The Owls traveled to Athens on the last day of 2008 looking for a chance to upset a struggling Georgia Bulldogs squad. Despite balanced scoring and minimal turnovers from KSU, the game would be one-sided from the get-go.
UGA jumped out to a quick 16-4 lead in the first seven minutes of the game and cruised to a 72-52 victory in Stegeman Coliseum.
“They came out lights out,” explained Owls head coach Tony Ingle. “They came out and hit their shots, they hit their 3′s. When we didn’t rotate good enough, they got dunks.”
KSU was rarely within double-digits after the midpoint of the first half. Despite not trailing by more than 16 until the final two minutes, the Owls never seriously threatened to take the lead.
Spencer Dixon led the Owls with 16 points after nailing 3-6 3-pointers. Kurtis Woods added 11 while Jon-Michael Nickerson and John Allison each scored eight.
The score at halftime was a respectable 34-22, but KSU never truly made a serious run throughout the afternoon. The Bulldogs were in a surly mood, as they had been dealt a tremendous blow just nine days earlier when lightly-regarded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi upset the Dawgs in overtime on a last second 3-pointer. On Dec. 28, UGA bounced back with a resounding 98-68 win against North Carolina A&T to show that they would not be taken by surprise again.
UGA seemed to bring the same no-nonsense attitude to its game against KSU on Wednesday afternoon.
The story of the afternoon was field-goal shooting percentage. The Owls shot a lowly 30.8 percent from the field, including just 25 percent in the first half, while the Bulldogs ended up at 53 percent. If shooting itself didn’t doom the Owls, it was getting out-rebounded 42-30 and attempting only eight free throws compared to UGA’s 25.
“We gotta start knocking down our shots,” declared Dixon, a Kennesaw Mountain High product. “(And) get in the paint, get fouled. The other team is shooting a lot more free throws than us right now so that’s one of the main things we want to do.”
Despite the loss, KSU will try to build on this contest with the more talented Bulldogs in a hostile atmosphere.
“It’s going to do us well in the conference because we’ve already had big tests. Going back to the conference (schedule), we should be prepared,” Dixon said.
The Owls have seemed to miss transfer forward Jay Mitchell throughout the season, but it was especially evident in this game as the Owls struggled with Georgia’s size down low. The former Texas Tech player may be out even longer than expected with his injury. Mitchell was thought to be returning this week for the Campbell game.
“It’d be great to have him back, but it doesn’t look like (he’ll be back) any time soon,” said Ingle.
KSU (5-6, 1-1) will be back in action on Jan. 5 against the Campbell Fighting Camels (3-7, 0-2).
“Everything’s 0-0 now,” stated Ingle. “We’re 1-1 in the conference. Everyone we’ve played up to this point is just getting ready for the conference.”
The two teams played once last season, a 75-55 Camel win in Buies Creek, N.C. The Owls trail in the all-time series 3-2.
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
