Georgia suffered a 70-60 home setback to Ole Miss, a sellout home crowd and decisive rebounding advantage not enough to get the Bulldogs back on track Saturday afternoon.
The Rebels (10-9, 1-5 SEC) snapped a a six-game losing streak with the victory against Georgia (11-8, 1-5), which has lost two of its past three at home after winning its first eight at Stegeman Coliseum this season.
Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards continued his struggles, with 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Ten of Edwards’ attempts came from behind the arc, his inability to get to the rim out of the half-court offense surfacing once again.
Senior Jordan Harris led the Bulldogs with 15 points and eight rebounds in a game that saw UGA hold a decisive 38-28 advantage on the boards.
Georgia however, couldn’t overcome its poor shooting (17-of-55, 30.9 percent), while Ole Miss was an efficient 26-of-50 (52 percent).
“Bottom line, we're not going to beat anybody shooting the way we shot,” Bulldogs coach Tom Crean said. “Our defense was good at times, at times it was not, but the bottom line was our offense, over the period of 40 minutes, didn't give us enough of a chance to win the game.”
The loss marks UGA’s first three-game losing streak of the season, and many of the 10,523 in attendance headed to the exits early as Ole Miss pulled away late.
The Rebels threatened to run away at the start of the second half, scoring the first five points after intermission to make the score 40-29, before Crean called a timeout with 17:17 left.
The Bulldogs responded with a 9-0 run that was sparked by a Harris 3-pointer and consecutive drives to the basket by Sahvir Wheeler (11 points) that resulted in a bucket and two free throws that cut the lead to 40-38 with 13:44 left.
Moments later, Edwards pulled the trigger on a 3-pointer from the wing that put Georgia up 43-42 with 12:31 left and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
It was the Bulldogs’ first lead since a 13-12 advantage early, and those were Edwards’ first points since the 16:07 mark of the first half.
It proved to be the final lead for Georgia.
Ole Miss wrestled the lead back on a pair of KJ. Buffen free throws the next trip down and didn’t trail again.
Breein Tyree scored 20 points to lead the Rebels.
Georgia was down 35-29 at the end of the first half, a victim of its own nine turnovers and 33 percent shooing (9 of 27).
Ole Miss led by as many as 10 points, 32-22, before the Bulldogs battled back.
Harris scored on a drive to the basket and made a 3-pointer, and then Edwards capped the 7-0 run with a pair of free throws to make the score 32-29.
The Rebels scored the final three points of the half, the Bulldogs missing four shots on their final possession, squandering offensive rebounds.
Georgia returns to action at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Missouri (9-10, 1-5 SEC) before returning to Athens to play host to Texas A&M (9-9, 3-3) on Saturday.
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