For anybody who did not watch Georgia’s 85-79 loss to No. 5 Tennessee, your initial thought might be that head coach Mike White would be happy that his Bulldogs went toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s best teams.

However, those people would be incorrect.

Although the Bulldogs gave the sellout crowd of 10,523 plenty to cheer about Saturday afternoon, no moral victories were being taken.

“I know people will say that’s great, but we’re trying to win those,” said White, whose Bulldogs saw their 10-game win streak come to an end. “Let’s be positive about the positive things that we did, but let’s also clean up the things that we need to work on.”

Certainly, there’s plenty to do there.

After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Georgia (12-4, 2-1) roared back to lead by 11 on a three-pointer by Knoxville native Blue Cain with 6:24 to play.

But the combination of too much time on the clock and too much Dalton Knecht proved a deadly duo for the Bulldogs, who were outscored by Tennessee 15-1 over the final 5:03.

Knecht, who finished one point shy of his career high with 36 points, scored 12 of those points during the surge.

“He’s good, he’s good,” Bulldog Jabri Abdur-Rahim said. “We just didn’t do a good job taking care of the basketball and we struggled to get some stops late. They’re a really good team, and they executed better than we did down the stretch.”

Georgia had a chance in the final 50 seconds to at least make the game more interesting, but missed a trio of threes.

“They fought for every inch on the court defensively, we just struggled to get it clean when it most mattered,” White said. “When we got down 5-6, we actually had open looks that just didn’t go. We could have made it more interesting, but we could not also get stops, to slow Knecht and keep them off the foul line.”

Abdur-Rahim led Georgia with 21 points, followed by Noah Thomasson with 14, followed by Silas Demary Jr. and RJ Melendez with 13 each.

But Tennessee, the preseason pick to win the SEC, showed why.

The Volunteers dominated Georgia on the boards, outrebounding the Bulldogs 46-38.

It did not help that center Russel Tchewa had arguably his worst game of the year, going 0-for-5 from the field with one free throw and just three rebounds.

“He knows it. He had one on the road where he goes 18 and 11, and (Jonas) Aido was really good,” White said. “Who knows what our front court will do on Tuesday, but with Russ, I know he will be back to work (Sunday). He’ll be watching film and trying to figure out a way to play better on Tuesday.”

A slow start by the Bulldogs did Georgia no favors.

The Bulldogs opened the game by making just one of their first nine shots before a put-back by Melendez brought Georgia back within 14-8.

Tennessee, meanwhile, started quickly.

The Vols hit five of their first 10 three-point attempts, three by Knecht, as Tennessee built a 14-point lead with 4:01 left in the first half.

Yet, despite being dominated on the boards by the Vols (30-16), Georgia managed a late surge with a 9-0 run to end the first half.

A three-pointer by Cain helped spark the run, allowing the Bulldogs to head into the locker room down 42-37.

“We’ve handled success correctly over these past 10 games. Let’s see how we handle some adversity,” White said. “It’s been a while. But again, let’s never be thrilled about a loss.”

Boxscore

…Jalen DeLoach had to leave the game late in the first half with an injury to his right hand. He had to leave the game a second time in the second half.

White did not have an initial report on the extent of DeLoach’s injury.

…White heaped praise on the sellout crowd after the game.

“It was an incredible environment. I’m really appreciative of the fans who showed up, how they showed up, and how active they were,” White said. “This was the loudest I’ve ever heard Stegeman. Ever. It was just unfortunate we were unable to capitalize and reward our fans for helping us by being as big a factor as they were.”

…Georgia’s 14 made three-pointers tied for the most made by Georgia under White. The Bulldogs also had 14 at Auburn on Feb 1 of last year.

…Tennessee came in allowing opponents 65.1 points per game. Georgia scored 79.

…Despite the loss, Demary had one of his best games. In 29.30 minutes, the true freshman scored 13 points, pulled down four rebounds, and did not have a single turnover, despite being guarded by Zakai Zeigler, one of the best defensive players in the country.

…Georgia’s bench outscored Tennessee 30-11.

...The Bulldogs return to action Tuesday night when Georgia travels to South Carolina. After another road game on Saturday at Kentucky, the Bulldogs’ next home game is Jan. 24 against LSU.