Keeping its threadbare postseason hopes alive, Georgia posted a 73-62 SEC upset Saturday over visiting No. 18 Tennessee at a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum, its third victory of the season against a team ranked in the Top 25.
The Bulldogs – who had five players score in double figures – bested the Volunteers for the fifth consecutive time and claimed their second conference victory in a row, which has happened only one other time this season, when Georgia (15-11, 6-8 SEC) bested Ole Miss and Alabama in early January.
Tennessee – which also had four players with double-digit points -- lost for the second time in its past three games, but still sits in second place in conference standings.
Georgia will play Wednesday at South Carolina while Tennessee (19-7, 9-5) hosts Florida on Wednesday.
Here are five observations from the game:
Battle of the bigs
The anticipated tussle inside between Georgia’s Yante Maten and Tennessee’s Grant Williams never really materialized, in part because Williams was called for three fouls in the first nine minutes of the second half and fouled out with 1:42 remaining and his team down by eight points.
Maten finished with a game-high 19 minutes and five rebounds in 30 minutes, his 25th double-digit game of the season.
“Yante has been a really consistent level of play all year,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “He’s getting better and making the players around him better.”
Williams managed but five points (on 1-of-8 shooting) and four rebounds in 25 minutes.
“He was not good with his defensive coverage,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said of Williams. “He’s got to stop talking and produce.”
Sub-stantial
Georgia’s bench outscored Tennessee’s reserves by a 29-19 margin, thanks to the second-half play of Tyree Crump and Derek Ogebiede, who combined for 24 points in the final 20 minutes of play.
Ogebeide finished with a double-double (his second of the week) of 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Crump had 11 points, two rebounds and two assists. Ogbeide – who also had 10 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday against Florida -- bested his previous season-high of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“It comes down to attention to details, and you know whatever my role is I want to make sure I can help the team the best that I can and give my best effort to produce the factor of winning,” said Ogbeide, who has started 22 games this season.
“Derek’s a good scorer, especially around the basket,” Maten said. “We’ve just got to keep utilizing our strengths.”
Stopped at the start
The game was delayed several times in the first minute of play because of a wonky shot clock, and it took a while for either team to find a rhythm, although Maten scored the Bulldogs’ eight points (thanks to 4-for-4 shooting at the free-throw line).
Tennessee endured three long scoring droughts in the first half, and Georgia was able to take advantage briefly, taking a nine-point lead at the 4:54 mark on Nicholas Claxton’s two free throws. The Volunteers outscored the Bulldogs 11-7 down the stretch to take a 28-26 lead at the half.
It wasn’t Tennessee’s lowest point total for a half (that was 23 points against Alabama on Feb. 10), but it was close.
In their defense
Georgia and Tennessee entered Saturday’s game with two of the SEC’s top defenses, and the Bulldogs held the Volunteers well below their average of nearly 76 points per game.
“We did a pretty good job,” Maten said. “We knew they were a physical team coming into the game so we tried to match (their physicality).”
The Volunteers shot 34.9 percent (22-of-63) from the field, the fourth time the Bulldogs have limited an SEC opponent to below 35 percent shooting.
Stripes
The Bulldogs didn’t have a great night at the foul line, shooting 71.1 percent (27-for-38), but compared with the Volunteers, it was a tremendous outing.
Despite its height and length, Tennessee didn’t have a lot of luck inside drawing fouls and as a result went to the line only 15 times, connecting on 10.
“They had 38 free throws to our 15, but it was still a five-point game with five minutes left,” Barnes said. “But then they outplayed us in any way you want.”
The Bulldogs, who came into the game with a 71-percent success rate at the line, were consistent throughout the night, but were spot-on when it really counted. In the last minute, Tyree Crump made five of six, Maten and Turtle Jackson sank two apiece and Ogebiede added one free throw to seal the unlikely victory for the Bulldogs, who held the lead for nearly 32 minutes of Saturday’s game.
“That was the biggest thing – to try to keep them off the free-throw line,” said Crump, who made five of seven shots at the line. “They go to the free-throw line a lot, so the big thing was … to try to make it hard with contested 2’s and contested 3’s.”
About the Author
