The Georgetown Hoyas trail the Florida Gators, 27-23, in a defensive first half aboard the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, Florida. Georgetown came in unranked as they face the #10 Gators, but were able to stay within striking distance of Florida despite allowing 46% shooting by forcing eight turnovers.
Georgetown had difficulty all half against Florida's zone defense. Limited to a perimeter game by that zone, the Hoyas shot only 10-27 in the first half. 13 of those 27 shots were from downtown, of which Georgetown made only three. Forwards Nate Lubick and Otto Porter led Georgetown with seven points apiece, while Greg Whittington added four rebounds.
Florida fared little better from the outside, making three of ten attempts from beyond the arc, but the Gators were able to penetrate the Georgetown defense with much more frequency, hitting 7-12 from inside the arc and outrebounding the Hoyas, 13-11. Will Yequete and Erik Murphy led the Hoyas with 8 and 7 points, respectively.