By: Ryan Tate

Despite a heart breaking loss to South Carolina the Gators seem to be gaining some
momentum. The Gators were lead by star Nick Calathes who came out with his second
career triple double and only the third in Gator history. Alex Tyus finished with
18 points and Chandler Parsons finished with 12 to clinch the Gators eleventh
straight victory over Georgia.

Despite being pulled out of the game with over four minutes to go the sophomore
guard/forward had 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Gators trampling
over the Dogs. Calathes seemed unstoppable and was able to drive to the net all
night as well as create easy shots for his teammates. Florida finished the first
half up 42-30 and held Georgia to just 19 points in the second half. The Gators
also put a cap on Georgia head coach Dennis Felton’s seven season career at Georgia
as he was fired shortly after the Dogs walking by the Gators.

Florida is now tied with Kentucky for first place in the SEC East. The Gators next
test will be at Tennessee on Saturday night followed by what Gator fans hope to be a
revenge match-up with South Carolina and then at Kentucky for a tough match-up.
Florida’s game with Kentucky, this coming Tuesday, looks to be a great match-up as
Calathes will battle with Kentucky’s junior sensation Jodie Meeks who is averaging
25.8 points per game and had a career high of 54 points over Tennessee earlier in
the month.

With all of the success in recent years the bar has been set high for the Gators and
much criticism has been put on the young team about their ability to bring another
South Eastern Conference title to Gainesville. However the Gators seem to be
hitting their stride. Perhaps the loss to South Carolina may indeed have “helped
the Gators more then they will ever know”. The Gators are now in the same position
as they were last year when like this year they started with at 5-1 in conference
record and 18-3 overall. Last year at this point the Gators took a free fall losing
8 out of their last 11 games and missed the NCAA tournament. It’s time to see if
they learned from their mistakes and if Nick Calethes can guide his team to the big
dance.