seconds left in the 1st half, Florida shot out to a 43-23 lead, and the rout was on. But credit to the fighting Mike Whites, who strung together an 11-0 run between the end of the first half and the start of the second half to cut the lead to nine.

Back-to-back three pointers by Thomas Haugh and Urban Klavzar shot the lead back up to 15, and eventually a Boogie Fland three got the lead as high as 23 points. Georgia kept fighting and once against shrunk the lead to 10 points with four minutes to play, but a Xaivian Lee three and a Fland jumper once again squashed the rebellion, and in true Mike White fashion, the Bulldogs didn’t have the firepower to keep pace, leading to the eventual 20-point win.

Built for March

Wednesday was the exact type of game Florida needed to win to showcase its versatility to win in March. The knock on Florida has been whether or not its guards are going to be able to make enough shots if teams opt to collapse the paint. 

The back-to-back shots by Lee and Fland are the exact type of shots in March that a team is going to need to make to survive upset attempts and avoid a spot in the One Shining Moment montage.

The Gators are also finding bench scoring Isaiah Brown and Klavzar, who combined for 5-8 from three. Florida as a whole was a solid 10-26 from deep.

Next up is another ghost from the past as Denzel Arberdeen and Kentucky will come to town on Saturday at 3 PM.