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Mark Fox’s Georgia Bulldogs welcomed the Texas A&M Aggies to Athens for a conference clash on Saturday afternoon, intent upon lengthening their winning streak. In a fairly brutal affair, the Hoop Dogs emerged victorious from what was a much more offensively challenged game than the 52-46 final margin suggested.
Fueled by a pair of Donte` Williams dunks, Georgia built up a 7-0 lead in the first two and a half minutes before extending that edge to 11-1 six minutes into the contest. The physical, low-scoring outing continued in that vein, with the Aggies never drawing nearer than six points shy of their hosts until Andrew Young dropped in a layup inside the eight-minute mark. Even that narrowed deficit proved short-lived, as Brandon Morris answered with a jumper just 22 seconds later.
The next four minutes saw just two points scored, both on Nemanja Djurisic free throws, and the Red and Black headed to the locker room leading by nine points. More than three minutes into the second half, the Georgia lead was seven points, but a Djurisic trey extended the Classic City Canines’ advantage to ten. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a quiet afternoon, but the crowd was rowdy, the players got chippy, and the fouls were plentiful as Texas A&M tried to get within striking distance but never really succeeded in jeopardizing a Georgia victory. A flurry of foul shots allowed the visitors to climb within four points of the Fox Hounds with 17 seconds showing on the scoreboard, but the Aggies drew no nearer as Caldwell-Pope closed out with a couple of free throws another SEC outing in which the Bulldogs were never behind.
The bruising showdown saw Donte` Williams foul out and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finish with four personal fouls. Nemanja Djurisic’s 13 points made him Georgia’s leading scorer in a game in which the two teams combined to go 24 of 87---no, that is not a typo---from the field. The Bulldogs pulled down 35 rebounds and knocked down 25 of 32 shots from the charity stripe to win using a prettier shade of ugliness and keep hope alive that, somehow, some way, this team can continue to figure out a method for getting to the end of 40 minutes with more points than the other guys.
Go ‘Dawgs!