Hot shooting first half carries Georgia to win over Tennessee, plus 3 more observations
Just like the weather in Athens, the Georgia men’s basketball team was unusually warm on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs (11-5, 1-2 SEC) utilized a scorching offensive start to build a big lead over Tennessee (10-6, 2-2 SEC), and they kept the Volunteers at arm’s length throughout the second half to cruise to the easy 80-63 victory in Stegeman Coliseum.
It was nip-and-tuck early, as the score was tied at 8 at the first media timeout. But then Georgia, fueled by a scoring outburst from star freshman Anthony Edwards, outscored the Volunteers 39-20 the rest of the half on 53 percent shooting as a team to lead 47-28 at halftime.
Tennessee rallied a bit early in the second half, but Georgia kept its opponent at bay en route to the Bulldogs’ first conference victory of the season.
Here are four observations from the game:
Anthony Edwards erupts in the first half
How would Edwards respond to one of the most frustrating games of his college career?
He struggled in the last game against Auburn on Saturday, finishing with 18 points but shooting just 6-of-15 from the field. He answered that performance with one of his best halves of his college career — and a game his coach said ranked as one of his best.
“He’s very, very serious about learning how to be efficient and learning what all those things take,” Georgia head coach Tom Crean said. “At the end of the day, I thought it’s a great example of when you’re on the attack, when the ball is really moving, when we’re playing from side to side, all of a sudden as much as everybody’s going to gameplan for you, you’re still getting open looks because the ball is moving.”
Edwards poured in 20 points in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting, including a quartet of made 3-pointers. He also drove to the rim on several occasions, putting in a layup and dunk and making all four of his free-throw attempts.
Those free throws came as a particular point of pride for Edwards, who made just 4-of-11 attempted at Auburn. Edwards said after that loss, he got in the gym to shoot free throws as soon as the team got back to Athens and he’s made them a focal point of every workout he’s had since then.
In keeping with his somewhat inconsistent nature, Edwards scored just six points after halftime to finish with 26 points on 7-for-17 and six rebounds. But his scoring frenzy in the first half allowed the Bulldogs to build a big lead that held up after intermission.
“I just feel like I did what I had to do in the first half,” Edwards said. “We got the lead, so now I’m just going to try to create for my teammates and do what I can with the ball.”
Wheeler and Gresham step up with Hammonds out
Georgia faced a dilemma early.
With the home team leading 8-6, second-leading scorer Rayshaun Hammonds picked up his second foul and went to the bench with 16:13 left in the half. But with Hammonds out, his teammates picked up the slack.
Senior Donnell Gresham put in six points in the minutes after Hammonds went out. Freshman Sahvir Wheeler also chipped in a layup as the duo added eight points to Edwards’ output.
“That just shows that our team’s versatile,” Hammonds said. “It ain’t always about one man doing all the scoring. We’ve got multiple players that can score and get hot. You never know, any given night, it could be anybody that gets hot.”
By the time Hammonds came back in, Georgia led 24-17. Shortly after returning he knocked down 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, stretching the lead to 32-19. The offense could have fallen silent with Hammonds on the bench, but instead it performed well and allowed him to open things up even more when he checked back in.
Bulldogs control the break on both ends
For a team that likes to play up-tempo basketball, the Bulldogs dominated in transition on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs got out on the fast-break plenty in the first half, owning a 10-0 advantage in points on the break at halftime. The highlight came from senior Jordan Harris, who hammered home a thunderous slam after coming up with a steal.
Georgia added just two more fast-break points in the second half, but the defense held firm and limited the Volunteers to just one bucket on the break for the entire game. The Bulldogs gave up several easy transition buckets to Auburn last Saturday, but there was no such deficiency against the Volunteers.
Georgia finishes strong this time
Second halves have not been kind to Georgia in SEC play.
Kentucky outscored the Bulldogs 47-32 in the final 20 minutes after trailing 37-31 at halftime. Georgia fell behind 35-24 at intermission against Auburn, and then got outscored 47-36 after the half.
Trying to protect a big lead against Tennessee, it would have been easy for Georgia to let up and breathe new life into the Volunteers. But as they searched for that first SEC win, the Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas.
That mentality started in the locker room at halftime. Edwards said senior Tyree Crump gave an impassioned speech, bringing up Georgia’s 96-50 road loss to Tennessee in Knoxville last season and imploring his teammates to not let up and let the Volunteers back in it.
“We just took that and ran with it,” Edwards said.
The Volunteers trimmed the lead to 16 in the early minutes of the second half. But Georgia responded with a 10-4 run to push the lead back to 22. The Bulldogs led by as many as 26 with 2:41 left before the Volunteers closed the game on a 9-0 run.
That run was enough for Tennessee to actually win the second half 35-33. But that was plenty good enough to keep the Volunteers from making a serious run at the lead, and as a result the Bulldogs were able to coast down the stretch to the 17-point victory.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 9:30 PM.