If there’s one lesson Georgia learned during Sunday’s game with Marquette, it’s you had better defend the perimeter.

If not, you’re going to be in for a long afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that’s exactly what happened as the Golden Eagles used a barrage of three-point shooting to put away the Bulldogs 89-79 before a Stegeman Coliseum crowd of 7,620.

“Their offense is significantly better than our defense right now, and we didn’t defend the three-point line. We did not rebound the basketball and we had too many deadly turnovers that turned into points on the other side,” Bulldog head coach Mark Fox said. “The combination of those three things certainly led to our demise today.”

Fox was right about that.

Marquette (6-2) converted 13-of-29 three-pointers, including 8-of-10 in the first half to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Bulldog senior J.J. Frazier said the Bulldogs (5-3) had no one to blame but themselves.

“It was about 60-40 of us not playing good defense and them shooting the ball,” said Frazier. “We knew that had a great offensive team. They run their sets well with precision. They made a couple of tough shots, but we also left them too much space.”

Still, Georgia (5-3) had its chances.

After trailing by as many as 16 points, the Bulldogs closed within 72-70 on a pair of free throws by Turtle Jackson with 7:06 to play.

But Georgia got no closer.

Marquette responded with an 11-0 run, a spurt capped by a three-pointer by Markus Howard with 4:29 to play.

“They certainly spread you out with their quality of shooting and they forced us to spread out with their quality of shooting,” Fox said. “They forced us to play small and our big lineup couldn’t cover them, so we played small most of the night. In an effort to try and slow their three-point shooting, I don’t think we ever did. There was a little segment in the second half where we went to a 'one' and forced a few misses, but we didn’t do the dirty work to win, not in a high-level game.”

Yante Maten led the Bulldogs with 24 points, followed by Frazier with 22, and Mike Edwards with 11.

Marquette led 46-43 at the half, thanks to a 17-for-32 effort from the field as the Bulldogs only managed a pair of brief leads early in the contest.

The Golden Eagles - who put four players in double-figures lead by Sam Hauser with 19 - went on to out-rebound the Bulldogs 42-31.

“We have some serious areas to work on,” Fox said. “One of the things that Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann did is they were really terrific defenders. We haven’t replaced them. We haven’t replaced the defense that walked out of here with a degree. That’s disappointing to lose a game because you don’t defend like you need to.”

Georgia returns to action on Dec. 14 against Louisiana-Lafayette.