Auburn rolls past Bulldogs
To say Georgia’s basketball team does not have much of a margin for error was painfully obvious watching the Bulldogs Wednesday night at No. 2 Auburn.
The Bulldogs never had a chance, as the Tigers rolled to an easy 83-60 win.
“We have a small margin for error right now,” said head coach Tom Crean, whose Bulldogs (5-13, 0-5) played the game without Kario Oquendo due to a lower body injury.
“It was going to be hard no matter what, and then, without Kario Oquendo, it got a lot harder. We played hard. When we played it the right way and moved the ball, even if we missed, we were getting great looks,” Crean said. “We played the zone more aggressively when we were coming down from 24 to 16. We had six stops in a row, and they started settling for threes and we were able to rebound the ball.”
But it simply too much Auburn (17-1, 6-0).
The Tigers, who led by as many as 24 points, saw the Bulldogs climb within 16 on a three-pointer by Noah Baumann with 9:58. But that would be as close as Georgia would get.
“We cut it to 16 in the second half, and then I subbed,” Crean said. “I’m kicking myself for subbing to be honest with you, because we were making a run.”
Christian Wright led the Bulldogs with 16 points, followed by Baumann and Braelen Bridges with 11 points apiece.
Crean said Oquendo is day to day.
“I’ve just got to watch the film and get ready for the next game. That’s all I can do,” Crean said. “We made some runs, but we didn’t move as well on defense and gave them open threes. I’ve just got to watch the film and take it from there.”
Auburn outshot the Bulldogs 46 percent (33-of-72) to 42 percent (21-of-50), with 20 of the Tigers’ points coming on 10 dunks.
Georgia travels to South Carolina on Saturday night.