Georgia’s season took another wacky turn Saturday, as the Bulldogs sprinted past LSU 93-82, scoring their highest point total of the season just three days after a discouraging loss at South Carolina.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 22 points in the second half, but LSU chipped away in the final four minutes to make the game appear closer, but make no mistake -- Georgia (16-12, 7-9 SEC) had the edge in just about every phase of the game, although the Tigers (16-12, 7-9) shot a little better from beyond the 3-point arc and committed 13 turnovers to Georgia’s 16.
The victory gave the Bulldogs a season sweep against LSU. Georgia narrowly defeated the Tigers 61-60 in mid-January in Baton Rouge.
Yante Maten led four Bulldogs with double-digit points. Maten finished with a double-double of 27 points and 11 rebounds, Rayshaun Hammonds added a career-high 21 points, Juwan Parker chipped in 15 points and Derek Ogbeide contributed a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Here are five observations from the game:
Off to the races
One of the keys to victory was the way Georgia played at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second half. In the first half, the two teams fought to a 28-28 tie with 5:44 remaining, but from that point on, the Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 17-6 to take a 45-34 lead at intermission.
The Bulldogs came out of the break scoring 11 consecutive points to take a 53-34 lead with 17:55 left. Ogbeide made a jumper at 19:49, Parker made a free throw at 19:08 and later connected on a jumper, Maten hit a turnaround jumper at 18:24 and Teshaun Hightower made a 3-pointer at 18:07, and Georgia never looked back, eventually building a 22-point lead with 17 minutes remaining.
“It really helped us, because we got a cushion that allowed us to make some errors, which we did, and it allowed us to play more freely,” Maten said of having the lead early.
Block party
Georgia had eight blocks in the first half and finished the day with nine, as compared with two blocks by LSU. It should come as no surprise that Maten led the way with six blocks, and Nicholas Claxton added two.
The Bulldogs’ best performance of the season in that category came Nov. 10, when they recorded 10 blocks against Bryant.
“Once someone blocks your shot a couple of times, you become hesitant and you start overlooking that open basket that you may have had at the moment, so it makes you more aware and can definitely make you more hesitant to come at the rim,” said Maten, whose previous best in the shot-blocking department this season was four, which came against South Carolina.
Still Waters
In Wednesday night’s victory over Vanderbilt, LSU’s Tremont Waters put on a show, scoring 28 points and dishing out nine assists. On Friday, Fox said containing the 6-foot freshman might be impossible, and Waters proved him correct, posting 25 points, although he only had three assists.
While Waters got his numbers, most of his teammates weren’t quite as successful. Skylar Mays finished with 20 points and Daryl Edwards added 11 to round out the Tigers’ double-digit scoring.
“We were a little concerned about that matchup, and he got 25 tonight, so I wasn’t really pleased with the job we did there,” Fox said. “We did a lot of other things well. We rebounded well. We found a way to win, and we finished a lot of plays. These wins are hard to get so we feel good about the victory.”
Board games
The Bulldogs had one of their better rebounding games of the season, finishing with 49 to LSU’s 34. Georgia outrebounded the Tigers 29-15 in the first half and wound up with 38 points in the paint (compared to LSU’s 34) and 17 second-half points (compared with 16 for the Tigers).
“They had their way with us down low,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “They imposed their will on the backboards and they imposed their will in the paint.”
Yante’s day
With 27 points, Maten has scored 1,797 points in his 123-game Georgia career, moving past Vern Fleming (1,777 points, 125 games from 1981-84) and Alec Kessler (1,788 points, 124 games from 1987-90) to second on the school’s all-time scoring list.
Litterial Green, who played 116 games at Georgia from 1989-92, is at the top of the list with 2,111 points.
“I’m grateful that I’ve been in the position that I’ve been allowed to be in since I’ve been here,” Maten said. “It’s been a blessing that I’ve been in a position to be in a leading role. … It means a lot, you know, being able to represent my school for the past four years and having opportunities to make plays night in and night out.”
… And one observation from after the game
Fox has not been shy lately about sharing his thoughts about the ongoing FBI corruption investigation into college basketball, but he saved his strongest vocabulary for Saturday’s postgame meeting with the media.
“I’m disgusted,” Fox said. “I’m disgusted with how people have treated our game. It’s absolutely disgusting. There’s always going to be unethical behavior, and let’s say we give each time a million dollars to pay your players. You know someone’s not going to like the salary cap, and they’re going to find their way around it.
“I’m all in favor of trying to find ways to help these kids more and more … but whatever regulations we have in place, we’re supposed to follow them. … The way people have treated our game is just disgusting. And it starts with the coaches and everybody else. … I’m past anger (and) sadness. It’s disgusting. And it’s really hurting the game, and the game has been so good to everybody. … The game educates kids. It teaches so many lessons and we have treated the game so poorly.”
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