UGA finds a way to lose to Tennessee

Athens — Great teams have a lot of different ways to beat you. Georgia, as it proved yet again Saturday, has a lot of ways to lose.

For the second game in a row, the Bulldogs were unable to hold onto a double-digit, second-half lead and basically did everything wrong down the stretch. As a result, No. 15 Tennessee rallied for an 86-77 win in the SEC opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson dishes off a pass under Georgia’s Albert Jackson.

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The loss — Georgia’s third in a row — was particularly frustrating for the Bulldogs (9-7, 0-1 SEC) because they played so well for the first 30 minutes and so poorly for the last 10. They led 54-44 with 12:27 remaining but were outscored 42-23 the rest of the way.

Georgia gave up 19 offensive rebounds to Tennessee, which turned them into 21 second-chance points. That’s after allowing 23 offensive rebounds in a loss to Georgia Tech on Tuesday. The Bulldogs were outrebounded 48-35 overall by the Vols.

“If Tech was a sign, this game from a rebounding standpoint was an exclamation point to our team,” said Georgia coach Dennis Felton, his voice hoarse and barely audible from yelling throughout the game.

Meanwhile, other than a meaningless 3-pointer by walk-on Ricky McPhee with three seconds left, the Bulldogs did not record a field goal in the final eight minutes. They came away empty on nine of 10 possessions during that stretch.

“It’s really just a product of finishing the game and rebounding,” Georgia senior captain Corey Butler said. “It’s rough, especially when you’ve been here four years and you haven’t beaten Tennessee yet.”

It was Tennessee’s ninth win in a row over the Bulldogs. Georgia hasn’t beaten the Vols since winning 71-60 in Athens on Feb. 21, 2004.

“Before the game, me and Corey were saying we’re going to beat them before we leave,” said senior Terrance Woodbury, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points. “Obviously we were in position to do that. As everybody saw, the same thing happened tonight that’s happened the last two or three games.”

Freshman forward Trey Thompkins had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. Freshman point guard Dustin Ware came off the bench to score 11 points.

Tennessee (10-4, 1-0) was led by Tyler Smith with 24 points and 11 rebounds. The junior forward was listed as doubtful for the game as late as Friday after suffering a bruised knee in a loss to Gonzaga on Wednesday. Four other Vols scored in double-figures, led by guard Bobby Maze with 16.

“This was a must-win for us,” said Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, whose team avoided a third straight loss. “I know it’s early in the year, but this was a road win that we really had to get.”

Woodbury said Georgia’s problems are mostly psychological. The Bulldogs missed six of 11 free throws from the 7:19 mark to 4:41 after making 16 of 18 to that point. Two of those misses were by Woodbury, who is an 88 percent free-throw shooter. Georgia went from up six points to down one during that stretch.

Still, Georgia led 74-73 with 3:17 to play. But on its next eight possessions it had two turnovers and six missed shots.

“When we lost our cushion, we got panicky,” Felton said.