Georgia returned from New York with two losses, but with plenty of confidence.
After playing well in close losses to No. 1 Indiana and 11th-ranked UCLA earlier this week, the Bulldogs displayed their newfound swagger at Stegeman Coliseum on Friday night.
Georgia shot a season-high 63.2 percent from the field to defeat East Tennessee State 54-38 and stop a four-game losing streak.
“We have a young team, and each and every game, we see progress and get better and better,” Georgia’s Donte Williams said. “We should just keep getting better each game. We should be fine.”
The Buccaneers decided to play a zone against Georgia (2-4), which made them regret that decision.
The Bulldogs shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half (14-of-21) and were 24-for-38 for the game (63.2 percent). It was their best shooting performance from the field since they shot 63.5 percent against Ole Miss on Jan. 15, 2011.
Georgia also made six 3-pointers, which helped offset the fact that it was 0-for-1 from the foul line, failing to score from the line for the first time since Jan. 14, 2009.
“We played against two traditionally very-good basketball programs in New York, who traditionally have been great man-to-man defensive teams,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “And we forced both of them to go to a zone because our man offense has gotten much better from where it was a year ago. (On Friday night), we played well against a zone, so hopefully we can continue to improve and play well against whatever people choose to defend us with.”
The Bulldogs used their outside touch to build a first-half lead and again to hold the advantage as the Buccaneers (1-3) attempted a second-half rally.
Georgia finished the first half on a 21-2 run for a 31-13 lead on the basis of 3-pointers by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who led Georgia with 13 points and seven rebounds, Nemanja Djurisic and Vincent Williams.
ETSU was held scoreless from the field for the final 7:47 of the first half, scoring only two free throws with 3:54 remaining.
And when the Buccaneers began to cut into Georgia’s lead late in the second half, Caldwell-Pope countered with back-to-back 3-pointers — one with 7:15 remaining and the last with 5:46 left — to increase the margin to 49-35.
“I didn’t feel like we needed big shot there,” said Caldwell-Pope, who has led Georgia in scoring every game this season. “I feel like we could have had an easy two, I was just wide open and took the great shot that I had. It helped us a lot. Overall we played great.”
Georgia also had 21 assists and blocked nine shots, and Donte Williams found room to maneuver along the baseline to finish with a season-high 12 points.
“We have a lot more confidence. It showed in the whole team’s shooting,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We’ve improved from our practices. We showed great shot selection, and we shared the ball. We showed great chemistry out there.”
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