Thanks to an even offensive attack and a defense that never allowed Ole Miss to get into a rhythm, the No. 24 Georgia Bulldogs cruised to a 98-76 victory over the Rebels at the C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum today.The Bulldogs opened the game on a 7-0 run, pushed their lead to 20 points before the first half concluded and never looked back, all while shooting an impressive 63.5 percent from the floor in the game (compared to Ole Miss’ 48.1 percent).
According to the Clarion-Ledger’s Kyle Veazey, Georgia’s shooting performance is the best of any Southeastern Conference team this season, regardless of the opponent.
“No, I didn’t see that coming,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said to open his post-game press conference. “I don’t really have much of an explanation for it. I thought Georgia put on a clinic.”
Five Bulldogs finished the game in the double digits, with Gerald Robinson and Trey Tompkins scoring team-highs of 22 and 21 points respectively.
Travis Leslie, Dustin Ware and Jeremy Price rounded out Georgia’s scoring leaders with 17, 15, 12 points respectively.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, was led on offense by Zach Graham‘s 21 points. Reginald Buckner contributed 11 points and a team-high five rebounds.
Chris Warren, Ole Miss’ go-to scorer this season, finished with nine points on 3 of 12 shooting from the floor that included 1 of 6 from 3-point land.
It’s the first time Warren was kept to single digits since last year’s Feb. 11 game at Mississippi State in which he had three points.
Other battles Georgia (13-3 overall, 2-1) won: rebounding (32-21) and points second chances (13-5).
“We had no answer and couldn’t stop them,” Kennedy said. “They were throwing the ball wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted.”
Ole Miss (12-6, 0-3) will return to action on Wednesday, traveling to Vanderbilt.
“We have to shake this off, as disappointed as we are, because three will turn into four which will turn into five which will turn into 10,” Kennedy said.
The Rebels are 0-3 to start SEC play for the first time since the 2004 season.
The announced attendance was 7,085. (January 15, 2011)
