Bulldogs back down to earth
Those hoping for Georgia to receive a bounce from its win Tuesday night against Alabama were left staring at reality Saturday evening in Nashville.
That’s because the home-standing Commodores were able to break a four-game losing streak by rolling to an 85-78 win, putting the Bulldogs (6-15, 1-7) on the losing end for the ninth time in 10 tries.
Vanderbilt improved to 11-9, 3-6 in the SEC with two of its conference victories coming against Georgia.
Blame the Bulldogs’ defensive effort for that.
“The bottom line, when you go on the road, and this is also true at home, having an aggressive mentality is far more important on the defensive end than it is on the offensive end,” Crean said. “For us, it’s pretty important because we need to get to the free throw line. But we have got to be more aggressive to start games. Now, they may make shots, but it won’t be because they were open.”
Up by 10 at the half, Vanderbilt would extend its lead to 18, before the Bulldogs put together a run to cut the margin back under double digits.
A three-pointer by Noah Baumann capped a 10-0 run to bring Georgia back within 65-57 at the 8:37 mark, but the Bulldogs would get no closer.
Vanderbilt quickly extended the lead back to 13 on a three by Scottie Pippen Jr. and the Commodores were able to keep Georgia at arm’s length for the win.
Georgia would twice climb within nine before a three-point play by Aaron Cook brought Georgia back within seven, but with just 17.3 seconds to play.
Cook led the Bulldogs with 18 points.
Kario Oquendo added 15 for the Bulldogs but had to leave prematurely after taking an elbow to the nose with 14:51 left to play. Crean said that Oquendo did not suffer a concussion, but he was not able to return.
Baumann also tallied 15, followed by Braelen Bridges with 14 for the Bulldogs.
Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt with 23 points.
Offensively, the Commodores started the game as hot as they’ve been all year.
Vanderbilt shot a season-high 63 percent (17 of 25) from the field, including seven of its first 11 three-point attempts.
The Bulldogs weren’t bad either.
Georgia shot 50 percent (13 of 26) but was only 1 of 8 from beyond the arch.
“We didn’t establish from the beginning what we needed to do defensively, and when you go on the road you can never trust your jump shot,” Crean said. “You can never trust and say we’re going to out-shoot this team. But the bottom line is we let them get comfortable at the beginning of the game.”
The Commodores led the entire way.
After jumping out to a 19-10 lead, the Bulldogs would close within five on a layup by Dalen Ridgnal only to have Vanderbilt bump the margin back to nine.
Late in the first half, Oquendo caught fire, scoring 11 of Georgia’s next 13 points to bring the Bulldogs within 43-36.
However, instead of going into the locker room under 10, a quick 3-pointer by Tyrin Lawrence pushed Vandy’s lead back to 10.
Georgia returns to action on Wednesday when the Bulldogs host Arkansas.
