Georgia cruises past Pepperdine

By Jeff Hood

For the AJC

ATHENS -- Georgia’s unofficial preseason came to an end Wednesday night as they dusted off the cobwebs from their Christmas break to run past Pepperdine 64-47 in front of a crowd of 6,987 at Stegeman Coliseum.

The victory improved Georgia’s early-season record to 7-4 under first-year coach Mark Fox.

But with a pair of high-profile non-conference matchups and a regular-season slate of SEC games looming, Fox is going to learn very quickly how his team stacks up against several of the nation’s elite programs.

The Bulldogs travel to Missouri, an NCAA quarterfinalist last season, Saturday before returning home Tuesday to face rival Georgia Tech. SEC play opens Jan. 9 at Kentucky.

“We have a lot of terrific opponents in front us,” said Fox, whose highlight win to-date at Georgia came when his team upset Illinois 70-67 on Dec. 19 at Gwinnett Arena.

“I think our team is ready for another high-level opponent. And we’re going to see a lot of them.”

Three Georgia players scored in double-figures against the Waves, including sophomore forward Travis Leslie of Decatur. He scored a game-high 14 points.

Forward Trey Thompkins, who was coming off a career-high 35-point effort against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 23, turned in an impressive effort with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Georgia’s ability to spread the scoring load Wednesday pleased Fox.

“I was glad we had a more balanced scoring attack tonight,” he said. “When one guy scores 35 points in a game, clearly the other team knows that as well.

“I was impressed with what we were able to do on the offensive side of the ball tonight.”

After putting the Bulldogs ahead by 19 points on a layup with 8:30 remaining, Leslie proceeded to intercept a Pepperdine pass near midcourt. He drove to the goal and brought the crowd to their feet with a thunderous dunk to give the Bulldogs a 21-point advantage.

After swapping the lead with Pepperdine during the first four minutes of the contest, the Bulldogs slowly began to inch away and establish a 33-21 lead at halftime.

Georgia forged ahead by 12 points, the Bulldogs’ largest lead of the half, when junior forward Chris Barnes grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup with 1:13 remaining.

Quick field goals by Leslie, McPhee and Dustin Ware helped Georgia increase its lead to 17 in the opening two minutes of the second half, forcing the Waves to call a timeout with 17:48 to go.

Georgia entered the game leading the SEC in free-throw percentage at 71.8 percent, but the Bulldogs managed to make only half of their shots (8 of 16) from the line.

“We didn’t shoot [free throws] well tonight,” Fox acknowledged. “With limited attempts, if we make three or four, it’s a different story. Concentration was not there tonight as it has been, so we weren’t as effective.”