Dawgs take exhibition opener

Yes, Thursday's exhibition game against Division II Augusta State was strictly for show, but for transfer guard Gerald Robinson it meant a whole lot more.

It's been over a year since Robinson last stepped onto the court for an actual game, after sitting out the past year following his move from Tennessee State, and the Nashville native was anxious to make a quick impression.

That's exactly what he did as the junior scored 12 points and dished out 10 assists to help lead the Bulldogs to a 85-48 win.

"There were a few decisions he'd like to make again," said Fox, who revealed that Robinson missed a day of practice earlier this week with a minor back injury. "Again, he hasn't played in a year but I was very pleased with Gerald, he really gave our team a boost and I'm sure for him he was glad to knock some of the rust off."

Robinson's totals came in just 20 minutes of court time as nine other Bulldogs played at least 13 minutes.

"It was relieving, to finally get another game under my belt. It's been a long time coming," Robinson said. "My job is just to get everybody involved. That's what a point guard does, get everybody involved."

Travis Leslie was the beneficiary of one the Robinson's more spectacular passes, a full-court alley-oop that he threw down for a one-handed slam.

"At first I wasn't expecting to dunk it, but it was so perfect I had to just throw it in," said Leslie, who finished with 10 points. "I'm just glad we've got him. He's a great player."

Overall, the game was never a contest as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 22-2 lead and never looked back. Georgia built a 44-22 halftime advantage before cruising to the 27-point win over Augusta State, which went to the Division II Elite Eight last year although this year's squad features only a few players from that team.

"The first thing you want to do is win. When you put the uniform on you want to win. Certainly we played a team from a different division and those kids played hard, you want to give them credit for their effort but we were able to win and we were able to play a lot of guys and get some guys their first taste of action at this level," Fox said. "There are a lot of things we have to clean up, but overall I was pleased."

Dustin Ware and Jeremy Price led the Bulldogs with 14 points each, with freshmen Donte Williams and Marcus Thornton adding 9 and 7, respectively.

"I thought our freshman played well. I was really pleased with the fact that they can go back tomorrow, look at the tape and see that they made some good plays," Fox said. "They can also see that they made some mistakes and can improve on them, but it was a good first outing for both those kids."

Georgia outrebounded Augusta State 41 to 32, but Thursday's contest still gave Fox pause for some concern.

"We turned the ball over 15 times and we had some execution errors. We had a lot of little things that you expect to have in a first game and I think for us, what was most important, was to get some of these guys comfortable," Fox said. "The more comfortable we get, the better decisions we will make offensively. I didn't think we rebounded as well defensively in the first half and I was real disappointed in that. We were certainly much better in the second half."

Georgia returns to action on Nov. 12 when the Bulldogs open the regular season against Mississippi Valley State.