GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Weather in the Atlanta metropolitan area prevented Helen and Al Thomas of making the three-hour drive to Columbia., S.C., to see their son play what just may have been the game of his life for the Florida Gators.
Will Richard had scored more points, grabbed more rebounds and won bigger games during his basketball being, but his performance in UF’s 70-69 last-second victory was unforgettable; both in the Richard household in Fairburn, Ga., and across Gator Nation.
“They thought the neighbors were scared that there may be a fight or something, they were yelling so much,” Richard said Tuesday of his parents’ reaction in real-time Wednesday night when their boy threw in a high-arching, off-the-glass, left-handed layup with 4.8 seconds to play for the team’s first lead of the game and big road win. “She called me before the game. We pray before every game and she said, ‘You’re about to have a big one.’ “
She was clairvoyant, as it turned out. Richard scored 22 points, grabbed four rebounds (three on the offensive end) and had three high-decible steals in the second half that fueled his team’s rally from 14 down with 12 minutes to go.
“I couldn’t believe how many winning plays he made in that game,” UF coach Golden said. “Every time something went our way, he was a part of it. You need guys to step up like that in moments [the team] may not be at our best. He just refused to lose.”
All season, a constant of this 2024-25 Florida team has been not knowing who might step up on a given night. Will it be Walter Clayton Jr. or Alijah Martin? Alex Condon or Thomas Haugh? Rueben Chinyelu or Denzel Aberdeen or Sam Alexis? Maybe it will be Richard again Saturday for the fifth-ranked Gators (17-2, 5-2), considering he’s been known to show up against his home-state Georgia Bulldogs (14-5, 2-4), the afternoon opponent at sold-out Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center.
UGA, under the previous coaching regime, did not recruit Richard, who was doing some good things just an hour to the east. He hasn’t forgotten, but he’s also not consumed by the snub.
“There’s definitely a little fuel in the fire, but we have to treat every game the same,” Richard said.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry‘s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
UF has won 11 straight games against rival UGA, the third-longest streak against a Southeastern Conference team in program history. The short-term goal, of course, is a 12th straight, which would equal the second-longest.
CHARTING THE GATORS: Longest SEC streaks
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| Streak | Opponent | From | Of note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Tennessee | Feb. 16, 1991 to March 3, 1998 | Half came against Volunteers coach Wade Houston, with five vs son Allan Houston, No. 2 scorer in SEC history. |
| 12 | Mississippi State | Jan. 4, 1984 to Feb. 22, 1989 | Bulldogs were bad for a long time, went 28 years (1963-91) between NCAA Tournament berths. |
| 11 | Georgia | Feb. 5, 2020 to present | Streak started with record-setting 22-point comeback against eventual Anthony Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick 2020 NBA Draft. |
| Auburn | Feb. 18, 2010 to Feb. 24, 2018 | Last wins came against Bruce Pearl, who is 5-4 vs Gators since, including win in SEC Tournament title game. | |
| Alabama | Feb. 18, 2009 to March 12, 2015 | Streak began and ran for 10 games against Anthony Grant, longtime assistant at UF to Billy Donovan. | |
| Georgia | March 3, 2004 to Feb. 27, 2010 | In 2005, Gators won 70-47 at home and (get this) 50-38 at Athens. That’s a 42.5 points-per-game average. | |
| Alabama | Jan. 27, 1964 to Jan. 7, 1970 | Nobody was paying attention to Tide basketball (See Bryant, Paul “Bear”) | |
| 10 | Auburn | Jan. 24, 2001 to Jan. 14, 2009 | Half of these wins came against Cliff Ellis, who got the Tigers’ program doing in the mid-’90s. |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | Feb. 13, 2019 to March 1, 2022 | This still didn’t make up for the unfathomable 5-game losing skid vs. the Commodores that included 3-game sweep during 27-win, 2017 Elite Eight season. |
| South Carolina | Jan. 27, 2001 to Feb. 27, 2005 | Gators lost 6 straight (’96-98) to Donovan foil Eddie Fogler, then won 13 of 14, last 8 vs. Dave Odom. | |
| Ole Miss | Jan. 16, 1965 to Jan. 27, 1969 | This run came when Johnny Neumann was an underclassman; before he averaged 40.1 points as SEC Player of the Year in ’70-71. | |
| Georgia | Feb. 29, 1964 to Jan. 22, 1968 | First four came under Norm Sloan, who bolted for North Carolina State in ’66. |
* Research by Denver Parler
If the matchup sounds lopsided, it’s not. The Gators need only to remind themselves how the Gamecocks were winless in their first five league games – and were missing two injured starters – before building their big lead and being ahead on the scoreboard for 38 minutes, 33 seconds – until Richard’s spectacular shot put his team ahead for the first time in the game.
When was Richard’s last game-winner?
“Elementary or middle school,” he said. “It’s been a minute.”
Sort of like Georgia’s last win in the series, which came back in 2019. The Bulldogs have mostly struggled in the years since, but in ’24-25 – the third season under former UF coach Mike White – they won 12 of their 13 non-conference games and two of their first three SEC games (including a home upset of Kentucky) and jumped into The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2009.
They’ve lost three straight since, but the Bulldogs are dangerous because they can defend – No. 14 in the country in efficiency and third in the SEC – and they have projected 2025 NBA lottery pick in 6-foot-11, 220-pound forward Asa Newell, who alongside his teammates will try to out-work the UF frontcourt like South Carolina did just three nights earlier.
The Gators, meanwhile, will be looking for their next-in-line refuse-to-lose guy to step up.
Whoever it is, he’ll have a tough act to follow.
“Special player,” Condon, the sophomore forward, said of Richard. “On that last play, you could just see it in his eyes.”
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
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