Georgia defense has best performance of season, plus other observations from Austin Peay win

A good start isn’t always necessary for a strong finish. But for Georgia on Monday night, it sure was helpful.

The Bulldogs (9-3) rode strong starts to both halves to their third victory in a row, toppling the Austin Peay Governors (6-7) by a final score of 78-48 in Stegeman Coliseum.

“We hit a real lull there in the first half and it was us not attacking, it was us not pushing and defending as well,” head coach Tom Crean said after the game. “But the beginning of the game and then certainly the second half we did a much better job. The ball moved much better, our defense was fantastic for a long while.”

The Governors trailed by double digits for most of the first half, but a 7-0 run over the final 4:02 trimmed the deficit to just five at halftime.

But the Bulldogs started the second half blazing, figuring out a solution to Austin Peay’s zone defense and stifling the Governors on the defensive end to build an insurmountable lead.

Here are six observations from the game:

Defense, hot start stake Georgia to early lead

The Bulldogs showed no signs of rust after a week-long layoff.

They made eight of their first 11 shots, leading by as many 15 in the first half. A group effort saw seven different players score in the first 20 minutes, with Jordan Harris, Toumani Camara and Rayshaun Hammonds sharing the lead with six points each.

Defensively, Georgia held the visitors in check for much of the half. Before the run to close the first half, the Governors had recorded just 19 points in over 16 minutes of action. Even with the late burst, they shot just 40 percent in the first half.

Zone defense stalls Bulldog offense again

Crean lamented Georgia’s struggles against the zone after the last game against Georgia Southern. Some of those problems surfaced yet again against the Governors on Monday night.

The Bulldogs led 21-11 midway through the first half, but then the Governors broke out the 2-3 zone. Georgia scored just 10 points the rest of the half, also ending the first period with 11 turnovers.

Hammonds said teams have been mixing up their zone looks during the game to keep the Bulldogs off balance. Crean said he saw too much standing around and not enough moving without the ball, flashing and getting behind the zone defenders.

“When you stand and you don’t cut and move and play through the middle, good things don’t happen,” Crean said. “We don’t practice that way. We practice with movement. What happens is we start to spend too much time thinking about the things that aren’t going to matter.”

A couple baskets early after the switch extended the lead to a first-half high 26-11. The Bulldogs were outscored 15-5 the rest of the half, including scoreless the final 4:02, to make the lead just 31-26 at intermission.

Bulldogs seize control with early second half run

After the struggles late in the first half, the Bulldogs dominated out of the locker room.

They scored the first eight points of the second half and went on an extended 19-2 run over the first eight minutes of the period. By the time Austin Peay called timeout after Donnell Gresham’s second 3-pointer, the lead had ballooned from five all the way up to 22.

“The players understood,” Crean said. “They knew that they needed to play with much more urgency, and they did. They deserve the credit, they responded. It wasn’t about halftime adjustments because it wasn’t like we needed to do new things. We needed to do what we do right.”

Georgia shot 7-for-11 over this stretch, while the Governors missed 11 of their 12 shots taken. The visitors from Tennessee pulled back into the game after a cold start in the first half, but the blitz to start the second half proved too much to overcome.

Second half Sahvir

For the third game in a row, Georgia’s starting lineup changed at the start of the second half.

Sahvir Wheeler began the second period on the court in place of Gresham. He knocked down a 3-pointer on his first shot of the half in the middle of an 8-0 run that helped the Bulldogs take command of the game.

The freshman recorded four points and two assists before halftime, but he took on more of a distributing role after intermission. He logged just three points in the second half on the one made shot, but he dished out four second-half assists to once again lead the team with six for the night.

Camara strong once again

Camara followed up the best game of his collegiate career with another solid night.

He started aggressive, scoring six points in the first 4:06 of the game. The freshman ended the night with eight points and nine rebounds (setting a career high for the second straight game) to go along with a +23 plus/minus margin when on the court.

With SEC play starting next week, continued production from Camara down low will be vital to Georgia’s hopes of competing against improved conference competition.

Defense has best performance of season

Despite giving up the run to end the first half, the Georgia defense still had its best all-around performance of the season.

The Bulldogs held the Governors to 48 points and 26.6 percent shooting, both season-bests. They also forced 11 turnovers that turned into 13 second-chance points.

“Defense translates to offense,” Hammonds said. “If you stop teams, you can score. The main focus is stopping teams from trying to score, so that’s our main focus.”

The defense also keyed the second-half run that keyed the win. Austin Peay shot just 1-for-12 over the first eight minutes of the second half, allowing the Bulldogs to build a 22-point lead that the Governors never threatened.

This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 9:54 PM.