Georgia End 6-Game Losing Streak at Vanderbilt Tonight
Nashville, TN – The Georgia Bulldogs snapped their six-game losing streak with a dominant 76-64 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores tonight. The Bulldogs are now 15-11 overall and 5-8 in the SEC. The Commodores fall to 7-19 and 2-11 in the conference.
UGA opened up the first half strong with a 7-0 run, which was sparked by a three-point jumper from senior guard Noah Thomasson and lasted for three and a half minutes. This was the start of a strong first half for UGA. After a few baskets by each team, the Dawgs went on a 10-2 run, beginning with 14:16 left until there was 10:51 left on the clock, to bring the score to 22-9 UGA on top. At the 8:25 mark, Vanderbilt put their first points up in over three minutes when sophomore guard Paul Lewis made a free throw. The Commodores cut the UGA lead to 11 a few times in the remainder of the half, but a dunk by graduate student center Russel Tchewa (1:05) and a three-point jumper from senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim (0:01) gave the Bulldogs a 44-28 edge at the half.
Coming out of the locker room, Vanderbilt struck first with a layup made by sophomore forward Ven-Allen Lubin with 18:02 left. The Dawgs responded with a three-point jumper by Abdur-Rahim. The Commodores were once again able to shave the UGA lead to 11 with a three-pointer from Lewis with 14:34 on the clock. Georgia, however, responded with a 12-0 run ending with 11:20 left and brought the Bulldog lead to 23 (63-40), their highest of the night. Despite Vanderbilt slowly cutting the UGA lead and keeping the Dawgs scoreless for the last two and a half minutes of the game, this run was the nail in the coffin. Georgia won by a 12-point margin, 76-64.
Georgia recorded 32 points from the paint tonight and only four turnovers. Graduate student guard Noah Thomasson led the Dawgs in scoring, putting up 17 (all of which came in the first half) and going 45% from three-point range. Abdur-Rahim followed behind with 13 points, going 4 for 9 from field goal range. As a team, UGA shot 52.8% from field goal range, 35.7% from behind the arc, and 76.9% from the line. In comparison, Vanderbilt went 36.2% from field goal range, 34.4% from behind the arc, and 84.6% from the line. The Commodores had four players reach double-digit range: Lewis (18), senior guard Ezra Manjon (12), senior guard Tyrin Lawrence (12), and Lubin (10). Senior guard Justin Hill led UGA with 4 assists; with these 4, Hill now has over 400 career assists. Manjon was the leading distributor for the Commodores, with 6 assists.
Defensively, Tchewa was of great use to the Dawgs, collecting 10 (2 offensive and 10 defensive) of UGA’s 39 rebounds. Abdur-Rahim also picked up 7. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt only had 26 total rebounds (16 were in the second half). Lubin led this effort with 8, and Lawrence followed with 6.
This was an authoritative win for UGA. After going up in the first minute, the Bulldogs never looked back, holding the lead for 39:38. Coming out of their previous loss to Florida, UGA head coach Mike White said they needed to reduce fouls and turnovers, and that is just what the Bulldogs did tonight (they only recorded 11 fouls). The win also gave the Dawgs their first win since late January and should help UGA get back on track for when they face No. 14 Auburn at home this Saturday.
Other Georgia News:
- Bulldogs Add Sixth Game to Losing Streak After Being Up over Florida
- UGA Suffers Fourth Consecutive Loss after Falling to Mississippi State
- In a Game of Physicality, Georgia Loses their Third Straight to South Carolina
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