Perhaps Georgia should start calling Nemanja Djurisic “Secret Sauce.”
Better known as “Nemi” to teammates and Georgia basketball fans, Djurisic led the Bulldogs in scoring Thursday night when they rolled over LSU 91-78. But that’s usually what happens when Djurisic has a big scoring night.
In fact, the Bulldogs (11-10, 5-4 SEC) are undefeated when Djurisic leads Georgia in scoring. His 17-point effort Thursday represented the fifth game this season when he was the team’s high scorer, and the Bulldogs won each time.
That trend dates to last season. Djurisic led Georgia in scoring only four times last season, and the Bulldogs won three of the games. Djurisic said he is aware of this little phenomenon.
“Yes, I’ve noticed,” said Djurisic, a 6-foot-8 forward from Montenegro. “I think that it’s important whenever I play that I kind of set (tone for) the outside shooting. Usually when I score points they’re (from) outside, and it helps the team to spread the court a little bit and get the others involved inside. It does help.”
That definitely was the case Thursday. Djurisic missed his first 3-point attempt early in the first half against the Tigers, but came back minutes later and made his first on his way to a 2-for-3 night from behind the arc. Once Djurisic loosened LSU’s zone, forward Marcus Thornton (15 points, 10 rebounds) started to find room to operate around the basket, and Charles Mann (16 points) started driving into the lane.
Djurisic also got three points the old-fashioned way, on a dunk and a free throw, and the Bulldogs went to the line 46 times, making 32. Djurisic was 7-for-7 on free throws. Georgia shot a season-high 60 percent for the game and was 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs can only hope to be as efficient Saturday night. They play host to Texas A&M (13-9, 4-5), a team coming off a 20-point home win over Mississippi State (72-52). And while the Aggies rank last in the SEC in scoring (65.6 ppg), they’re second in points allowed (62.7). So Georgia will have to be on its game again.
“There are 18 games, and they’re all going to be slugfests,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “There’s a lot of teams in this league that are really even. Look at the standings, and most of us are bunched up in the middle. A lot of teams are even, and any win you can get is important because they’re all solid teams. So you’ve got to defend your home court.”
Getting Djurisic going again will help. The Bulldogs have won 10 of 12 at home this season. He failed to reach double figures in the two losses, to Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.
“We know we can do it,” Djurisic said. “We want to get back on a winning streak here at home.”
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