ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia men’s basketball team downed its rival Georgia Tech, 76-62, earning its largest home win in the series since 2015 on Tuesday evening before 9,017 spectators inside Stegeman Coliseum.
Four Bulldogs (6-3) reached double figure scoring on the night led by Noah Thomasson’s game-high 16 points to lead Georgia for the fourth time this season, also adding five rebounds and a season-best three steals. Justin Hill added 14 points and four assists to reach double figures for the fourth-straight game from the bench and the fifth time this season. Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Blue Cain each had 12 points, with Abdur-Rahim also adding a season-best eight rebounds while Cain tied his personal-best four 3-pointers. Georgia led Georgia Tech (4-3) in bench points, 33-25, and rebounding margin, 50-43.
Georgia used its defense in the first half to shut down Georgia Tech for almost six minutes in the first half, holding the Yellow Jackets scoreless for almost six minutes to create an 11-point lead. After entering the second half up 12, the Bulldogs managed to build its lead up to as many as 23 points over the first 10 minutes of the final frame. Georgia Tech responded with a 9-0 run to shrink its deficit to 14, but Blue Cain responded with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to keep the team’s rival at bay. Georgia’s lead never shrunk below 14 throughout the second half as it won for the 92nd time in the 199-game series.
Georgia will continue its homestand on Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m. ET against High Point. The game, which will be the team’s third of six-straight contests at home, will be televised on the SEC Network. This will be the third all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Panthers, with Georgia winning the previous two matchups, most recently on Nov. 25, 2015.
Five Fast Facts
• By holding Georgia Tech to 20 points in the first half, it marks the third time in the Mike White era the Bulldogs held a team to 20 or fewer in a half and the first time since holding Mississippi State to 19 inside Stegeman Coliseum on Jan. 11, 2023.
• Georgia won the battle on the glass for the third time this season, setting a season-high by bringing in 50 rebounds, its most since also recording 50 rebounds during its win against Austin Peay on Dec. 30, 2019. Five players finished with five or more rebounds in the contest on Tuesday evening.
• For the eighth time in nine games this season and the 31st time under Coach White, Georgia outscored its opponent in bench points, 33-25.
• Georgia Tech marked the fourth team from the Atlantic Coast Conference that Georgia has played this season, finishing with a 3-1 record.
• Georgia held Georgia Tech to 32 percent shooting from the field, which is the lowest opponent field goal percentage the Bulldogs have allowed this season.
Key Quote
Head Coach Mike White: “I thought we defended at a really high level against a team that is really difficult to defend coming off one of the best weeks in college basketball. Georgia Tech, coming off two huge wins, is really playing well. I thought our crowd was a big factor in helping us defensively.”
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POST-GAME NOTES
Team Notes
- The starting lineup was graduates Noah Thomasson and Russel Tchewa, seniors Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and freshman Silas Demary Jr.
- This is the second straight game for this starting lineup and the fourth different starting lineup Mike White has used this season.
- This is the 199th all-time meeting between the two programs. Georgia Tech now leads the all-time series 107-92.
- Mike White’s team is now 3-1 versus the ACC this season.
- The Bulldogs led 36-20 at halftime.
- Mike White’s team led for 19:29 of the first half
- By holding Georgia Tech to 20 points in the first half, it marks the third time in the Mike White era the Bulldogs held a team to 20 or fewer in a half and the first time since holding Miss St. to 19 inside Stegeman Coliseum on Jan. 11, 2023
- Georgia’s largest lead was 23 points in the 2nd half.
- Tonight’s game marked the largest win in the series for the Bulldogs since Dec. 19, 2017 when they defeated the Yellowjackets by 21.
- The Bulldogs set a new season-high in team rebounds with 50.
- This is the first time since Dec. 30, 2019 against Austin-Peay that the Bulldogs have tallied 50 total rebounds in a game.
- Georgia set a new season-high in three-pointers attempted with 33 and tied their season-high in three-pointers made with 10.
- Mike White’s squad recorded a new season-high in assists with 14.
- Georgia held Georgia Tech to 32 percent from the field, which is the lowest opponent field goal percentage the Bulldogs have allowed this season
Individual notes
- Justin Hill finished with 14 points, marking his fourth straight game with double-digit points off the bench.
- Noah Thomasson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points, this is the fourth game this season that he has led the team in scoring.
- Blue Cain tied his season-high for made three-pointers with four.
- Russel Tchewa tied his season-high with nine rebounds.
- Justin Hill tied his season-high assist total with four.
- Noah Thomasson recorded a new season-high in steals with three.
- Jabri Abdur-Rahim recorded eight rebounds, marking a new season-high
- Frank Anselem-Ibe tallied a season-high two blocks tonight.
- Justin Hill tied his career-high in three-point attempts and set a new season-high with eight three-pointers attempted.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Georgia head coach Mike White
On the full-game performance tonight…
“I thought we defended at a really high level against a team that is really difficult to defend coming off one of the best weeks in college basketball. Georgia Tech, coming off two huge wins, is really playing well. I thought our crowd was a big factor in helping us defensively.”
