A sparkling debut by Asa Newell overcame an otherwise difficult opener for Georgia, which needed every point from the freshman to fend off Tennessee Tech, 83-78.
The former five-star lived up to his preseason billing.
Newel poured in 26 points, tying Bulldog legend Dominique Wilkins for the most points by a Georgia freshman. He also had 11 rebounds and three blocks. Wilkins turned the trick against Troy.
Newell became just the third Bulldog since 2000 to score 25-plus points, pull down 11-plus rebounds, and block three shots since Tre Thompkins did it twice (2009 vs. New Orleans and 2010 versus Tennessee) and Yante Maten (2018 versus LSU).
“I just want to say teammates did a great job of getting me the ball and we just ran our offense,” shrugged Newell, who smiled when asked if he knew of the former Bulldog from over 40 years ago.
“Dominique? Oh yeah, for sure, the Human Highlight Reel, for sure,” Newell said. “I’ve got a Dominique jersey back at the crib.”
Before Newell’s career is done, his jersey may be a popular item as well.
“He's about the right stuff. He'll be in the gym tomorrow morning getting shots up on his own. He'll be there on the day off tomorrow. He'll be begging the GAs to get in the gym to work him out. That's just who he is. In the summer, we had to kick him out of the gym,” head coach Mike White said. “He understands that he gets it. He knows that we weren't at our best defensively. He'll put some of that on himself, although he was fantastic. I don't think there were as many defensive miscues with him as there were across the board, generally speaking. Six offensive rebounds, in passing lanes defensively, altering shots at the rim. He's mature beyond his years. He's an accountable player.
Otherwise, for a team that raced past the same UCF team (114-76) that beat No. 13 Texas A&M Monday night, the Bulldogs struggled against a Tennessee Tech team that won just 10 games last year.
Except for transfer Dakota Leffew, who finished with 18 points, Georgia’s guards never really got on track against the Golden Eagles.
The trio of Blue Cain (4 of 9), Silas Demary Jr. (1 of 6), and Tyrin Lawrence (1 of 6), shot a combined 6 for 20.
Defensively, the Bulldogs also struggled to contain the Golden Eagles’ perimeter game after Tennessee Tech converted 11 of its 28 three-point attempts. Georgia converted just four of its three-point attempts in 11 tries.
“Their tempo offensively, just the overall tempo of the game, they looked really quick and fast. You go back as a coach, and you think about everything you've done the last 72 hours in preparation. We just looked a little bit slower to the ball than those guys did,” White said. “We struggled to contain them. They pressured us into a few ill-advised decisions. We did have some interior looks that just rolled around the rim and didn't go. We had some open looks early from three that didn't go then all of a sudden, you're dealing with a team that's an inferior opponent that's playing with nothing to lose, that's making shots and playing with confidence. I thought Tennessee Tech could have won that game.”
Newell agreed.
“They play a five-out, you know, small guards, and they want to space out and shoot a lot of threes,” he said. “Our pick-up point wasn't high enough. We just let them come down, and do whatever they wanted. We've got to be more aggressive in our transition.”
There were some other positives.
Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey tallied his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
White feels his team will bounce back well.
“I love where we're at in terms of culture and connection and chemistry, but tonight we struggled. How we respond to our struggles tonight will be telling moving forward in terms of how connected we really are,” he said. “It's easy to be connected when you're up 30. It's easy to be connected when you haven't played an exhibition and everybody's scoring in practice. We've got a bunch of really, really good guys, too. We're off (Tuesday). When we come back on Wednesday, we'll learn a lot about who we are in terms of our approach to practice. I'll be shocked if we don't have a really good one.”
This and that
… Georgia was 30 of 48 on 2-pt field goals (62.5 percent)
… Georgia’s bench had 25 pts and made 10/15 FG
… Georgia is 7-2 all-time with 10+ steals under Mike White
… Points in the Paint: UGA 58 – Tennessee Tech.36
