MEN’S BASKETBALL
Florida 77, Georgia 64

An uninspired effort in a 77-64 loss to rival Florida at Stegeman Coliseum Wednesday night appeared to leave the Georgia men’s basketball team in a desperate state.

“I feel like we didn’t play with any intensity,” junior guard Terrance Woodbury said.

“We came in tonight like it was just another day, just another practice, when that’s not the case. We’re fighting for our lives right now to get into the NIT, and the way we played tonight isn’t acceptable.”

The Bulldogs fell behind early and never threatened the Gators, getting as close as nine points down with 16:38 remaining before Florida scored six straight points to go ahead 56-41 at the 13-minute mark.

Head coach Dennis Felton said the Bulldogs may at last be feeling the effects of their thin eight-man rotation.

“Tonight we looked like a team that hit some sort of wall,” Felton said.

“This team has been depleted and gotten more depleted, and that could be catching up with us.”

The loss sullied a career-best performance from sophomore forward Albert Jackson, who scored 12 points in his first start as a Bulldog.

“We’ve got to find something inside ourselves, find some heart,” Jackson said. “We haven’t got that little edge to pull the games out, and we’ve got to find it somewhere. I don’t know where, but we’ve got to find it.”

The Gators (21-7, 8-5 SEC) jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first four minutes behind three 3-pointers from Nick Calathes, who scored a game-high 22 points.

Georgia (12-14, 3-10) trailed by as many as 18 en route to its ninth loss in 10 games.