******Tip off****************First TV timeout
Good start, nice shot by Ware and Price, nice put back by Thompkins. We seem to be dominating the boards in one regard but keep knocking the ball out of bounds. We are playing aggressive hard nosed D so far and Leslie will be heading to the line after the TV timeout. Not a bad start for the team but we have missed two WIDE open three looks, one by Robinson and one by Thompkins. We must hit the open shots and keep AU to one and done-we killed them on the boards last time, need that to continue.
******Second TV timeout, UGA up by 5******
Sloppy play, we look decent at times and Trey is playing really well but we can't seem to string together some solid minutes. Horrible call on Price, he got all ball on the block, Travis has made 4 straight FT's, just got to keep holding AU to one and done. We also need something out of Robinson-nothing so far.
******8 minute TV timeout still up by 5*******
Denson for AU, not Ross, is killing us. He has half of the AU points at this point coming off the bench. Ross so far has done nothing. Ware knocked down two FT's, Travis had a nice put back after a miss by Trey. I am not sure what to make of this game honestly-we look like so much better of a team but yet only have a 5 point lead. Our bench is doing nothing-Thornton had a charge and then got bottled up for a jump ball-AU got the ball. Brantley is reluctant to shoot, still love to see Nolte come in and give us a spark.
*****4 minute TV timeout, up by 9*******
Leslie to be at the line to try to convert a three point play-he has 8 points, and he along with other Dogs are doing a great job on the boards so far today, neither team shooting all that well but UGA getting some offensive rebounds, also using their size to score a lot of points in the paint. Just got to start hitting some shots, stop Denson and hope Ross continues not to be a factor. We need to stretch the lead out during the last 3 minutes and change because as I have said before, a team like AU, the longer they hang around the more they scare you. Jeremy Price watch, he has 4 points so far. As you know, when he get 10 points or more, we have only lost one game this year, the double OT game against UF.
HALFTIME SCORE UGA 34 AU 23
Great first half for Trey, Travis and Ware. Price did ok, Robinson-NOTHING. Ross was held to two points, Denson really hurt us the most off the AU bench, with 9 points. Trey has 14 points and 7 boards, Travis with 9 points and 7 boards. Ware with 5 points and Price with 4. Barnes chipped in 2 points off the bench. Neither team shooting well at all, UGA 38%, AU 39%. If you look at the difference in the game, rebounding, UGA 22 AU 10 including for UGA, 11 offensive rebounds. Also FT shooting where we are almost 67 %, 10-15 while AU is 50% on 1-2 shooting. Big reason for that, our rebounding of course. Including for UGA, 11 offensive rebounds. Turnovers are a wash, UGA 5 AU 6. Price has two fouls while Denson and Ross both have two for AU. Fact is, AU has NO ONE that can play with Thompkins and I would imagine that will be our gameplame in the second half-Thompkins and Price. I feel sure AU will throw pressure at us in the second half as well, they pressed us late in the 1st and caused Robinson to turn it over which led to an easy AU basket just before half. 20 more minutes guys, we need this win.
******First TV timeout second half, UP by 18*****
Thompkins on fire, hitting two threes, Travis with another 3, Robinson with a nice reverse lay in. Ross picks up his 3rd foul on a charge. Barnes starting second half with Price still on the bench after first 4 minutes. Bottom line, unless we really choke with turnovers the rest of the way, I see no way AU can score enough to hang with us. Hope I didn't jinx us but the team, especially our two stars, look VERY focused today.
*****Up by 15 with 12 to play*****
Game is now pretty sloppy, Barnes is playing well hitting some FT's and a nice dunk. Denson continues to be the AU offense and we continue to control the boards. Let's just hope that our pattern of blowing big leads does not come into play in this game-showing signs of it a little bit now with the sloppy play but again, AU is just not a great offensive team so the Dogs just need to take care of the basketball and keep rebounding and I think we will hold on here.
****Up 14 with less than 8 to go****
Hold on guys, as Nessler and Dykes keep saying on TV, IF UGA can win today, they will avoid having a single BAD loss on the season even if Bama beats us tomorrow. We are playing ok now but you can tell we are milking the shot clock (smart) realizing AU is not the best scoring team. At this point, taking time off the clock is the most important thing. We still need to keep the lead above 10 to keep the pressure off us and to keep AU from having any hope.
*****Final update, win number 21 and maybe locking up a bid*****
Thompkins, Leslie, Barnes all with strong games, Robinson came to play in the second half, Ware was steady all game long. Game was never really in doubt and we never trailed the entire game after the initial 5-0 lead. Fox was able to empty the bench late and get our starters a little extra rest. Final Score, 69-51. Thompkins and Leslie with double-doubles. Again, rebounding was a HUGE factor in the game and we will need to keep that as a factor tomorrow against a much better opponent in Alabama. We can now say we have ZERO bad losses on the season-to me that SHOULD get us in the dance. That being said, a win tomorrow locks it up. Bama is a very good defensive team and so we will have to rebound and limit turnovers as we have more firepower than they do. Also have to hope that us having one game under our belt playing in the Dome will help-and surely the kid that hit 5 threes will not be as effective this time. If Trey and Travis play like they did today, I feel very confident we will beat Bama.
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UGA beat Bama 6-3 last night at Coolray field, home of the Gwinnett Braves and have now won two in a row since awful Jonathan Taylor incident. Maybe this team will play with a purpose now, to win for JT. It is amazing though, people think about football, maybe hockey as being such violent sports but when bad accidents happen in baseball, they can really be serious. Yesterday Brian McCann of the Braves hit a foul ball that severely damaged the face of minor manager and former big league player, Luis Salazar. He is still in an Orlando area hospital. Here is an article about JT, he is now off the ventilator and will move to Shephard Spinal Center this morning.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga-outfielder-expected-to-866860.html
As for the bubble watch, I think Nebraksa is out now after losing to Oklahoma State-but Okie State now has life if they can win today vs. Kansas-that will be TOUGH. Marquette beat WVU so even though Villanova lost, looks like the Big East will likely get ELEVEN teams in the tourney. Yes, I know that conference is good but there is no way a single conference should get 11 teams in. Today will be a big day for a lot of bubble teams, UGA included. Not much longer for us to wait, tip at 1pm on SEC network. I will blog later today about the game. Also, spring football kicks off today for ONE day before spring break.
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