The job for E’Torrion Wilridge in his first career start Tuesday night was simple: limit Mississippi State's leading scorer Quinndary Weatherspoon as much as he possibly could.

Mission accomplished.

Wilridge limited Weatherspoon to almost three points below his season average while Georgia broke open a tie game with a 12-3 run and eased to a 79-72 win before a sparse Stegeman Coliseum crowd of 5,822.

“Mississippi State was a matchup problem so Coach felt my defense would help us out. I feel I did what I was supposed to do,” said Wilridge. “I think I matched up well with him. He’s a good player, a great scorer. I just had to keep him under his average.”

That’s just what he did, holding Weatherspoon to just 14 points.

“I thought E’Torrion played great defensively, that’s why I started him. He gave us a great matchup and I thought that E’Torrion really impacted the game in the first half especially,” Georgia head coach Mark Fox said. “He’s been very patient. He’s continued to work, and he took full advantage of his opportunity.”

Fox’s decision to start Wilridge certainly raised some early eyebrows.

Saturday against Tennessee, freshman Tyree Crump got the start and responded with 13 points in 16 minutes. Tuesday, it was Wilridge’s turn.

So, what was he thinking?

“We took Jordan Harris out of the lineup after he got sick. Mike Edwards was questionable coming into the game after a sprained ankle, so we knew we weren’t going to start him. So, we looked at the best matchup and we felt E’Torrion would give us that,” Fox said. “Here’s the thing, these guys are totally bought in. The guys who didn’t start tonight, they had no issue with it. When Juwan (Parker) didn’t start the game against Tennessee, he was great. They’re all in and they want to do what’s best for us to win.”

Yante Maten led the Bulldogs with 24 points, followed by J.J. Frazier with 17, all in the second half. Parker chipped in with 16 for Georgia which won its second straight game to improve to 15-11, 6-7 in SEC play heading into Saturday’s game against Kentucky (6 p.m.).

The Bulldogs will need to get off to a better start than they did against Mississippi State (14-11, 5-8).

Georgia shot a mere 25 percent over the first 20 minutes (7-of-28), and went into the locker room trailing 32-28 as Mississippi State converted six three pointers in 14 attempts.

“I was very disappointed in our defense the first half. They (MSU) shot the ball. Give them credit for making shots but I can’t remember guys being that open in a while,” Fox said. “Our three-point defense has been inconsistent. It wasn’t where it needed to be in the first half, so it was important we answered that with some good shots and some free throws.”

That they did.

Georgia would go to the free throw line 32 times against the visiting Bulldogs, converting 28, including a 12-of-13 effort by Maten who helped spark a 12-3 run after Mississippi State had tied the game at 54 with 6:29 left.

Maten had six points during the surge.

“Similar to the Vanderbilt game, when they’re shooting tons of threes, we try to counter that with great two-point looks and free throws, and today we did that,” Fox said. “We’ve worked hard on our free-throw shooting. It’s a fundamental skill that I think we, for the most part, have been able to execute. I think maybe there was one game this year where it cost us dearly, but for us I think it’s an advantage because we are a good free-throw shooting team. Hopefully, that’s something we can continue to do.”