Georgia gets biggest win of Mike White era over Notre Dame
ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia picked up its first Power Five win of the Mike White era on Sunday and his biggest victory as a Bulldog to date, beating Notre Dame 77-62 at State Farm Arena as a part of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event. Braelen Bridges and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe led the way for Georgia with 18 and 15 respectively as four different Bulldogs scored in double-digits including a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double from Jabri Abdur-Rahim. Bridges and Moncrieffe finished a combined 15-of-15 from the field.
“Obviously a really good win for this program, for this current team,” White said after the game. “Really happy for our guys. Our guys have been through a lot of course in this past month or so. We’ve got a healthy team that’s worked really hard and made some improvements so who knows where this thing will be. Hopefully we can build upon it … Notre Dame, an institution and a basketball program that we’ve got a ton of respect for. Mike Brey is one of the best in the business. This team is incredibly difficult to defend and they’re a very good team, so obviously for us is a really big win. Got better today in addition.”
Notre Dame started the game off hot from 3-point range with four of the Irish’s first six scores coming from deep. That helped Mike Brey’s team jump out to an early advantage. However, with 9:12 to go before the halftime break, Georgia took its first lead on a physical finish at the rim from Moncrieffe to cap off a 6-0 UGA run. He and Bridges combined to score the first nine for the Bulldogs and 18 in the first half.
Moncrieffe wasn’t finished quite yet. After Notre Dame retook the lead, Moncrieffe and the Bulldogs turned up the heat. Terry Roberts hit a 3-pointer, Georgia’s first of the game, with 3:52 to go in the first half and kick started an 8-0 run for the Bulldogs. The last three points of that came on an and-one immediately after Jailyn Ingram made a pair of free throws to come out of a timeout followed by full-court pressure on the Irish. Georgia would go into the locker room for the half up five after Roberts denied the Irish an opportunity to tie the game with an intercepted pass that he took coast-to-coast for a fast break layup.
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Georgia opened the second half by making its first four shots from the field and extending its lead to 10 just over five minutes after the break. Notre Dame however fought back and used a 7-0 run to get the game to three but the Bulldogs responded with their own run, an 11-0 stretch with three jumped in the paint by Bridges. That got the Georgia lead to 14, one that eventually was extended to as large as 17 down the stretch and never got closer than 12.
Sunday’s game was Georgia’s first in 12 days since a lost to Georgia Tech, but the Bulldogs won’t be off for long now. They’re back in action taking on Chattanooga on Wednesday at Stegeman Coliseum. Tipoff time is set for 3:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
