Georgia guards carry weight in 92-64 win over Texas Southern

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia overcame a little bit of a slow start on a rainy day in the Classic City for a decisive win over Texas Southern, putting the Tigers away 92-64. Five different Bulldogs finished in double figures as UGA moved to 2-0 on the 2024-25 season.

Early on, it was the Dakota Leffew show as he made four 3-pointers in the first half. Combine that with defense that kept Texas Southern without a make from deep before halftime and no made field goals in general the final 6:12 of the frame, and it was a recipe that led to an 18-point advantage heading into the locker room.

Leffew’s contributions didn’t end, but the other Georgia guards emerged as well in the second half. With Tyrin Lawrence finding his stroke to the tune of three 3-pointers and the returning duo of Silas Demary and Blue Cain each reaching double figures, the Bulldogs were able to pull away and lead by as many as 30 in the final minutes.

It’s a quick turn around for Georgia this week, playing again on Tuesday night against North Florida. The Ospreys are off to a 3-0 start with impressive road wins already over South Carolina and Georgia Tech. Tip time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

Thombs’ Takeaways

*** Dakota Leffew picked up right where he left off in terms of being Georgia’s best guard. He hit four 3-pointers in the first half including UGA’s only one in a 1-for-7 start from deep.

*** To get to where it wants to be, Georgia has got to find a way to get more out of its guards outside of Leffew. Silas Demary, Blue Cain and Tyrin Lawrence hit one shot each (combined 3-10) in the first half. Demary and Cain did manage to get to the line often and the three started the second half strong (more on both later), but this has been a theme of the first two games.

*** Georgia shot 21 free throws in the first half and made 18 of them. The Bulldogs were in the bonus with 13:24 to go before halftime. Overall, UGA shot 39 in the game and made 30. It felt like getting to the line was a bigger emphasis – or at least a successful way to supplement the scoring – given the early-season shooting struggles.

Going back to the opener against Monday, the Bulldogs’ game total was 18 with only three attempted in the first half (eight free throws came in the final 1:32 with Tennessee Tech trying to extend the game). It didn’t feel like they got to the line much in the exhibition either. To see them improve in that category felt much needed.

*** Savo Drezgic entered the game for the first time with just over two minutes to go in the first half, and he hit an open 3-pointer, becoming the first (and only) Bulldog not named Dakota Leffew to make from deep in the first half of a game so far this season. More minutes for the Serbian could be a spark to the offense Georgia looks for.

*** We mentioned the strong second half of the Georgia guards that went quietly before the break. Lawrence, Demary and Cain all made 3-pointers to get in on the action coming out of the locker room. Lawrence’s, the first points of the half for UGA, was the first of three beyond the arc he made after the break. Together, Lawrence, Demary and Cain combined for 25 in the second frame with Cain’s contributions leading to his first career double including a career-high 11 rebounds.

*** Georgia’s interior presence wasn’t felt quite as much in this one as it was the opener where Asa Newell and RJ Godfrey each recorded double-doubles, but the block party that was the first half was impressive. Newell had three while Somto Cyril added one of his own. In the second half, Godfrey, Dylan James, Leffew and Lawrence each had one while Newell and Cyril added to their combined total of eight. Playing better perimeter defense and running a Texas Southern team that averaged 25.5 attempts per game from deep off the line led to more opportunities to affect shots on the interior.

*** Speaking of the defensive end and the effort to shut down the opponent from 3-point range, Texas Southern finished 1-of-19 from deep. UCF made 9-of-25 in the home exhibition game (Charlotte made 2-of-14) while Tennessee Tech had 11-of-28 go through the cylinder. Much improved effort in that area.

Quotes of Note – Mike White

On continuity and on-court communication Sunday…

“We were really sharp in our exhibitions. Unfortunately, you don’t give you credit for those. I just thought we took a step backward in terms of how we handled playing in front of our fans, we’re a heavy favorite. Those are things that I may not have done a good enough job talking about on the front end in that first one. Today I thought we got back — really in preparation for this one, so probably 72 hours ago — we got back to just focusing on smaller details, especially on the glass and on the defensive end. Took more pride in defending. I just thought simply we played harder, responded better to some adversities throughout the game, to some missed shots early. We just played better.”

On getting the guards going faster…

“I think a lot of it will happen organically just over time. There’s a lot of new pieces that are learning how to play with one another. Sometimes confidence level too, especially when you’re coming off a game where you didn’t play quite as well is a factor. It’s where you see your first couple go down and the basket gets wider for everyone out there. I thought we executed pretty well in the first 10, 15 minutes. Probably better than certain spurs in the second half and just didn’t finish possessions with makes. Thank goodness we were all over the offensive glass. It was nice to see a few go for us. Dakota really got it going. Dakota’s coming off the bench for us as of right now. Who knows what we do moving forward, but he’s a really good player.”

On the emphasis to getting to the free-throw line…

“Texas Southern’s really physical, very, very handsy, tipped a lot of balls. They were just super active. Their wallops were really physical, and we drew a lot of contact. And all of a sudden before you know it we’re in the bonus, and of course when you’re in the bonus you harp on it as much as you can about driving through contact, cutting through contact.

Did a good job of drawing some fouls off cuts and post-ups off the ball to complement the ones that we drew on the ball. So this will be one that we can reference when you play moving forward in our league. Half the teams in our league are about as physical as that one will be. But that was a high-major level. That was an SEC-level of physicality for sure.”

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