GAINESVILLE -- After a lackluster defensive effort in a road loss to Tennessee on Saturday, Florida coach Billy Donovan challenged his team heading into Tuesday’s home game against rival Georgia.

The Gators (13-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) responded, handily dispatching the Bulldogs (9-7, 0-2 SEC) 70-48 in the O’Connell Center, spearheaded by a nearly complete effort on defense.

“I was much more pleased with our effort on that end of the floor, our level of awareness, being alert, sharp, focused,” Donovan said. “I thought we defended them very, very well. Obviously, we held them to 48 points. Any time you hold a team to 48 points, you’ve done a pretty good job defensively.”

Donovan made a concerted effort to emphasize defensive intensity in practice leading up to the game, and what better opportunity for a turnaround than to have Georgia, with the lowest scoring average (62.9 ppg) and the second-worst field goal percentage (.409) in the SEC, come into Gainesville for a home game?

The Gators took full advantage, limiting the Bulldogs to a 20-for-55 shooting performance (36.4 percent) and setting a season low in points allowed (48).

“We could have done even better than we did,” center Patric Young said. “We gave up too many three-point shots. We had a lot of breakdowns. They offensive rebounded on us a lot. I feel that even though we had a season low, we could have done even better than we did tonight.”

Young finished with eight points, 10 boards and one of six Gators blocks on the evening. They also created five steals and turned the Bulldogs over 10 times.

Still, Georgia held a 14-6 advantage on the offensive glass and made seven of the 18 threes it attempted, momentarily allowing them to pull within 13 points late in the second half.

But for the majority of the game, Florida pursued aggressively each loose ball and rebound, something it failed to do in the road loss to Tennessee.

Against the Volunteers, Donovan said the Gators gave up too many easy shots and didn’t maintain focus on defense. That wasn’t a problem Tuesday, as contested nearly every shot Georgia put up until the game was out of reach.

“We played a lot harder,” Beal said of the quick turnaround on defense. “UAB and Tennessee, we gave up too many points in transition. We were too lackadaisical on defense, and tonight I feel we did a pretty good job.”

On the other end of the floor, Beal broke out of a miniature slump, tying Kenny Boynton for the game high in points with 17. Beal, the Gators’ leader in minutes and rebounds and second-leading scorer, had not broken double digits in Florida’s last two games.

“He had a much, much better feel and flow today offensively than he’s had in a few games,” Donovan said.

Next up, Florida travels to Columbia, S.C., to play South Carolina (8-7, 0-1 SEC) in what should be UF’s best opportunity to grab its first road win of the season.