ATLANTA – It certainly wasn’t pretty and there were plenty of errors to go round, but Georgia certainly wasn’t complaining about the outcome after the Bulldogs rolled past Georgia Tech Tuesday night 60-43.
“Hard-fought emotional game,” said head coach Mark Fox. “I thought both teams showed the emotion of the rivalry game pretty early. We played a little sloppy early because of the rivalry game, which that often happens. But I was pleased with our win; we beat an ACC team on the road and a rivalry game. It was certainly a battle and we are pleased with the win.”
Neither team could find their rhythm early, combining for 11 total turnovers and shooting under 30 percent.
But despite that, Georgia (8-3) was able to hold a nine-point lead at the intermission due to further miscues by the Yellow Jackets who shot 7-for-26 from the field and went into the locker room with 10 turnovers.
While that was to Georgia’s advantage, the Bulldogs’ lead could’ve potentially been larger. The duo of J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten held in check, combining for only nine points at the half. The teams began to separate themselves in the second half of play, with Georgia Tech’s inexperience continuing to show and Georgia able to find the least bit of offensive rhythm.
But the Bulldogs’ most dependable players began to find their game. Maten finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, stretching his double-digit scoring streak to 27 games while Frazier fell just behind his counterpart with 14 points.
Georgia’s second-half performance left a significant showing of Bulldogs home happy, making up for the 28-27 defeat to the Yellow Jackets on the gridiron.
Josh Pastner’s team played like one with inexperience on Tuesday, finishing with 16 total turnovers and showed a lack of offensive harmony by shooting 35 percent from the field.
Another reason that Georgia’s margin of victory could’ve been larger was the lack of points scored off of turnovers. The Bulldogs only scored 14 points off of those miscues, and Fox indicates that there could’ve been improvement in that area.
“They were wound up, so they had the handful (of turnovers) and we couldn’t take advantage either, because we were just as wound up” Fox said. “But I think we could’ve done better there.”
Georgia was able to take advantage of a team in which lost nearly all of its starters from a season ago. Ben Lammers led in scoring for Georgia Tech with 10 points, the only player to finish in double-digits for the Yellow Jackets (6-4).
Pastner discussed the biggest offensive blunder while showing displeasure with his team’s performance.
“We missed layups, we had a lot of layups,” Pastner said. “It just makes it hard, we can sit here and over-analyze it, but there’s not a lot to do on that. Based on our roster, when Quinton (Stephens) goes 0-for-9 and Tadric (Jackson) goes 2-for-5, it’ll be hard unless you’re playing an awful opponent, and we don’t have any of those left.”
NOTES: Derek Ogbeide proves to be a presence down low again, finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds … Georgia travels to Rochester, Mich. to finish a home-on-home series with Oakland on Friday.
