UGA stifles Santa Clara in NIT

Athens — Georgia has established it can play defense. Now if it can just work out that other part.

The Bulldogs used their stifling full-court man defense to stamp out Santa Clara 54-48 in an NIT Season Tip-Off consolation game Monday night at Stegeman Coliseum. But if they played with even a modicum of offensive efficiency, they would not have had to sweat it out until the final seconds.

In the other consolation game, Arizona (2-1) had an easy time dispatching Mississippi Valley State 86-52. The Delta Devils (0-6), coached by former Kentucky guard Sean Woods, missed their first 13 field-goal attempts.

Georgia (4-1) will play Mississippi Valley State tonight at 8 while Arizona and Santa Clara (1-3) will play the opening game at 5:45 p.m.

A remedy might not be far away for the Bulldogs’ offensive woes. Trey Thompkins, the heralded freshman forward from Lithonia, played for the first time all season.

Thompkins played 18 minutes — nine in each half — and finished with 10 points. And while he was only 2-of-7 from the field, a 3-pointer, a 10-foot-jumper and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line in the second half all were reminders of the shooting skills that made the 6-foot-9 forward such a highly-regarded recruit.

“Trey certainly puts another scorer on the floor for us, that’s for sure,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. “The job he did on the free-throw line was huge because of all those points. He’ll just get better and better.”

The five blocks and two rebounds were an added bonus.

“Honestly, I’ve never been able to show people,” Thompkins said. “My defense gets overshadowed.”

And this game most certainly was about defense.

Santa Clara shot 38 percent from the floor, committed 25 turnovers and was outscored 22-6 by the Bulldogs in points off turnovers. Georgia’s biggest feat was “holding” the Broncos’ 6-foot-11, 275-pound senior John Bryant to 12 points and 13 rebounds. He came in averaging 20.3 and 11.0.

But while Bryant recorded his 27th career double-double, he attempted a season-low eight shots as Georgia centers Albert Jackson and Chris Barnes denied the ball into the post.

“That’s something we’re going to build on,” said Jackson, who added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. “We’re going to play a lot of great post players like [Kentucky’s Patrick] Patterson and [Vanderbilt’s A.J.] Ogilvy. We’ve got to be able to shut guys like that down.”

Woodbury led the Bulldogs with 14 points but needed 10 shots to get them. Georgia shot 35.3 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range.

That offensive inefficiency was the main reason it clung to a four-point lead inside the final 25 seconds. Fittingly, the game ended with Corey Butler stealing the ball from Bryant in the post right before the buzzer sounded.

After missing an open 3-pointer and a contested lay-in in the first two minutes, Thompkins got his first points at the 12:43 mark on a 10-foot baseline jumper — exactly the kind of shot he was recruited to Georgia to make.

Thompkins missed the first four games of the season with a high-ankle sprain suffered in preseason practice. Before that he had been sidelined with two separate leg injuries.