Georgia Basketball Glides Into the New Year with a 63-50 Win
The Georgia basketball team tipped off the new year with a 63 – 50 win over the Norfolk State Spartans in the Stegeman Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
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Junior Charles Mann wrote the first chapter of the Dawgs non-conference finale this afternoon with seven points, seven rebounds and three assists in the first half of the Dawgs win over Norfolk State. Sophomore J. J. Frazier then came off the bench with an exclamation point, scoring 20 – a new career high. Mann eventually finished with a double double – 10 poins and 10 rebounds.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 9-3 on the season, the program’s best pre-conference record since 2011. It was the sixth consecutive win for the Bulldogs, a feat the team had also not achieved since 2011.
Frazier connected on 7-of-8 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, to lead the Bulldogs. Charles Mann recorded the second double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds which tied a career high.
Charles Mann’s bouncing three-point buzzer beater capped an 18 – 5 Georgia run for a 36 -23 Georgia lead at the half. The Spartans went to work in the second stanza and cut the lead to four. The Norfolk State big men proved to be effective on both ends of the floor, keeping senior bell cow Marcus Thornton unusually quiet, scoring only four points. Kenny Gaines failed to break double figures with nine points and Frazier was left to thwart the Norfolk State comeback when the Spartans closed to within.
“I was worried about the game, I really was,” Georgia head coach Mark Fox told Georgiadogs.com following the game. “I didn’t like our approach at shoot-around this morning. But you’ve got to be mature enough to show up every day and be a mature enough competitor to show up. The fortunate thing is that J.J. [Frazier] did. J.J. came to play and played well. We had some other guys not play so well but it was a game we were worried about as a staff just because it was the last game before league play.”