ATLANTA – Every time his Georgia basketball team takes the court, head coach Mike White learns something new. Friday night at Georgia Tech, he saw just how gritty his Bulldogs can be.
While the game itself may not have always been a bouquet for the eyes, the Bulldogs found their missing rhythm late in the second half to roll over the Yellow Jackets, 77-69
The win pushes Georgia’s record to 4-0, while Georgia Tech falls to 2-2.
“When you can go three of 18 from three and have a negative assist turnover ratio as a team, 10 to 12, this team has more of a chance to win ugly, especially on the road, maybe more so than the past couple of teams,” White said. “But we’ve got to continue to grow and improve and respond to this positivity, to this win, we've got to get back to work because there's a lot of things that we can do better. But I love the fight from our guys.” Up by six at the half, the second half got off to a contentious start.
With less than a minute off the clock, Georgia’s Tyrin Lawrence and Georgia Tech’s Javian McCollum had to be pushed away from each other after a flagrant foul on RJ Godfrey sent Ndongo to the line.
Ndongo would convert both free throws, sending a charge to the capacity crowd at McCamish Pavillion.
The Yellow Jackets were not done.
After Georgia went back up by eight, the Yellow Jackets used a trio of 3-pointers to go on an 11-2 run, grabbing a 34-33 lead with 14:35 to play.
The Bulldogs would not trail again.
“There’s no quit in this team,” said Silas Demary Jr., who led the Bulldogs with 18 points and seven rebounds. “They took the lead, but we just had to respond and keep playing hard. We’ve been here before. Just keep playing. Coach White was big on just playing with poise and being calm, and I think we were that.”
After the Bulldogs missed their first 14 three-point attempts, Asa Newell finally had one fall with 8:34 to key a 12-0 run that saw Georgia push its lead to 50-39.
“I just trusted my process,” said Newell, who scored 14 points.
“We've had inter-squads where he goes five of seven and six of eight from three and works on it, and lives in the gym,” White said. “But he's also an 18-year-old who we're asking to do all of these other things and play heavy minutes and block out and close out and switch to guards and physicality on the interior offensively and defensively. The way that we're playing offensively is pretty unique for him.”
Georgia would push its lead to as many 14, and although the Yellow Jackets would close within six, Georgia Tech never threatened again.
Dakota Leffew and Blue Cain added 11 and 10 points respectively for the Bulldogs.
Neither team brought a lot of offense to the court to start the game.
Georgia shot a mere 33.3 percent (10 of 30), but Georgia Tech struggled even more, making just 7 of its 34 shots.
As a result, the Bulldogs went into the locker room up 27-19, despite missing all 10 of their three-point attempts, but still managed a 9-0 run midway through the half. A three-point play by Newell gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead with 4:01 on the clock before the Yellow Jackets climbed within eight.
Georgia returns to action Tuesday when the Bulldogs host Alabama A&M at 7 p.m.
