TV: ESPN
TIME: 4 p.m.
Florida coach Mike White was sort of an unhappy man after a 72-60 loss to Georgia on Wednesday night.
No. 23 Florida was outrebounded (by nine) and shot just 36.5 percent from the field. The Gators also missed 15 in a row in the second half and 20 of 21 at one point during the final 20 minutes in a shaky performance.
Now the question is whether Florida (15-7, 6-3) do better Saturday against Alabama in an SEC game in Gainesville, Fla., that the Gators won't want to lose.
However, the problem is that Florida has been wildly inconsistent this season, playing great for stretches and then struggling in others.
They made it back to the Top 25 recently -- a loss in this game will certainly knock them out, although the loss to Georgia already might have done that -- but have split their last six games.
White simply didn't like the team's effort against Georgia.
"I'm just disappointed," White said. "We've shown more fight than that."
Graduate transfer guard Egor Koulechov said the Gators need to come through on offense when the time is right.
In some games and for stretches, they've done it. But Florida hasn't been able to sustain it.
"It's up to us to make more shots, too," Koulechov said. "Eventually, you have to make plays. That's what it comes down to."
White said his team also didn't display enough of a physical presence in that game. He did not like what he saw early, and things did not get better.
"They set the tone," White said. "The first 10 minutes, I didn't feel good about it at all. (Overall), they played with more edge than we did."
Jalen Hudson (16.2 ppg) and Koulechov (14.5) are the team's two leading scorers. Florida has firepower with four players who are averaging in double figures.
But so does Alabama, which boasts four players averaging at least 10 points per game, topped by Collin Sexton (18.7 ppg) and John Petty (11.5) -- both freshmen who lead a rather young team.
Alabama (14-8, 5-4) is coming off a 69-60 loss to Missouri and is 5-2 in its last seven games. Still, this begins a tough period of games for the Tide, who will play four of the next six on the road.
This will be Alabama's fifth game this season against a team in the AP Top 25. The Tide have a 3-1 record in those matchups and so they won't back down.
Alabama coach Avery Johnson said he knows how good Florida can be on the court if everything goes the right way.
"You're playing against another outstanding, well-coached team," Johnson said. "(It's) a team that has veteran leadership. They're deep in terms of their 3-point shooting, their versatility."
The Gators certainly have the tools. They just haven't been able to put the pieces together consistently yet -- something that would make White a much happier coach.
