Georgia Basketball: Mighty Mouse Frazier Comes to Save the Day Against Volunteers
The Georgia basketball squad celebrated the return of Marcus Thornton by finding yet other way to win in spite of itself, defeating Tennessee 56-53 Saturday afternoon.
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J. J. Frazier entered the second half against Tennessee with no points, missing terribly on two 3-point attempts in the first half. But with a Georgia seven point half time lead on the verge of withering to nothing, Frazier sandwiched three long-range 3-point bombs around a Charles Mann shot clock beating 3-pointer to give the Dawgs a nine-point lead and eventually the game.
Mark Fox earned his 100th victory as the head coach at the University of Georgia with the 56-53 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Today was a milestone victory for Coach Fox and the Bulldogs, 56-53 over Tennessee! #RingTheBell #100wins pic.twitter.com/VIRNFocdFN
— Georgia Bulldogs (@UGAAthletics) February 7, 2015
“Nothing is easy in the SEC,” Head Coach Mark Fox told Georgiadogs.com. “That was another hard-fought battle. Tennessee has got a very unique team. They play four wing players and they play that zone and they have some quality wins this year. We beat a team that lets us feel like we got a quality win today. It certainly was a hard-fought game and we feel fortunate to win.”
Indeed, what would this Georgia team do if it made things easier on itself? With the help of the Bulldog Turn Over Machine, Tennessee took 56 shots. The Dawgs also shot 55% from the free throw line to Tennessee’s 80%. But the trademark Dawg defense held the Volunteers to 35% shooting and 27% 3-point shooting.
Finishing with 10 points, it was a remarkable turn around for Frazier after three halves of poor play. Charles Mann and Nemi Djurisic also finished with 10 points. Marcus Thornton returned to the lineup to score eight points.
Senior forward Nemanja Djurisic also eclipsed a milestone for his career at Georgia, recording his 1,000th career point as a Bulldog.
While the Georgia guards struggled in the first half, Djurisic and Thornton took advantage of the attention given the Dawg back court to score eight points each. And while Mann joined Frazier to scored 15 points together in the second half, Mann also joined Kenny Gaines to make the defensive plays to hold down the Volunteers.
Georgia has won with defense all year, but Saturday’s was a peak effort, holding the volunteers to 56 points on 50 shots while giving away 20 turnovers – leading to 20 points.
With the 20 turnovers, Bulldog Ugly Ball soared to a new level. But like that other hero said, “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.” Bulldog Basketball may be ugly and have a skinny girl friend, but it goes to College Station on Wednesday still on track for a 20 win season and an NCAA berth.