The past two games have both been quite frustrating for Georgia head coach Tom Crean.
On Saturday, his Bulldogs blew an 18-point lead before falling to No. 20 Arizona State and Tuesday night against Oakland the Bulldogs found themselves in danger of enduring a similar fate.
But this time Georgia didn’t fold and made sure an early 17-point advantage stood up to defeat the visiting Golden Grizzlies, 81-69.
"When you lose like we did on Saturday night, it's really easy to let the disappointment in the loss turn into discouragement and you just can't let that happen," Crean said. "They were down with that loss the other night, they knew that we had opportunities. The bottom line for us, is we found a way. It sounds kind of cliche, but it's really true."
Oakland (4-8) would make the Bulldogs sweat.
Early in the second half, Georgia’s big lead almost disappeared after a trio of three-pointers by Tray Maddox, Jaevin Cumberland and Braden Norris brought the Golden Grizzlies within three at 51-48 before pulling with 66-64 with 4:56 to play on a lay-in by Xavier Hill-Mais.
However, that would be as close the Oakland would get as the Bulldogs responded with a 10-0 run over the final four minutes, highlighted by four points from Nicolas Claxton and a three-pointer by Teshaun Hightower to put Georgia up 76-64 at the 1:43 mark in the game.
"We wanted to win," senior guard Turtle Jackson sad. "We came out and executed the defensive plan, and made sure they did not have any threes because Oakland is a great three-point shooting team.""
Crean liked what he saw.
""You have to go through games like this," Crean said. "We're (coaches) calling plays, calling actions, but they're (the players) are the ones who are creating. When they learn to to do that they're going to get a lot better. I'm proud of the way they played."
Four different players finished in double-figures for the Bulldogs (6-4), led by Claxton and Rayshaun Hammonds, who each finished with a double-double, scoring 17 points each and pulling down 13 and 11 rebounds, respectively. Hightower added 16 points with Jackson with 14. Hammonds also pulled down --- rebounds for his first career double-double.
Georgia out-rebounded the Golden Grizzlies 47-34 while converting 19 of its 26 free throw attempts.
"It was so great to see (Jackson) knock down some shots, it was great to see Teshaun play that way," Crean said. "Nic and Ray eight rebounds each in the second half, but we've
Oakland was led by Hill-Mais with 21 points, followed by Cumberland with 14, Norris with 13 and Maddox with 12.
For the second time in as many games, the Bulldogs put together a solid first half in jumping out to 45-34 lead.
It was Jackson who had the hot hand.
The senior from Athens came into play converting a mere 7 of 20 three-point attempts, but against the Golden Grizzlies hit four on his five tries. His 12 points would lead the Bulldogs’ first-half effort, which saw Georgia lead by as many as 17 points.
"We've done a lot with his (Jackson) feet, we've done a lot to help him get more spread out," Crean said. "It takes time to learn, and sometimes Turtle gets too close to the three-point line and his footwork is not where it needs to be. Tonight, we had him spaced. We basically him in the five spot in some of our offense ... he wasn't the five man, he was in the five spot with a lot of the actions that we run and he was able to get free. That made it even easier for him to get looks."
However, despite Jackson’s heroics, Oakland was able to hang around.
Trailing 37-20 with 6:39 left in the half, the Golden Grizzlies went on a 9-2 run to close within 39-29 on a layup by Tray Maddox with 2:30 left in the half.
The Bulldogs would answer with a 6-0 spurt to go back up by 16 at 45-39 before Oakland tallied the final five points of the half to go into the locker room down 11.
Georgia returns to action Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to Georgia Tech for a noon tip-off. Oakland gets back to action Friday at Michigan State.
NOTES: Crean said guard Jordan Harris missed Tuesday's game with an undisclosed injury he suffered against Arizona State, but is hoped to be back for Saturday's game at Georgia Tech. ... Claxton added three blocks, giving him 28 on the year. Claxton's double-double was his fourth this season. ... Jackson's 14-point effort was his first double-digit game this year.
