AUBURN, Ala. – Unlike last week’s debacle at Tennessee, Georgia head coach Tom Crean still felt good about his team midway through the second half Saturday afternoon at No. 11 Auburn.
Even down by double-digits with less than 10 minutes to play, Crean still gave his team a fighting chance.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, getting over the hump proved another thing entirely as the Tigers were able to keep Georgia at arm’s length the rest of the way before easing to a 93-78 win before a sold-out crowd of 9,121.
“This the first time where we didn’t shoot the ball very well considering our openings,” Crean said. “But I felt we were always in it.”
After hovering around the 10-point mark for most of the game, Georgia had a chance to cut to nine but after a steal by Jared Harper, the Tigers’ talented point guard lobbed the ball to Dunbar who slammed it home, bringing the crowd to its feet, forcing a timeout by the Bulldogs with 4:04 left to play.
“When Harper got the turnover and threw the lob, that was the turning point right there,” Crean said. “That got the crowd back into it.”
The Bulldogs would get no closer as Auburn (12-3, 1-2) pushed the margin to as many as 18 points before closing out the 15-point victory.
“We were sitting there at 10, 11, I always thought we were right there and our guys did, too,” Crean said. “But in a game like this, it comes down to the hustle points and they scored six more points off turnovers and scored seven more points off second chances. When you play a team that I believe is the No. 1 offensive rebounding percentage team in the country like they were the other day when I looked, you can’t have that.” The numbers didn’t lie.
Auburn held advantages over Georgia in every statistical category, holding a 39-33 edge in rebounding, although just a 22-21 edge on the offensive end.
The Tigers out-shot the Bulldogs 50 (34 of 68) to 44 percent (26 of 58).
“We felt the same as Coach. I felt throughout the game that we were so close but yet so far,” sophomore Nicolas Claxton said. “We’d cut the lead, then they’d come down and hit a three. We know what we have to build on. We’ll be ready to put this behind us and be ready for Kentucky.”
Five different players finished in double-figures for Auburn, led by Harper with 22 points, followed by Bryce Brown with 15 and Anfernee McLemore with 15 each. Malik Dunbar and Samir Dougherty both scored 11 for the Tigers.
Turtle Jackson scored a season-high 16 points to lead the Bulldogs, followed by Claxton with 15, Tyree Crump with 14 and Teshaun Hightower with 12.
Rayshaun Hammonds led Georgia’s rebounding effort with 10, but continued his up-and-down play on the offensive end, finishing with just nine points.
“I’m not worried about him. He’s still banged up a little bit,” Crean said. “He’s just got to keep looking for openings. If there’s one thing, he’s got to rebound the ball offensively better and he’s got to make a quicker move whether he’s in the post or on the perimeter when he has the ball which makes it harder for someone to dig or double off him when he’s trying to get to the basket.”
Unlike last Saturday’s SEC opener when the Bulldogs were ultimately blown out at Tennessee, Georgia kept its composure early on against the Tigers and their sellout crowd.
After surviving an early barrage of three pointers by Harper, Dougherty and Dunbar to put Auburn ahead 11-4, the Bulldogs chipped away, ultimately going up 22-20 on a three-pointer by Jordan Harris with 11:20 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs would extend to a first-half high of four before a 10-1 run put the Tigers up 41-33.
Auburn’s lead would ultimately grow to 10, thanks to Brown who converted the Tigers’ fifth three-pointer for a 48-38 halftime lead.
“(Bruce Pearl) has a done a very, very good job everywhere he’s been of being on the glass, driving the ball, all those types of things and they play very good defense, especially on the ball when they come and go for steals,” Crean said. “Coming on the road against a team like this you’ve got to find a way to be above in the rebounding or even, and we weren’t when it came to the second-chance points and I think that was indicative of the way the scoring went.”
Georgia returns to action on Tuesday when the Bulldogs hosts Kentucky.
