What a difference one game makes.
Mark Fox looked despondent after a 59-57 loss to Tennessee Tuesday night, but today, after an 86-64 blowout of visiting Mississippi State (10-7, 2-1), the Georgia coach looked pleased.
“I’m pleased with the results today,” said Fox. “I didn’t show them any film of the last game. We just moved on for this one and we’re fortunate to get a win and shoot the ball well.”
After conceding the first basket of the game to the “other” Bulldogs, Georgia (14-4, 3-2) went on an 11-0 run and never looked back. The Bulldogs dominated on the glass and earned a 48-23 edge in rebounding. The battle of the boards was much different than it was in the loss to Tennessee, when the Vols outrebounded the Bulldogs.
“We had a very physical rebounding day on Thursday,” said Fox. “We saw some results today. I was proud of our rebounding today.”
Nine Bulldogs grabbed boards today and five players had at least five. But the unlikely rebounding leader for the game was freshman Marcus Thornton (tied State’s Renaldo Sidney) with nine.
“It had been a long, long time since we had been beaten on the boards, so it was good for us to go out there and be as aggressive on the boards as we were today,” said Thornton.
On the offensive end, Georgia did not struggle much either. Four Dawgs hit double figures while two more scored nine. Travis Leslie and Gerald Robinson led the team with 17 points each. Trey Thompkins added 15 and Jeremy Price notched 11 points. Dustin Ware was 3-3 from three-point land and finished with nine points while Sherrard Brantley also nailed three threes and totaled nine points.
As a team, Georgia made 57.9 percent of their three-point attempts and shot 49.2 percent from the field.
“We shot the ball well today, and that was a big factor,” said Fox.
Fox’s squad took a 42-29 lead into the break and never led by less than 13 in the second half.
Georgia moves onto to face rival Florida on Tuesday night in a key SEC East division duel. The Bulldogs defeated the Gators in Athens last season, their second consecutive home win over Florida. Billy Donovan’s squad currently is in a tie for the lead in the East with a 3-1 conference record, pending the result of their game with Arkansas tonight.
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Good work.