Georgia finally took advantage of their rebounding and shooting prowess to dispatch No. 18 Vanderbilt 72-58 tonight at Stegeman Coliseum. “It was a great win for our kids,” explained jubilant Georgia head coach Mark Fox. “It was a physical, extremely well-coached basketball team that we beat tonight.” The Bulldogs shot 53.2 percent to Vandy’s 32.8 percent and out-rebounded the Commodores 43-28. However, the Dawgs did turn it over 21 times to Vandy’s 11. In past games, turnovers and defense had been UGA’s undoing.
Despite out-rebounding and out-shooting many of their opponents this season, turnovers had killed UGA in several losses this season. But tonight, a determined Bulldog squad overcame a three-point halftime deficit and ran Vandy out of the gym in the second half, as Mark Fox’s squad out-scored the Commodores 49-32 in the second stanza.
“We’ve talked about some of the mistakes we’ve made that have cost us some games,” said Fox. “We played much more determined. We didn’t start the half well, but we were able to recognize it and really improve our defense in the gut of the second half.”
Despite falling behind by eight early in the second half, Georgia fought back and dominated the middle of the half to re-take the lead and clinch the win on a Ricky McPhee three that gave the Dawgs a 68-54 lead with three minutes remaining.
“We got together and talked about it,” Travis Leslie described of he and his teammates’ recent second half collapses. “We knew we couldn’t give up another lead like that so we ust kept grinding it out.”
Leslie and Thompkins led Georgia with 17 points. Leslie led the Dawgs with eight rebounds.
Vanderbilt was led by Jermaine Beal’s 21. Beal made 4-9 shots from three-point land.
Georgia (10-11, 2-6) will travel to Auburn on Wednesday to face the Tigers in the final year of Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
-Considering the circumstances, it was a great crowd tonight at the Steg. Vocal, excited, and about as full as you can expect for a team that was 9-11 coming into the night.
-The crowd of 8,131 saw the Dawgs’ third win over a ranked opponent this season.
-AJ Ogilvy was held to just six points for the Commodores. The senior from Australia has seemingly been with Kevin Stallings since he took over at Vandy at head coach 11 years ago. Ogilvie has started all four years he has been in Nashville and came into the game averaging 13.9 points per game.
-Georgia has out-rebounded opponents in six of their last eight games.
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