Georgia survives Xavier with late 3-pointer, improves to 6-0

Marcus “Smurf” Millender hit a clutch 3-point shot with 11 seconds left to lift Georgia basketball over Xavier 78-77 on Friday night in Cincinnati.

The Bulldogs (6-0) will play Clemson (5-1) at 1 p.m. on Sunday in the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic championship (ESPN).

It’s an important game for Coach Mike White’s program, as Georgia is looking to make the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year after last season’s run.

The Bulldogs are projected as one of the “Last Four In” in Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology” projection, while Clemson is projected as one of the “First Four Out.”

Georgia will return home to play host to Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29, before a trip to play Florida State (4-1) on Dec. 2 in the ACC/SEC Challenge and a game with Cincinnati (4-1) on Dec. 13 in Atlanta.

UGA already has one win over an ACC school under its belt, topping rival Georgia Tech in Athens earlier this season.

Blue Cain led UGA with 16 points on Friday night and the 5-foot-11 Millender added 12, none more important than the 3-pointer he hit on Georgia’s final possession after the Musketeers (3-3) had overcome a 14-point deficit.

UGA shooters turned iced cold down the stretch, missing six in a row against the Xavier zone the six minutes before Millender, a transfer from UTSA, connected from the wing.

Georgia scrambled back down the court to defend the Musketeers’ All Wright, whose drive was cut off by Cain. Wright’s ensuing missed jumper led to a loose-ball scramble as time expired.

White recruited through the transfer portal with an up-tempo team in mind, and UGA entered the weekend tournament leading the nation in fastbreak points (32.8 per game) and No. 6 in scoring offense (99.4 per game).

But White knows better than anyone the Bulldogs won’t be able to survive many more poor shooting nights from the perimeter once the competition level steps up.

Georgia’s 3-point shooting ranked 340th in the nation entering the game with Xavier (26%) and the Bulldogs hit just 7 of 28 against (25%) against the Musketeers.

Cain, the team’s scoring leader, was just 1-of-7 shooting beyond the 3-point arc against Xavier, and Kanon Catchings, a celebrated transfer from BYU, was 1-for-6 shooting the trey.

The four players who have attempted the most 3-point shots for the Bulldogs — Cain (28.6%), Jeremiah Wilkinson (28.1%), Catchings (23.3%) and Millender (25%) are shooting a collective 26.4% beyond the arc.

White said leading into the season that 3-point shooting was an area that needed to improve from last year.

Xavier, at one time a renowned basketball program, does not have the look of an NCAA tournament team, having a pair of 19-point losses already on its resume after falling 87-68 at home to Santa Clara and 81-62 at Iowa last week.