Georgia picks up impressive win over North Florida, moves to 3-0

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball picked up another win, its second in the last three days, as the Bulldogs defeated previously unbeaten North Florida 90-77. After beating South Carolina and Georgia Tech on the road in the first week of the season, the Ospreys came into Athens receiving votes in the AP Top 25, a testament to the level of team UGA took down on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs jumped ahead early and extended the advantage to double digits with 3:22 to go in the first half. RJ Godfrey was affective and had himself 13 points before the break including six of eight in an 8-0 UGA run near the end of the half while Silas Demary, Blue Cain and Tyrin Lawrence were all clicking as well, combining for four 3-pointers.

After the break, Georgia was even better, shooting 61.5% from the field and scoring 47 points, tied for most in a half of the season. UGA extended its lead to 18 just over six minutes in to the second half, however, the Bulldogs didn’t cruise. North Florida’s Liam Murphy made a flurry of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to nine before Dakota Leffew responded with one of his own to regain some momentum. That sparked a 12-2 run for the Bulldogs that helped seal the deal on the win.

Now 3-0 on the season, Georgia has its biggest game to date coming up on Friday as the Bulldogs travel to Atlanta to take on in-state rival Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets have a pair of common opponents from the Peach State Classic including North Florida, who won Sunday afternoon over Tech. Tip time for Friday is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.

Thombs’ Takeaways

*** RJ Godfrey was the most impressive player, and this felt like a game he could play well in taking a little look at North Florida beforehand. The Ospreys play without a traditional big man. No player that had seen double-digit minutes of action before Tuesday night is listed as taller than 6-foot-8. So, for the 6-foot-8 Godfrey – who plays bigger than his listed height – there were matchups he could take advantage of, and that’s exactly what he did.

The Clemson transfer finished 5-for-8 in the first half putting up 13 points. He also added eight rebounds, both totals good for game-highs in the first half. Godfrey ended up getting there and topped his previous carer high for scoring (19 against Queens University at Clemson) with a end-of-clock, fadeaway jumper off the backboard to put UGA ahead 80-61. Godfrey would finish with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. His 12 rebounds was also a career high.

*** Georgia’s guards haven’t been the fastest starting group so far this season. Entering Tuesday, Dakota Leffew accounted for all but one of Georgia’s seven made 3-pointers in the first half. Silas Demary, Tyrin Lawrence and Blue Cain – who had made six 3-pointers between them – combined for zero. On Tuesday, that changed with Lawrence making two, while Demary and Cain each made one. Coming off of a 13-point performance versus Texas Southern, Lawrence scored 11 before the break.

*** Georgia forced seven turnovers in the first half and blocked four shots. The Bulldogs also defended the 3 well, giving up just 5-of-16 in the first half. Overall, the Ospreys were held to 31 points just two days after putting up 50 in the first half against Georgia’s next opponent, Georgia Tech. The defensive effort by the Bulldogs felt impressive.

*** The second half saw Georgia shoot an impressive 61.5% from the field (16-of-26) and scored 47 points, tying their most in a single half this season.

*** An overall field goal percentage of 53% (31-of-58) stands out for Georgia including the Bulldogs’ 40% (6-of-15) from 3-point range. It wasn’t the performance from deep though that felt most important though with a 48-26 advantage in the paint.

*** Once again, an eye popping number of blocks for Georgia with eight. That would’ve tied a season-high last year. For this team, it’s a second straight game with that many blocks or more. The size and athleticism of guys like Asa Newell continues to show up.

Quotes of Note

“I thought there was a difference in our energy level tonight and the last one, but definitely the one before that. This is probably as hard as we’ve competed defensively, and we’ve got to build on that. I thought our guys were really locked in, our guards were, our bigs were really good in the offensive class. And there were a couple times where I thought we could have spread it a little bit, and we had a couple empty possessions there mid-second half, a couple casual turnovers, which led to runouts for those guys. They just keep plugging away and shooting the three, and they’ve you’ve got some guys who can really shoot it and collectively, they really share, they’re hard to guard. But overall, very good performance for us. Had some empty possessions with some missed chippies in the paint. Again, those turnovers, we’ve got to continue to improve with our decision making. But overall, played well.” – Mike White