Georgia picks up another impressive non-conference win, beats Grand Canyon
Georgia Basketball is 9-1 on the season after a big win to continue the SEC’s domination of non-conference play. On a day the league added wins over Illinois (Tennessee), Purdue (Texas A&M), Ohio State (Auburn), Arizona State (Florida) and Louisville (Kentucky), the Bulldogs beat Grand Canyon 73-68 to make it 3-0 for the SEC in Atlanta at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event.
In his return to the Peach State capital city, UGA big man Somto Cyril was huge for the Bulldogs. The Overtime Elite product and native of Nigeria could be seen having to get up off the ground several times throughout the night in a physical one but made his presence felt at the time. On the back of five dunks, Cyril found himself in double figures with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Asa Newell, Cyril’s fellow freshman, was also a difference maker for the Dawgs as he finished with a game-high 17 points, including five in the final 17 seconds. Silas Demary tied Cyril with eight rebounds for the team-high while Blue Cain and Tyrin Lawerence also reached double-figures with 10 a piece.
How It Happened…
Georgia led by 11 going into the locker room ahead 34-23, thanks to a strong first half on the defensive end, keeping Grand Canyon’s leading scorer and reigning conference player of the year Tyon Grant-Foster off the scoreboard and limiting the Antelopes to 8-of-28 (28.6%) from the field. The Bulldogs also held an advantage in the rebounding battle, winning that one 21-14. However, after a sloppy start to the second half, the UGA found itself in a one-possession ball game. Better play from Grant-Foster and Duke Brennan made that possible.
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A couple of big plays from Asa Newell and Somto Cyril, both true freshmen, allowed Georgia to jump back ahead by double digits before Blue Cain hit a pair of big 3-pointers, each after a 5-0 run from Grand Canyon.
Georgia led by 10 or more seven times in the second half, but it got close down the stretch thanks to a stretch that saw UGA kept off the scoreboard for nearly three minutes. Newell came through in the clutch again with an and-one with the two teams separated by just one score at the time. That, combined with Georgia’s ability to inbound and make its free throws down the stretch, allowed the Bulldogs to come away victorious in a hard fought game.
Georgia, off to its best start since 2001-02 and 9-1 for the second time since 1996-97, was off for 11 days ahead of this game, but the Bulldogs are back in action twice in the next eight days with Buffalo (Thursday, December 19th) and Charleston Southern (Sunday, December 22nd) coming into the Classic City. Tip time Thursday at Stegeman Coliseum is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ as UGA looks to pick up its tenth win of the season against the Bulls.
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