Although Mark Fox warned not to take too much away from Thursday’s 94-38 exhibition win over Fort Valley State, there was one area of his team’s play that the Georgia head coach said he’d take every time.

It's effort.

Even when the score against the Division II Wildcats got out of hand, Fox said his team’s ability to keep focused throughout the 56-point rout was nice to see.

“We stayed stable and the game didn’t fall apart. We kept playing the right way,” Fox said. “Because we had depth, we were able to put fresh guys in and they know if they don’t play the right way they’re coming out. I was really pleased as the game went along we continued to play the right way.”

Otherwise, Thursday’s contest was another opportunity for the Bulldogs to get their collective game legs in order before next week’s season-opener at Clemson.

The Bulldogs shot an impressive 49.3 percent from the field, led by Yante Maten who scored a team-high 19 points, including the game’s first 10 points. He was followed by freshman Tyree Crump with 14, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range as every player on the team but two figured into the night’s scoring.

“I know we talked about that a lot last year,” Maten said. “But when I’m able to get going early, it helps the rest of our team because I’m very good at passing the ball if I’m getting trapped or what not, so I just try to make a play for someone else when I know that a lot of attention is coming towards me.”

J.J. Frazier and Mike Edwards chipped in with nine points apiece, while newcomers Pape Diatta and Jordan Harris also enjoyed successful debuts.

Diatta finished with five points in 13 minutes, while Harris hit all three of his field goal attempts, including one of Georgia’s 13 3-pointers on the evening.

The Bulldogs, who outrebounded the Wildcats 54-39, led 51-19 at the half and ultimately led by as many as 61 points.

Defensively, the Bulldogs held Fort Valley State to a mere 24.6 percent from the floor, including 3-of-26 shooting on 3-pointers, but Fox wasn’t necessarily impressed.

“We have bigger guys, more athletic guys, so we should be effective defensively versus this team,” Fox said. “I don’t really think we probably played as good defense as we will need to play against Clemson, or SEC teams. We’ve got a way to go there but I think because of our physical advantages it looked more effective than it probably really is.”

Georgia opens the regular season at Clemson next Friday night.