Marcus Thornton and Charles Mann were unavailable for interviews after Saturday’s victory over Tennessee. They were getting treatment in Georgia’s training room.
It was that kind of physical SEC game for the Bulldogs, who managed to out-grapple the Volunteers for a 56-53 win at Stegeman Coliseum. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and gave coach Mark Fox his 100th victory as Georgia’s coach.
“I tell you, nothing is easy in the SEC,” Fox said afterward. “Just another hard-fought battle. Tennessee’s got a very unique team. They play four wing players and they play that zone, and they’ve got some quality wins this year. We feel like we got a quality win today.”
The game came down to the last possession. J.J. Frazier, an 85 percent free-throw shooter, made the front end of a one-and-one with 19 seconds remaining to give Georgia a 56-52 lead. But he missed the second, and when Tennessee’s Kevin Punter went to the free-throw line with 7.4 seconds to go, the Vols had a chance to win.
Punter made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second. Tennessee controlled the rebound and got the ball out to the top of the key, where Josh Richardson rushed a potential game-tying 3-point shot. His aerial was off left and careened that way down the baseline. After a scrum for the ball, Richardson managed to come up with the ball again, but he was falling as he did, and Mann partially blocked his shot.
“We knew they were going to tip it out,” Frazier said. “We were playing for that, but somehow it got through six of us and went right to the Tennessee player. Luckily we had two guys challenge the shot and make him miss it. We’re just all excited to get back on the winning track.”
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Bulldogs (15-7, 6-4 SEC). The best news is Georgia is expected to come out of it with the same number of players it went in with.
Saturday was the first game back for Thornton after a two-game hiatus because of a concussion. He finished with eight points and four rebounds in 26 minutes. Frazier, Mann and Nemanja Djurisic each had 10 points as the Bulldogs shot 55 percent to overcome 20 turnovers.
“I thought he played very well considering he hasn’t practiced, hasn’t been touched,” Fox said of Thornton, who came in averaging 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds. “He was worried about his conditioning, so we ran him in and out quite a bit. But I don’t think that was a factor. It was certainly good to have him back because it made us much more efficient offensively.”
Mann had to get stitches in his chin after diving into the Vols’ bench area on the last play, but is not expected to miss any time. The Bulldogs travel to Texas A&M on Wednesday.
Tennessee (13-9, 5-5) got 16 points from Armani Moore of Kennesaw, but only two from Josh Richardson. Richardson, the Vols’ leading scorer at 16 per game, had 30 against Mississippi State on Wednesday. But Georgia’s Kenny Gaines played some lock-down defense on the 6-foot-6 wing player.
“I don’t know how many he ended up with … but we made a point to slow him,” Fox said. “We trapped him off ball screens but Kenny Gaines drew the majority of the assignment.”
The 5-foot-10 Frazier also played big for the Bulldogs. After going scoreless in the first half, Frazier made three 3-pointers in five possessions midway through the second half, with Mann adding one in the three-minute stretch. Frazier’s third came at the 7:14 mark and gave Georgia a 51-42 lead.
“I was missing bad early, and I just had to find my rhythm again,” Frazier said. “But they had a little run going, and I felt like it was time to take a shot, and it went in. Same thing with the other two. They were just timely shots.”
Afterward, Fox was asked if he was annoyed by the way the Bulldogs struggled at times and failed win more comfortably.
“It’s not about whether you have a girlfriend that’s pretty or one that’s ugly; it’s whether you have one,” Fox said. “It’s not about if you won pretty or won ugly. It’s whether or not you won. I don’t coach to have relief. I coach to have joy, the joy of victory. And we won. They’re going to be hard; they’re going to be hard every time.”
