Georgia coach Mark Fox won the 200th game of his coaching career Saturday night, but he didn’t care to talk about that after the Bulldogs’ secured a 62-50 over Texas A&M.
“This is about our team,” Fox said when asked about the milestone afterward. “This is about our sixth league win. But thank you.”
Fox’s 200th came in his 10th season overall and fifth at Georgia (he coached Nevada for five years). He’s now 77-73 with the Bulldogs, who improved to 12-10 overall and 6-4 in SEC play.
Nobody bothered to tell the Georgia players about Fox’s achievement. They heard it from the media during post-game interviews.
“Nobody was aware of it,” sophomore Brandon Morris said with a laugh. “That’s crazy. I just found out. It’s definitely good. It’s definitely an accomplishment. We’re looking forward to adding some more victories to it.”
Said senior forward Donte Williams: “I just heard a second ago, so congratulations to Coach Fox.”
Saturday’s victory was similar to most of the ones Fox has recorded at Georgia — hard fought and closely contested. Don’t let the 12-point final margin fool you. The Aggies led midway through the second half and were trailing by two inside the final four minutes.
But Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann stepped up down the stretch. Both scoreless in the first half, they rallied to score 24 points between them in the second, including the last 15 of the game.
“I started off a little slow and I felt like we did as a team,” said Gaines, who led the Bulldogs with 14 points. “We were kind of slow in shoot-around, too, and Coach had to get us fired up. He did again (at halftime) and we came out and played better in the second half.”
Georgia also stepped it up defensively toward the end, much of it thanks to Williams. The senior out of Miller Grove had three blocks officially but should have been credited for four. Three of them came during a stretch of fewer than three minutes as the Bulldogs inched ahead 47-44 with 5:14 to play. He came up a point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
“I told him he was like a little Anthony Davis,” cracked Morris, who had 10 points.
With the victory, the Bulldogs moved into a fourth-place tie with LSU and Tennessee. Georgia travels to Mississippi State (13-10, 3-7) for a 9 p.m. tip Wednesday night.
Jamal Jones led Texas A&M (13-10, 4-6) with 17 points. But Jones was 1-of-10 from 3-point range and the Aggies were 1-for-19 as a team.
Georgia Nemanja Djurisic injured his right ankle with 1:42 to play and had to leave the game. Teammates said afterward the Bulldogs expect him to be able to play in the next game.
The Bulldogs’ defense fell asleep midway through the second half as the Aggies scored layups on three consecutive possessions to take a 40-39 lead with 10:20 to play. It was only the second time A&M had been ahead in the game.
Georgia immediately called a timeout, and Gaines entered the game during the break. He immediately made his presence known with a 3-pointer from the left wing 18 seconds into the Bulldogs’ first possession. Thirty-five seconds later his dunk after two offensive rebounds got Georgia back ahead 44-40 with 9:26 to go.
Georgia seemed to have seized control in the final five minutes after Mann’s fast-break lay-up gave it a 49-44 lead at the 4:31 mark. But the Aggies were bailed out on a question foul called on Gaines on a Jones 3-point attempt late in the shot clock. Jones made all three free throws to make it a two-point game with 4:20 to go.
But again Gaines answered the bell. With less than two seconds remaining on the shot clock, he made another 3-pointer from the wing. He added a 17-footer a half-minute later and Mann essentially closed the door with a dunk after a Morris steal started a fast-break.
The strong finish was particularly impressive considering the Bulldogs were coming off a Thursday night game.
“I was pleased with that,” Fox said. “What was fortunate was were at home both games and didn’t have to travel. It certainly was a much better week than we had a week ago, and for that I’m proud of the kids.”
