Georgia Basketball drops Senior Night contest to No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers
Given an opportunity to close out the season on a positive note Tuesday night, Georgia fell to the No. 13 Tennessee Volunteers at Stegeman Coliseum by a score of 75-68 in the final home game of the season.
Despite the game being tied at 35 heading into the locker rooms, the Volunteers put the clamps on the Dawgs in the second half, holding Georgia to a 37.9 FG% (21.4 3-PT%). The Bulldogs finished the night by making only two of their last 10 shot attempts, killing any chance of an upset. While Kario Oquendo and Jabri Abdur-Rahim had some flashy passes and dunks, Georgia’s losing streak has officially reached double-digits with their last win coming on January 25th against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Georgia is now 6-24 on the season, the most losses in a single season in program history.
Georgia’s matchup against Tennessee was notable for multiple reasons; number one being that it was Senior Night for the Bulldogs. Players such as Aaron Cook and Jonathan Ned were honored before the game, and even the strong contingent of Tennessee fans that were filling up the stands were happy for the veteran players. Cook had a very strong performance for the Bulldogs, finishing the game with 17 points and four assists in 33 minutes.
After the game, Cook showed confidence in his team despite the losing streak.
“I think we just came out with a lot of energy and came out ready to play,” he said. “We executed on offense. Not so much in the first half, but later on in the game, we started getting stops and capitalizing off of stops. That really helped in keeping us close in the game after they got on a couple of runs.”
The Volunteers had four players finish in the double-digits, including Josiah-Jordan James, who had 23 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in 29 minutes to lead all scorers. The Vols made 13 of their 15 free throw attempts, while making 13 of their 25 FG attempts in the second half. Tennessee is ranging anywhere from a 2 seed to a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and are in serious contention to win the SEC Tournament next week.
Although it seems insignificant to flaunt highlights in a seven-point loss, Oquendo threw down a dunk-of-the-year candidate on Tennessee forward Santiago Vescovi in the first half of action. Oquendo would go on to finish the game with 16 points and three rebounds in 30 minutes.
After the game, Crean began his opening comments with what he said to the team in the locker room.
“As I said to the team, I look at the stat sheet, and I don’t know what to tell them on where we lost the game.”
Looking at the stats, both teams’s production does look very similar. With nearly identical shooting splits and turnovers, there was not a very large gap in the statistical output. However, rebounding was a huge discrepancy between the two teams, as Tennessee outrebounded the Dawgs 39-28 (12-7 offensive rebounds). Junior guard Jaxon Etter led the team in rebounds, showing the lack of depth that the Bulldogs have in the front court.
Georgia travels to Columbia for the regular-season finale on Saturday to take on the Missouri Tigers at 3:30 p.m. ET. After a 73-69 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday, the Tigers have fallen to 10-20 on the season, placing them as the second worst team in the SEC. If Georgia could steal a win from Missouri, the Bulldogs might be able to gain some momentum before heading into the SEC Tournament where they are locked in as the No. 14 seed already.
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