FINAL: No. 14 Florida 86, Georgia 66

What Happened

ATHENS, Ga. – Guard Xaivian Lee tallied 18 points to lead five Florida players into double-figure scoring while center Rueben Chinyelu was dominant inside in grabbing 20 rebounds, as 14th-ranked Florida did a wire-to-wire number on rival Georgia with an 86-66 victory in their Southeastern Conference game Wednesday night at sold-out Stegeman Coliseum.

The win was UF's fourth straight, its fifth consecutive on the road -- marking the third-longest such streak in program history -- and kept the Gators alone atop the league standings.

Lee went seven of 14 from the floor, including three of nine from the 3-point line and also dished seven assists without a turnover over 32 minutes. Point guard Boogie Fland added 15 points and backup guard Isaiah Brown was terrific off the bench in scoring 12 points with a 3-for-4 effort from the 3-point line.

The Gators shot 51% for the game, including 10-for-26 from distance (38.5%), and defended the Bulldogs, the SEC's highest-scoring at 92.0 points per game, to just 34.7% and their lowest scoring output of the season.

UF scored the game's first 10 points and grew the lead to as high as 20 late in the first period, as the Gators shot 48.5% for the period to the Bulldogs' 33.3. Fland scored six of those first 10 points out of the gate. The lead was 13-7 when Lee and Brown buried back-to-back 3s. Two minutes later, they did it again on the way to building a 43-23 lead in great part because of a Bulldogs' dry spell when they missed 11 of 12 field-goal tries.

UGA, which was without leading scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.2 points per game), scored the last bucket of the half on a Marcus "Smurf" Millender buzzer-beater, then opened the second half scoring the first seven points to cut the UF lead to just nine. That's when UF forward Thomas Haugh hit first first field goal of the game, a 3-pointer, and backup guard Urban Klavzar added another in succession to take the margin back to 15, and eventually to 22 with 11 minutes remaining.

UF guard **Xaivian Lee** (1) surveys the Georgia defense Wednesday night.

Turning Point

The game certainly wasn't over after that 10-0 run to start, but it was definitely a tone-setter.

Staggering Statistic

UF's average margin of victory during the five-game road winning streak is 21.4 points.

Up Next

Florida (18-6, 9-2) returns home Saturday for the first time in nearly two weeks for the first of two games against Kentucky, one of the hottest teams in the SEC. The Wildcats, a game back alongside Arkansas for second place in the league standings, have won eight of the past nine and will be coming off their mid-week bye. The Gators have not beaten the Cats in Gainesville since 2017.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.

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