Georgia basketball traded blows with No. 24 Ole Miss for 20 minutes before falling behind for good in a 63-51 loss at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi, on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (12-2, 0-1 SEC) pushed the Rebels in the paint (12-2, 1-0), but poor 3-point shooting and a sluggish start to the second half undid UGA in its SEC opener.
Ole Miss quickly erased UGA’s 28-26 halftime lead, exploding into the second half with an 18-4 run. The Bulldogs could not keep up with the sharpshooting Rebels, making only 24% of their second-half shots, compared with Ole Miss’ 50%.
Georgia gave itself plenty of opportunities, pulling down 15 offensive rebounds with 16 second-chance points.
UGA’s 11% shooting from 3-point range simply was too much to overcome in front of its first SEC road crowd of the season.
“We had some open (shots) that had to go if you’re going to be competitive on the road,” UGA coach Mike White said. “Two-of-18 from 3 is not who we are. We’re better than that.”
Georgia’s biggest advantage appeared to be in the paint, where 6-11 freshmen Asa Newell and Somto Cyril towered over the Rebels’ big men.
Newell certainly made his presence felt near the basket, but Georgia outscored Ole Miss only 24-14 in the paint.
“We played half the game with guards guarding our bigs and just didn’t do a good-enough job taking advantage of those mismatches,” White said.
The Rebels appeared to establish themselves in the paint in the second half, finding backdoor cutters and kicking out to open 3-point shooters. UGA also lost the rebound battle for the second time this season, the Rebels finishing with a 35-34 edge.
“You could hear the Ole Miss bench counting out their passes, so they were making sure they had a number of passes before they took a shot,” Newell said. “They were just moving around. We weren’t as connected as we wanted to be, and they just got the touches that they needed.”
Newell led UGA’s offense for the seventh time this season, totaling 13 points with 12 rebounds. Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence added eight points of his own with two assists, two rebounds and three steals.
The Bulldogs offense started to fight back about halfway through the second half, jumping on a 9-0 run to cut Ole Miss’ lead to two points.
Dakota Leffew sparked the run with a long jump shot, quickly chased by a pair of free throws by Blue Cain. Lawrence drained UGA’s second 3-pointer of the day, and after another Cain jumper, the Bulldogs only trailed 45-43.
Ole Miss punched back with a five-point swing, slowly expanding on its lead until the final buzzer. The Rebels outscored the Bulldogs 37-23 in the second half.
Georgia used an 11-4 run from the 9:54 mark to 3:30 to take the 28-26 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs offense found its footing in the paint, as Cain and Newell scored five consecutive points on three free throws and a layup.
UGA then made a rare pair of shots outside the paint. Lawrence sank a 17-foot shot before Leffew took Georgia’s first lead of the day with a step-back 3-pointer.
The Bulldogs kept the lead to the end of the half, Newell adding an eye-popping steal-and-slam sequence to keep UGA in front. Newell led the Bulldogs at the half with seven points and seven rebounds.
Georgia opens its SEC home schedule at 7 p.m. Tuesday against No. 10 Kentucky. The Wildcats (12-2, 1-0) opened SEC play Saturday with a 106-100 home win over No. 6 Florida.
“We’re just going to be focused on preparing for them and playing the best we can play,” White said. “It’s not as much about results with this team. We’re building, we’re very young, we’re a team that doesn’t have a ton of winning experience.”
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