It is said that all good things must come to an end. 

And that includes UNF Basketball’s historic start to the season. 

The UNF men’s basketball team’s magical start to the season, which notched 14 AP Top 25 votes and national recognition, took a minor setback on Tuesday night, losing 90-77 to the University of Georgia Bulldogs.

First Half

The Ospreys started slow, shooting one for six from the field and allowing five UGA offensive rebounds. This all culminated in an 8-3 Georgia lead at the first media timeout barely four minutes into the game.

Senior guard Nate Lliteras and junior guard Kamrin Oriol sunk several threes to cut Georgia’s lead to 10-8. The Bulldogs responded with two straight three-pointers of their own, forcing an Osprey timeout. A three-point fest ensued as both teams traded blows, making the score 21-15 for Georgia with 12 minutes left.

Oriol continued his three-point barrage, knocking down his third of the game to cut the deficit back to six points. By the next media timeout, the Ospreys trailed 26-20. UNF began to keep pace with UGA, but fouling kept the Ospreys down, courtesy of eight Georgia free throws. UNF gave up easy Georgia looks near the basket, as the Bulldogs scored 22 points in the paint in half-one.  

Trailing 33-27, UGA proceeded to go on an 8-0 run, with most of the points coming off UNF turnovers. At the first half’s end, the Ospreys struggled on both sides of the ball because of foul and turnover issues. UNF faltered from the three-point line, shooting 5 for 16 before the intermission. North Florida went into the locker room at halftime, trailing 43-31. 

Second Half

The final frame was more of the same. Scoring struggles, turnovers, and foul issues continued to plague the Ospreys. Similar to the first half, UNF opened the second half one for seven from the field, leading to an 8-3 Georgia run before a UNF timeout. 

The Ospreys responded by knocking down a trio of jump shots to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 53-41 with 15 minutes remaining.  UGA answered with six straight points, furthering their lead to 18. 

UNF refused to go down without a fight. Graduate student forward Liam Murphy scored North Florida’s next 10 points, fueling a 13-5 run to cut the deficit back to 10 with just over 10 minutes in the game. 

A Lliteras three shrank Georgia’s lead to single digits, 66-57, but the Bulldogs went on a 15-4 run to ice the game. North Florida trailed 81-61 with 4:20 left. 

The Ospreys ended up losing 90-77, allowing the Bulldogs to shoot over 53% from the field. UNF also committed 24 fouls, by far the most this season. Despite the loss, North Florida defeated ACC and SEC opponents for the first time in program history last week. 

“What they did in our first week will be unmatched for a long long time to come,” head coach Matthew Driscoll told UNF Athletics. 

Four Ospreys scored in the double-digits, with Murphy and Lliteras leading the way with 22 and 15 respectively. Overall, UNF failed to keep up with Georgia offensively. 

“I thought [Georgia] came at us with an uberly high level of aggression, physicality,” said Driscoll. 

North Florida falls to 3-1 and Georgia improves to 3-0. 

The Ospreys return home next Monday to host winless UNC Asheville. Tip off is at 7 p.m. at UNF Arena.