Williams Leads Georgia Upset of No. 7 Florida

Seventh-ranked Florida lost yet another key player to a devastating injury. Like the rest of the Southeastern Conference, Georgia won’t be sending any sympathy cards.

Playing with essentially the same eight-man lineup they’ve used all year, the Bulldogs got 24 points from Ezra Williams on Wednesday night and defeated the depleted Gators, 75-72, at Gainesville, Fla., for their 10th victory, the same number they had all last season.

Florida guard Justin Hamilton will almost certainly be sidelined for the season because of what was initially diagnosed as a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

He’ll have an MRI today.

The Gators came into the game without starting guard Teddy Dupay (back) and starting forward Brent Wright (foot), and are down to only seven scholarship players.

“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” Gator Coach Billy Donovan said. “I’m sure the way other people are looking at it is they’re saying, ‘Here’s a chance to get a win.’ ”

Georgia, 10-7 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, went first thanks to clutch performances by Williams, D.A. Layne and freshman point guard Rashad Wright.

While Georgia Coach Jim Harrick said he felt for the Gators (11-3, 1-2), he knows what it’s like to play with a shallow lineup. Suddenly, that lineup is coming through for his team.

“There are some games you don’t deserve to win,” Harrick said. “But I thought we deserved to win this game. We hung in there and did a good job.”

Williams made a layup to give the Bulldogs a 69-68 lead with 3:20 to play and made sure they never relinquished it.

No. 5 Kansas 84, Nebraska 62--Kenny Gregory had 20 points and nine rebounds as the Jayhawks (14-1, 3-0) rolled over the Cornhuskers (8-8, 1-2) at Lawrence, Kan., and took over first place in the Big 12.

No. 6 North Carolina 92, Clemson 65--Joseph Forte scored 14 points and the streaking Tar Heels (14-2, 4-0) made a season-high 12 three-point shots in routing the Tigers (10-7, 1-3) at Chapel Hill, N.C.--running their all-time home record against Clemson to 47-0.

The victory by North Carolina was its 11th in a row overall and tied the Tar Heels with No. 2 Duke for the Atlantic Coast Conference lead.

No. 12 Maryland 81, No. 10 Wake Forest 71--Juan Dixon scored 30 points and Lonny Baxter had 18 points and 15 rebounds as the Terrapins (13-4, 4-1) cruised to a surprisingly easy ACC victory over the Demon Deacons (13-3, 2-3) at College Park, Md.

No. 11 Illinois 63, Northwestern 49--Brian Cook scored the last eight points in a 13-2 second-half run and the Illini (14-4, 4-1) overcame the loss of injured center Marcus Griffin to finally pull away from the Wildcats (7-10, 0-5) in a Big Ten game at Evanston, Ill.

No. 15 Alabama 82, No. 21 Mississippi 63--Erwin Dudley scored 24 points and Tarik London had a career-high 18 to lead the Crimson Tide (14-2, 3-1) to an SEC victory over the Rebels (14-3, 2-2) at Tuscaloosa, Ala.