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Bulldogs no match for Vols

If you don’t shoot well, you’re not going to have much of a chance. That’s especially true on the road against a team like fourth-ranked Tennessee.

That’s a lesson Georgia learned the hard way Wednesday night as the Bulldogs could not overcome 20 turnovers and a tough night from the field, falling at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday night in Knoxville, 70-41.

The loss was Georgia’s third straight, dropping the Bulldogs to 13-7, 3-4 in the SEC. Tennessee improves to 17-3 and 7-1.

“I thought we’d be a lot more competitive,” White said after the game. “But you can’t win on the road against one of the best teams in the country with 20 turnovers. I know they contested a bunch of threes [Georgia was 4 of 22], but at the end of the day I don’t know if we could have generated enough offense to match what they do good.”

Georgia – which shot just 28 percent (14 of 50) from the field - had no chance.

Trailing at the half, the Bulldogs saw Tennessee’s margin only grow. With 10:22 to go, the Vols were in total control at 53-30. It got even worse.

Tennessee’s lead grew to 29 with 6:50 minutes to play.

“I still thought we competed in the second half, but look, Tennessee is really good,” White said. “They’re obviously better than we are. We’ve just got to learn from this and move forward. We’ve got 11 opportunities in front of us and I’m hopeful we can be competitive in most of them.”

The Bulldogs will certainly need more offense from leading scorers Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo to make that happen.

Roberts was the only Bulldog to finish in double-figures with 11 points, after only managing just two in the first half. Oquendo only finished with four.

“Tennessee’s backcourt has to be one of the better defensive backcourts in the country, so it starts with them,” White said. “Obviously, those guys are going to be prepared from a scouting report standpoint. They’re as solid as it gets, and they force you into mistakes.”

The Bulldogs opened the game with a different starting lineup, with Justin Hill going in place of Mardrez McBride and Frank Anselem getting the call ahead of Braelen Bridges.

Jaxon Etter started in the second half for the Bulldogs, his first action in seven games.

“This was a game where I thought we lacked some competitive fire in our last one, some of that ownership that we talked about, some floor burns, and we lacked some intensity and some physical toughness in the last one,” White said. “I wanted to get Jaxon out there. He’s a guy who brings a lot of that to us, gives us great leadership and I thought he did some really great things.”

But against the Vols, it did little good.

Tennessee jumped out to a 35-22 halftime lead, holding the Bulldogs to just 33 percent from the field.

Included was a 14-1 run by the Vols to take control of the game, a spurt that saw Georgia go over seven minutes without scoring a single point.

Boxscore

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Georgia hosts South Carolina Saturday at 6 p.m.

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