ATHENS — Two teams on divergent paths met at Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday night. But it was the one supposedly heading downward that came out on top.
Georgia, which won one of its eight games during the first half of the SEC schedule, started the second by doubling its conference total with a 81-59 victory over Arkansas. The Razorbacks (16-8, 4-5 SEC) came in with wins over three ranked teams but searching for their first SEC road victory.
The Bulldogs (11-12, 2-7) got a career-high 27 points from senior guard Gerald Robinson — including 17 in the first half — along with five assists and five rebounds as the SEC’s worst offensive team trumped the league’s worst defensive team.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 18 points, and Nemanja Djurisic (14) and Marcus Thornton (10) gave the Bulldogs four double-figure scorers for the first time since Dec. 27. Georgia out-rebounded Arkansas by the astounding mark of 44-21.
Georgia entered the game averaging only 56.2 points per game in SEC contests. The Bulldogs return to the road to face Mississippi State, who was tied with Arkansas as the league’s worst defensive team.
Arkansas, which fell to 0-7 on the road this season, was led by freshman B.J. Young with 16 points and sophomore Madracus Wade, who had 15 points on five 3-point shots.
The pregame environment didn’t hint at what was about to happen. Georgia students are taking mid-term exams this week, and they were uncharacteristically poorly represented. The Bulldogs’ poor record coupled with a late tipoff on a school night didn’t lend itself to mass attendance.
But the Georgia players were unaffected and seemed inspired by it. They came out blazing hot, quickly building an 8-2 lead on three baskets by Robinson and remained undeterred even after the Razorbacks tied the score.
After playing to an 8-8 tie, the Bulldogs ran off 15 consecutive points, with four different players accounting for the scoring. Donte’ Williams dunked off an alley-oop pass from Robinson that gave Georgia a 23-8 lead with 8:15 remaining in the half.
The Bulldogs built that into a 24-point advantage when Robinson made two free throws at the 2:08 mark. They would be both Georgia and Robinson’s last points of the half. He went to the locker room with 17. Caldwell-Pope had 13.
The 43 points were the most in a half this season for the Bulldogs.
There were a lot of firsts in the game. Thornton made a 3-pointer at the 6:55 mark of the first half. He had not made a field goal since he went out with an injury Dec. 20 against Mercer. Freshman Tim Dixon also made a rare appearance — playing for the first time in five games — and recorded his first basket in six weeks.
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