Loyola-Chicago crushes UGA by 21 points

West Lafayette, Ind. — Georgia can cancel any thoughts of making plans for a possible trip to New York during Thanksgiving.

The sloppy Bulldogs were blown out in the second half by Loyola of Chicago and fell 74-53 in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Monday.

Instead of facing No. 11 Purdue today for a chance to reach the semifinals at Madison Square Garden, Georgia (1-1) will have to settle for a matchup with Eastern Michigan in a consolation game. The Bulldogs finished with five assists and 18 turnovers.

“We lacked the kind of aggression coming out of the gate that it requires and just seemed to be on our heels,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said.

The Ramblers (1-1) lost their opener to Division II Rockhurst on Friday, but used a 15-2 run to start the second half to take control. The game was tied 29-29 at halftime.

But Loyola came out strong in the second half. Andy Polka opened with a three-point play, and after a turnover by the Bulldogs’ Jeremy Price, added a jumper for a five-point cushion.

Price was way off with a jumper on the next possession for Georgia, and the Ramblers’ J.R. Blount found Darrin Williams for a dunk and a 36-29 advantage. Felton called a timeout just 1:38 into the half, and he promptly went to his bench to insert Travis Leslie and Chris Barnes.

The moves didn’t pay off, although Zac Swansey eventually scored his first basket to cut the deficit to five before Loyola reeled off the next eight points. That spurt was capped by a spectacular alley-oop from Blount to Williams that made it 44-31 with 15:24 left.

Williams scored on a tip-in at the 12-minute mark as the lead mushroomed to 52-35, and a comeback never materialized. Georgia was down 56-40 with just under 10 minutes left, but turned it over on its next four possessions.

“Slowly, and more quickly in the second half, I think Loyola just picked up momentum based on our lack of success and got going,” Felton said. “And it was downhill from there for us.”

Leslie scored a team-high 23 points and Terrance Woodbury added 19 for Georgia, which made 1-of-13 3-pointers, missing all seven attempts after halftime.

“Defensively, we had to gap up and plug things up and try to make them take some long shots,” Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said. “And I think that helped us a little bit.”

Price missed eight of nine shots — many from point-blank range — and his turnover and missed jumper on the first two possessions after the break set the tone for the second half.

“Jeremy had a nightmare of a night, going 1-for-9 down there,” Felton said. “And I think he let it affect his whole game too much. We just weren’t aggressive enough from the get.”