On a fast break, Kenny Gaines sent the ball cross-court to Nemanja Djurisic before the forward launched it right back to Gaines, who topped off the zigzag of passes with a crowd-rousing dunk.
The assist was Djurisic’s eighth of the game and with 4:44 left in the Georgia’s (3-1) Sunday night game against Florida Atlantic (1-3), Djurisic was closing in on a triple-double. But in the final four minutes, he pulled down only one more rebound to finish with eight points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
That was enough to propel the Bulldogs to a 74-61 win at Stegeman Coliseum.
“I knew I was getting a lot of assists, but I was just trying to help the others,” Djurisic said. “I wasn’t chasing it (a triple-double). I wasn’t really aware of the rebounding and the other stuff.”
Djurisic shot 4-for-7 from the field against Florida Atlantic, which ultimately frustrated the senior.
“I missed some shots, so offensively I wasn’t in my flow but I was trying to help the others and be a helpful teammate,” he said.
The night was drastically different from Friday’s game. Against Troy, Djurisic led the team with 17 points, but only had one assist and three rebounds. He played a far more well-rounded game against Florida Atlantic and said he felt calm and comfortable throughout.
“He’s a very complete player,” coach Mark Fox said. “He really, I think, impacted the game a lot of ways tonight.”
Although Djurisic may not have been pleased with his shooting, both Marcus Thornton and Gaines made up for it. The two shot a combined 11-for-20 from the field, putting up 32 points for the Bulldogs, over 43 percent of the team’s output.
Gaines saw 31 minutes of court time in his second start after missing much of the preseason with mononucleosis. Fox wants to play the junior guard back into shape. Gaines said he felt his health was at about 90 percent after the Troy game, but his coach begged to differ despite a solid showing against Florida Atlantic.
“I played him eight straight minutes tonight and I asked him when he came out, ‘How fatigued are you?’ And he felt pretty good,” Fox said. “So, I think he’s getting back. I wouldn’t say he’s at 90. … If I put a percentage on it I’d say maybe 80, 85. It’s going to take a couple more weeks to really get that endurance back in his body.”
Thornton matched his career-high with 17 points, which he just set two days before. The senior had a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Neither Thornton nor Djurisic are strangers to double-doubles. They’ve recorded three and two, respectively, in their careers at Georgia.
But a triple-double? No Georgia basketball player has ever achieved a triple-double.
After one reporter told Djurisic that the feat had eluded all Bulldogs to come before him, Djurisic said: “Now I wish I knew it earlier.”
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