Another slow start dooms Georgia basketball against No. 14 Florida

“That’s definitely been a topic of discussion in the locker room,” junior guard Blue Cain said. “I just think it’s on the players. We’ve gotta come out with more intensity.”

This time, Florida needed only 36 seconds to grab a lead it never relinquished. After the Gators pulled out to a 10-0 advantage, the Bulldogs never came within five points.

Slow starts have become an issue for the Bulldogs, whose loss dropped them to 17-7 with a 5-6 record in conference play. They fell behind by 20 points within the first five minutes of their loss to Texas A&M on Jan. 31 and trailed by 15 points midway through the first half of their victory over LSU on Saturday.

“I’m not even sure,” junior guard Smurf Millender said of the reason for the problem. “I just feel like the teams that we’re playing against, they just come out really aggressive. They come out and put their foot forward before we do.”

It’s not the first time a Bulldog called out the team’s lack of intensity this season. Coach Mike White said Georgia needed more “fight on the defensive glass,” after its loss to Texas, and claimed the Bulldogs had a “lack of urgency” against the Aggies.

However, Georgia’s matchup against Florida marked the first time this season a comeback felt unattainable. In the Bulldogs’ 20-point loss to Texas on Jan. 24 — which tied their loss to Florida for their largest of the season — they at least held a lead at halftime.

That was not the case against the Gators, who led by 16 points at the break.

“It’s just not a recipe for winning,” White said.

Georgia’s performance was a result of multiple aspects gone awry. The Bulldogs shot a season-low 34.7% from the field — after hitting 50.8% of their shots against LSU — and 27.6% from beyond the arc. They also earned only 11 free throws, their second-lowest mark of the season.

“There wasn’t a hole,” White said of Florida’s defense. “There wasn’t a weak link.”

Georgia’s effort also left much to be desired. The Bulldogs played with more intensity on the glass — getting out-rebounded by only seven, 14 fewer than their previous matchup with Florida — but lacked urgency in transition.

The Bulldogs got caught up in celebrating baskets, instead of sprinting to the other side of the court to defend the Gators’ next possession.

“We’ll do our best as a staff to figure out how we can get off to a better start,” White said. “If that means playing five guys that are going to bring the most energy, that look like they got energy at pregame meal — I don’t know. But you’ve got to sprint up and down the court in this league to have success.”

It’s no coincidence one of the Bulldogs’ worst offensive performances came with leading-scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson on the bench because of an injury.

Cain picked up some of the slack with a team-leading 17 points — his most since scoring 18 on Jan. 17 against Arkansas — while Millender notched 15, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the reigning national champions, who ran off the court to a sea of cheers from their traveling fans.

White did not have a timeline for Wilkinson’s return.

Georgia will next travel to Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs will aim to boost their resume with slightly more than a month before Selection Sunday.

And avoid another slow start in the process.