It’s on to the rematch with Alabama for the Georgia Bulldogs. After beating Auburn 69-51 in the first game of the 2011 SEC tournament, the Bulldogs (21-10) will move on to tomorrow’s matchup with the SEC Western Division No. 1 seed Crimson Tide, who defeated Georgia last Saturday in the regular season finale. The Tide has a bye today.
“It’s good to start the tournament with a win, with us playing the first game,” said Georgia coach Mark Fox after the game. “We did not want to be the first team to go home. So I was proud of how we were able to defend and play from really in front most of the game and get the win.”
As has been the case for much of the season, junior forward Trey Thompkins led the Dawgs in scoring and rebounding. Today, he had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“It’s his best game in a long time,” said Fox. “ Whether or not it’s his best game of the year, I don’t know. But he did play very well.”
Junior guard Travis Leslie also had a double-double, with 12 points and 10 boards of his own.
The game was never really in doubt, as the Bulldogs took a double-digit lead in the first half never trailed. Georgia entered the locker room for halftime up 34-23. The Dawgs led 11-4 five minutes into the game and increased the lead to 15 with 1:34 left in the half.
The second stanza was much of the same. The lead stayed between 15-19 points for most of the half, but ballooned to 21 with 6:45 remaining. From there, Georgia coasted to the final whistle to the delight of a Georgia Dome crowd of mostly Kentucky blue and Georgia red. Wildcat fans tend to dominate the crowd at the SEC tournament, as the program routinely sends tens of thousands to the site each year.
The Bulldogs are thought to be on the proverbial NCAA Tournament “bubble”, and many experts think tomorrow’s showdown with Alabama will be a virtual play-in game for a bid. But Georgia was focused on just one thing this week, and until now, that was Auburn.
“Today was a chance to play in the SEC tournament and a day to try and advance,” said Fox. “And that’s all we have talked about all week. And I haven’t allowed them to talk about anything else.”
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