Georgia grinds out win over Arkansas to open SEC play 2-0
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball won a big on Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum, beating Arkansas 76-66. While the stat sheet shows the Bulldogs never trailing, it was absolutely a win that required grinding one out.
Justin Hill led the way for UGA with 19 points, joined in double figures by Noah Thomasson (15) and RJ Melendez (10). Meanwhile, the Razorbacks’ only scorer with more the nine points was Tremon Mark who had a game-high 24, also leading Arkansas in rebounding with seven boards.
With the win, Georgia’s win streak is now up to 10, reaching double digits for the first time since the 1940s. The Bulldogs hold the fourth-longest mark in the country outright (longest among power conference teams) with Dayton having an opportunity to tie before UGA plays again. It’s also the first 2-0 start to SEC play since 2014 when the Dawgs winded up third in the league.
How It Happened
Georgia got a big first half out of Justin Hill as the guard came off the bench to lead the way with 11. Hill hit three of his four attempts from 3-point range including one to give Georgia its largest lead of the first 20:00. That came at the end of a 12-0 run for the Bulldogs, taking its lead from just one to 13 with under 5:00 to play in the first half.
On the flip side of things, the Bulldogs played impressive defense, forcing nine turnovers and limiting the Razorbacks to 10-for-30 shooting including just 1-of-6 from behind the arc. No Arkansas player had more than seven points in the first frame.
Arkansas came out of the halftime break strong and cut their deficit to two possessions. However, back to back made 3-pointers from Noah Thomasson put UGA back up by double digits. That continued to be trend before Arkansas got it to single digits and kept it that way from the 12:23 mark on, getting it to a one possession game with 6:43 to go on a free throw from Trevon Brazile.
Down to a three-point lead, Jabri Abdur-Rahim made his first 3-pointer of the night with just over four and a half minutes left in the game. Then, after the last media timeout of the night, an RJ Melendez put back with 2:14 to go not only put him in double figures for the night but also prevented an empty possession and kept Arkansas from getting closer with UGA up seven at that point.
After a pair of trips down the floor ended in open missed 3-pointers, freshman Silas Demary buried the opponent with a late make from deep in a second straight game. This time, it was a 3-pointer with 1:03 to go, putting UGA up eight.
Georgia hosts No. 5 Tennessee at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday. The Volunteers are 1-1 in league play already with a win over a ranked Ole Miss squad last week but a loss on Wednesday night at Mississippi State. Tip time is set for 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
