There were times when things didn’t look good for Georgia on Thursday night. At one point coach Mark Fox was whistled for a technical amid an LSU scoring flurry. At another point guard Charles Mann lay writhing on the court, clutching his ribs and having to be helped to sideline.
But in each instance, the Bulldogs responded emphatically. In the end, they beat a very good LSU team 91-78 at Stegeman Coliseum.
“That’s a heck of a win for our young team,” said Fox, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory. “As we build our team and our program, you have to have belief in yourself and you have to have belief through adversity.
“We had a tough 10 days and didn’t play very well. But we stuck it out and stayed together and kept getting better and went back to work this week. We beat a terrific basketball team in an absolute battle and I’m proud of our win.”
The rare Thursday game was a made-for-TV special for ESPN2, and the Bulldogs (11-10, 5-4 SEC) looked exceptionally good at their work. Nemanja Djurisic led four scorers in double figures with 17 points as Georgia shot a season-best 60 percent from the field and 56 percent from 3-point range. Mann recovered from his body blow to score 16 points, Marcus Thornton had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Brandon Morris added 11 points.
Georgia dominated the big-bodied Tigers 37 to 30 on the backboard and held 6-foot-9 Johnny Bryant, who came in averaging 15.8 points, to just nine. Jordan Mickey and Andre Stringer led LSU (14-7, 5-4) with 19 points, and O’Bryant, saddled with foul trouble most of the game, fouled out with 58 seconds remaining.
“Every game is important, but this was kind of a key game as far as getting it turned around and going in the right direction,” Thornton said. “It was a big game for us. I felt like we were due. We worked hard this week and just felt like we were due.”
Said Fox: “I felt like Tuesday we practiced as well as we have in a long while. I got a feeling then we would play well.”
This was off-the-charts good. The Bulldogs shot 65 percent from the field in the second half, and that mostly was in counter-punch mode as LSU made a desperate comeback attempt.
LSU fought back from a 13-point halftime deficit to get within five points just four minutes into the second half. During that same span, Fox was assessed a technical. He was unhappy over a non-call when he thought Thornton was fouled driving to the basket.
The Tigers got only one point out of the deal, but less than two minutes later LSU whittled Georgia’s lead down to 48-45 on a Martin 3-pointer.
But the Bulldogs bowed up and aggressively stopped the run there. LSU’s O’Bryant drew his fourth foul at the 14:24 mark on a Mann drive and Georgia continually attacked the rim thereafter. The Bulldogs either made a layup or shot free throws, or both, on their next eight possessions. On the other two were a turnover and a 3-pointer by Djurisic. Thornton’s driving lay-in at the 11:09 mark got the Bulldogs lead back to 10, 61-51, with 11:09 to play.
The Bulldogs’ aggressiveness mentality nearly cost Mann. With 9:52 to play, he hit the floor hard after Mickey blocked his shot. He lay on the floor being attended by trainers before leaving the game with hurt ribs on his right side.
“I’m fine,” Mann said. “It was a pretty bad fall, but I’m fine.”
In Mann’s absence, backup J.J. Frazier stepped up big. The 5-foot-8 freshman made a pair of 3-pointers over the next 1:39, and Georgia actually increased its lead to 11. Mann returned with 6:40 to play, and the Bulldogs were still ahead 75-65.
Georgia beat back several LSU miniature runs from there.
“We put our foot down and decided we were going to turn it around, and that’s exactly what we did,” Thornton said. “We just had to get hold of ourselves. We knew they were going to come out strong in the second half because they were behind. But we got it going in a different direction.”
