The Georgia Bulldogs insisted they worked out any internal differences they may have during a team meeting in Athens on Sunday. Unfortunately, their basketball issues went with them to College Station, Texas, and those were all on display Tuesday as the Bulldogs suffered another blowout loss, this one 73-56 to Texas A&M.
Georgia either took bad shots or missed open ones, turned the ball over with reckless abandon and were soft on defense. The combination allowed the Aggies to put together several extended scoring runs — including 12-0 in the middle of the first half — and that kept the Bulldogs at a considerable distance throughout the contest.
Georgia (10-14, 1-10 SEC) couldn’t shoot from anywhere but was particularly bad from 3-point range. Paced by Tyree Crump, who missed nine of his 11 3-point attempts — many early in the shot clock — the Bulldogs were 3-for-23 (13 percent) from beyond the arc and shot 35 percent from the floor. They even missed nine of 26 free throws and were out-rebounded again by a smaller team, 40-35.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M got a career scoring night from forward Christian Mekowulu, who had 15 points and 15 rebounds. Guards T.J. Starks and Jay Jay Chandler added 19 and 18, respectively, to lead the Aggies (10-13, 3-8) to their first SEC win at home this season.
The best news for Georgia was Nicolas Claxton got back on track. After four consecutive poor shooting outings and an eight-point effort against Ole Miss this past Saturday, Claxton found his range again and led the Bulldogs with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior guard Jordan Harris was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 10. Derek Ogbeide managed only four points, or eight below his SEC average. Leading scorer Rayshaun Hammonds didn’t score until the 13:30 mark of the second half and finished with 5 points.
The Bulldogs come back home to face LSU on Saturday. The No. 19 Tigers (20-4) knocked off No. 5 Kentucky (20-4) 73-71 at Rupp Arena on Tuesday.