On the improved overall defense of the team…
“We work on it a lot, of course. I think we’ve got good defensive players. We do a lot of switching to try and help us with some of their actions that are difficult to guard, of course. A guy like Russel [Tchewa] comes to mind and Frank [Anselem-Ibe] with our fives’ ability to move laterally in guarding the perimeter a little bit. And some length from our wings – a big point guard in Silas Demary. Guys are able to switch onto bigger guys and hold their own, at least somewhat, in the post. Overall, I think our guys are just pretty locked into it knowing that we can pretty much hang our hats on it and be pretty good there.”
On Blue Cain’s influence against Georgia Tech and getting 3-pointers going…
“Blue is confident. He lets it come to him sometimes to a fall, the way I look at it at least but he also has the ability to attack closeouts, he’s got a quick first step and sometimes he’s just out there reading the game. His confidence never wavers, he hits a lot of shots in practice, and this is a typical practice for him or an inner squad scrimmage for him where he goes four-for-seven when he gets quality looks. I thought the ball moved pretty well for the most part, Our bigs did a good job of screening, and I thought we did a good job of cutting. Justin Hill made a couple of those passes to Blue based on out-of-bound situations that he was able to convert.”
On improving to a 3-1 record against the ACC…
“It’s a great league, we were fortunate enough to be one of those teams that helped tie (the SEC and ACC) in the challenge, but six hot majors already, and to get even at three and three is nice, that beats the alternative of course, that was a big win for us.”
On tonight’s impact on the glass…
“I thought we did a good job, sometimes you talk about rebounding down and having five of your jerseys in the paint and when you look at film, if you’ve got three in there, you’ve got two guys looking for the outlet, that’s not a good thing. We did that to a fault tonight, we had a couple over our heads where we didn’t quite check, we didn’t quite sprint to our guy, and at least make an effort to make contact or buy ourselves a little bit of space, but I do like how we swarmed at the ball. Our mentality was correct but there are certainly some things we will continue to clean up.”
On Silas Demary Jr.’s impact defensively…
“Length and size for his position, toughness, he can really move his feet, he’s competitive and as a defensive-rebounding point guard he’s got to be one of the better guys in that category in our league as a true-freshman. He’s really embraced that mentality to not have to look for an outlet if he goes and gets it. He got a couple rebounds in traffic tonight that were impressive.”
#0 | Blue Cain | Fr. | G
On how he anticipated the rivalry coming into the game…
“Coach White definitely mentioned the rivalry, but we just treated it like a normal game. We just came out and played our game. We focused on us.”
On what worked for Georgia offensively…
“I feel like we just trusted each other and moved the ball. In practice we trust each other a lot, so we’ve just been trying to translate that in the game. I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction in trusting each other.”
On wanting to be physical on both ends of the ball…
“It wasn’t about just being physical. I was just going at it and trying to make an impact in any way I could. I was just doing what the game allowed me to do, but I was just trying to go in and help the team in any way possible.”
#3 | Noah Thomasson | Gr. | G
What was going well for you guys on offense…
“Something we talk about is strength in numbers, when we are moving the ball inside out getting paint touches, getting wide open threes, we are a really hard team to beat, when we get stagnant not so much, today we just moved the ball, saw the ball and things went wall and made shots. Yeah, I mean we be heavy in the gaps and guard the ball, put pride on that, and see what happens.”
On Blue Cain’s shooting impact…
“Blue is an elite shooter, one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen, I’ve ever played with, whenever he has an open look we want him to shoot as much as possible.”
On Silas Demary Jr. and the younger guards…
“Bring effort everyday and bring high energy, I know they look up to me and guys like Justin Hill, when we aren’t at our best, how can we expect them to learn and grow from us. The ultimate goal is when I leave here that they are better than when I got here.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Damon Stoudamire
On missed layups and if they were less physical than Georgia…
“No, not really. We just have to have a small margin of error. We have a margin of error to win and lose the game and we just can’t leave points on the board like that. At some point it’s going to bite you in games like this.”
On if Georgia did anything differently defensively tonight…
“No, they switched some but we have to do a better job attacking the switch. I always say you can look at numbers. I’ve been doing this a long time, just because a big man switches on a guard doesn’t mean you score but we’ve just got to do a better job.”
On how difficult it is to play from behind…
“It’s really difficult, when you are a team that’s learning each other and doing different things and trying to figure it out. If you’re down 9 or 10 points you have to look at it as a 1 possession game because there is no 10 point play.”
On Blue Cain’s big shot out of the timeout after a 9-0 run…
“It was real big because we botched the switch. The thing about it is we have to be tougher in those moments, and that’s something collectively we will work on and get better at.”
Georgia Tech #13 | Miles Kelly | Jr. | G
On his leadership as a veteran after this loss…
“We just have to get back to the drawing board. We need to come in ready to work in practice, watch the film, see how we can get better from there.”
On him and Kowacie Reeves Jr. motivating the team to come back…
“It was a team effort. We knew we were down, and we knew we needed a couple stops and a couple runs to get ourselves back in it. We were trying to rally the team to put ourselves in a good position to try and win the game.”
On his shooting not being as efficient as he would like…
“Of course. Anytime you’re not making a lot of shots it’s frustrating, but I have a short-term memory when it comes to that. I know how I can play; I know how I can shoot the ball. I just have to get back in the gym, keep shooting those same shots and they’re going to fall eventually.”
