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MBB: Dawgs Defeat Texas Southern 92-64

The Georgia Bulldogs (2-0) defeated the Texas Southern Tigers (1-2), 92-64, on Sunday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum. Five scorers saw double figures led by graduate guard Dakota Leffew’s 23 points powered by five three-pointers.

Fast Facts

• After Leffew’s 23-point afternoon, sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. followed with 17 points, six boards and six assists. Freshman forward Asa Newell, graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence and sophomore guard Blue Cain each rounded out the double-figure scoring column with 14, 13 and 12, respectively.

• Blue Cain recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 12 points paired with a career-high 11 rebounds.

• Asa Newell and freshman center Somto Cyril were towers in the paint, totaling eight blocks on the afternoon with four each.

• Dakota Leffew knocked down five shots from behind the arc, marking his eighth career outing with five or more three-pointers made.

• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Tigers 53-23 on the afternoon, marking their largest rebounding margin over an opponent since Austin Peay in 2019 (50-20).

Key Quotes:

Head Coach Mike White

On the continuity of the game:

“We were really sharp in our exhibitions, and unfortunately, you don’t get credit for those. I just thought we took a step backward in terms of how we handled playing in front of our fans or when we’re a heavy favorite and those are things that I may not have done a good enough job of talking about in the front end of that first one. Today, I thought we got back to just focusing on smaller details, especially on the glass and on the defensive end. Took more pride in defending. I just thought simply we played harder, we responded better to some adversities throughout the game, sent in shots early and we just played better.”

On making free throws today:

“Texas Southern is really physical, very, very handsy, tipped a lot of balls. They were just super active. Their wall-ups were physical, and we drew a lot of contact, and all of a sudden, we were in a bonus. Of course, when you’re in a bonus, you harp on it as much as you can by driving through contact, cutting through contact. We did a good job of drawing some fouls off of some cuts and post-ups off the ball to complement the ones that we drew off of the ball. So, this will be one that we can reference when we play moving forward in our league. Half the teams in our league are about as physical as that one will be, but that was an SEC-level of physicality for sure.”

On Georgia’s rim protection:

“We’ve got good length and athleticism. Our ceiling is high defensively and we’ve got a ways to go of course, but it was a good effort led by a couple of young guys in Somto and Asa. The length of our guards gives us a chance to block some shots this year.” 

On Blue Cain’s performance, first career double-double:

“He made winning plays. 11 rebounds was efficient. He passed up some shots, had some good passes and played a really good floor game. He played as hard as I’ve seen him play. We’ve got to build on that. I was really proud of his effort.”

#5 Silas Demary Jr. | So. | G

On playing with his teammates:

“I think it’s a lot of fun because we kind of primarily run through the bigs, so everybody’s sharing the love. They set up good screens to get us to the rim. They plug for us, so when we can hit them on a pocket pass and they can shoot that touch shot or we come off the ball screen and throw it in the lob, it’s just a lot of fun. It brings the crowd in more and it hypes everybody up.”

On what worked against Texas Southern:

“I just feel like for me, to kind of be one of the leading guys on this team, is to just let the game come to me. I think we have so many weapons, if I can get everybody going early, I think the game will just flow and shots will start falling for me and I can keep making plays with my teammates. I just think the biggest thing for me is just letting the game come to me and just having fun and taking it play-by-play.”

On Dakota Leffew…

“I would say he’s a great shooter. He knows how to play off a great downhill guard like myself. I feel like if I drive and his man helps, I know if I kick it out to him, he’s going to hit it nine times out of ten. I mean, on the defensive side, he picks up 94 feet. He’s in the passing lane. I feel like he’s one of our good weapons off the bench.”

#7 Tyrin Lawrence | Gr. | G

On adjusting to a new team:

“It’s been fun coming in. Playing with Silas, playing with all the guys on the team, the bigs. Like Silas said, the bigs make it so easy for us. Just offensively, having a lot of threats, shooting threes. Defensively, looking at the stats, you have to see Asa and Somto had eight blocks combined. I feel like we all make each other better.”

On preventing opponents from behind the arc:

“I would say it definitely wasn’t an emphasis, but we worked on it all day going back to June. Last game [Tennessee Tech] hit a lot of threes, but this game we wanted to contest harder, and it paid off.”

On sharing the backcourt with Blue Cain this season:

“It’s been fun playing with Blue. Just going from playing against him last year and playing with him this year and seeing the strides that he’s made.”

Up Next:

The Bulldogs will remain at home when they host North Florida in the second game of the Peach State Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 12 with tipoff set at 7 p.m. ET at the Stegeman Coliseum.

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