Georgia rolls past Augusta State

“We want [Thompkins] out there, but we know he has to get better first,” Georgia’s Travis Leslie said. “Even though he’s not out there, we’re going to keep playing hard and keep playing our game and wait until he gets back.”

Without Thompkins, a 6-foot-10 forward who was selected the SEC’s preseason player of the year after averaging 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds last season, the Bulldogs turned to Leslie and fellow veterans Jeremy Price and Dustin Ware, who combined for 38 points.

Thompkins is expected to miss from two to six weeks.

“Our team, with the injury to Trey, we’re kind of having to reinvent ourselves,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “We don’t have the depth of the rotation that we planned on having, so we’re trying to reinvent ourselves on the fly here a little bit, so we’ll see how that evolves.”

Fox played 11 Bulldogs, including newcomers Gerald Robinson, a point guard, who sat out last season after transferring from Tennessee State, and freshman Marcus Thornton, one of the state’s most coveted recruits.

Robinson finished with 12 points and 10 assists, including a long alley-oop pass to Leslie, who finished the play with a dunk.

“He can pass very well,” Leslie said. “As you see, he threw a full-court alley-oop. At first, I wasn’t expecting to dunk it, but it was just perfect. I just had to throw it in.”

Robinson said: “I feel like I brought an all-around game out there. I don’t plan on being a stranger to any of that. I plan to continue doing what I’m doing.”

Thornton, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Westlake, finished with seven points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 19 minutes. Fellow freshman Donte’ Williams, a 6-9 forward from Miller Grove, had nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

“I was really pleased with our freshmen,” Fox said. “They can go back tomorrow and see on the tape that they made some good plays. They also can see that they made some errors, and they can improve on those. But I thought it was a good first outing.”