It didn’t look or feel like the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament. Georgia was playing in a three-quarters empty Stegeman Coliseum — not in New York’s Madison Square Garden — and the opponent was just little ol’ Stony Brook.
But for the Bulldogs, it was a victory, the first of the season. Georgia (1-1) scored an 80-70 victory over the pesky Seawolves from the America East Conference, and for a moment at least, it relieved some of the sting from last Saturday’s season-opening loss to Georgia Tech.
“We just beat a very good basketball team,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “I don’t feel great because I feel like I let everybody down (against Tech). Last week’s loss felt like 20 losses, so now it feels like 19. But we beat a good basketball team tonight and we should feel good about it.”
Fox was asked why he was still taking the 80-73 loss to the Yellow Jackets. “Because we didn’t play well enough. I couldn’t get us to calm down and that’s my job. That loss is on me, period.”
The Stony Brook game was uncomfortably close for a while. Deshaun Thrower’s free throw with 16:19 remaining in the game cut Georgia’s lead to five points, at 49-44.
But Nemanja Djurisic answered for the Bulldogs. The senior forward was fouled on a short jump shot that led to a three-point play and a 52-44 lead. Georgia spent the rest of the game expanding the margin to its biggest lead of 21 points with seven minutes remaining.
Junior guard Charles Mann led five UGA players in double figures, with 16 points. Kenny Gaines added 13, Yante Maten and Djurisic added 11 each and Marcus Thornton had 10. The Bulldogs shot 44.7 percent from the field and made 33 of 48 free throws.
“Well, we played with composure and poise offensively,” Fox said. “If we had played that way last week we would’ve won by 12. But we didn’t. It took a loss to understand we have to play that way.
Asked, then, if the Tech loss was a good loss, Fox said, “it wasn’t good; it sucked. But we learned something from it.”
In the first half, the Bulldogs struggled with Stony Brook more than Georgia coach Mark Fox or anybody else wearing red and black probably wanted or expected. Juwan Parker made a jump shot at the halftime buzzer for the Bulldogs to take a 48-41 lead into the locker room.
Georgia’s chief trouble in the opening stanza was one player. Guard Carson Puriefoy took 11 of the Seawolves’ 35 first-half shots and made eight of them, including three 3-pointers. He led all scorers with 21 points in the first 20 minutes and finished with a game-high 26 points.
In contrast, the Bulldogs were the epitome of balanced scoring and efficient offense. They took 24 shots to Stony Brook’s 35, but made 58 percent of them. Mann, Frazier and Maten all scored eight points apiece, and Georgia made 16 of 22 free throws.
“They’re a real good team,” Mann said. “The point guard (Puriefoy), he’s real good. He’s probably one of the best I’ve faced since I’ve been at Georgia. We played much better, but we didn’t play near the best we can. But we have time to get there.”
About the Author
