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MBB: Dawgs Defeat Longhorns 91-80

The Georgia Bulldogs (19-8, 7-7) defeated the Texas Longhorns (17-10, 8-6) 91-80 on Saturday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum, evening the season series. Sophomore Jeremiah Wilkinson led the Bulldogs with 19 points. 

Fast Facts:

• Georgia has a 10-6 lead in all games against Texas, including a 5-0 run in Athens. 
• The Bulldogs maintained control for most of the game, building a lead that reached as high as 18 points.
• Marcus “Smurf” Millender followed Wilkinson with 15 points, reaching double figures for the third straight game. Kanon Catchings and Somto Cyril added 13 points apiece, while Blue Cain chipped in 12.
• Wilkinson made a 3-point jumper off a Texas turnover at 12:30. Millender’s driving layup ended that 10-0 run, giving Georgia a 26-9 lead in the first half. 
• Texas cut the deficit to 67-64 in the second half. Justin Abson pushed the lead back out with a dunk and a layup after checking in at the 9:26 mark.
• Georgia outscored Texas in bench points (34-16), rebounds (24-22), assists (17-12), blocks (6-3), and steals (5-3). 

Key Quotes:

Georgia Head Coach Mike White

Opening Statement

“Big win, Texas is really good, played really well in Austin. In the first 20, and they just dominated us in the second half, and we put together a pretty good 40 today. They’re really talented. They’re resilient, really physical. They’ve got really good length defensively. They’ve got good speed. Got off to a really good start, with our intensity level, and we talked a lot with our guys these last couple days about the fact that, we’re coming off a game; we played with a lot of edge in Lexington. We were really, really competitive. We haven’t always seen that, and that’s most teams, you know other than the championship level teams and the top 10 teams in the country. As part of our process, at home, can we replicate some of that? Our guys did a really good job. I just thought we played really hard early, and we were able to sustain it offensively. They made plays, tied the game. We responded in a big big way, just did enough defensively, but that said, they’re really tough to defend. They draw fouls; they scored from mid-range as well as most teams in the country, along with Ole Miss and a couple other teams in our league. Then defending Matas is just a handful, but they’ve got older senior guards that are tough to keep out of the paint, draw fouls. They were really good in transition offense. Justin Abson gave us a huge boost, helped us get a couple stops with his ball screen defense, which was a big deficiency of ours today. Then he scored it a couple times too, but our offense down the stretch just moved it, made simple decisions. We’ve grown in that area, shot selection’s gotten better and better and it was probably as good as it’s been all year today.” 

Jeremiah Wilkinson | G | So.

On how the loss at Texas played into the team’s mentality coming out of the half…

“That’s come up every day in practice, every single day, multiple times. We knew we had to come out, we had a lead going into the second half, and we couldn’t let up like last game. We got three stops in the second half, and that just wasn’t good enough. We knew we had to play harder than them to win this game, and that’s what we did.”

Justin Abson | F | Sr.

On what it meant to help the team tonight after not playing against Kentucky…

“Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult because just being the development team, other guys were in similar situations, not playing, playing one minute. I always told them, be ready. As long as you get one minute, you can earn more minutes. So, I told the guys, I can’t preach it and not practice it.”

Up Next: 

Georgia goes back on the road to face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network. The Bulldogs’ next home contest is Saturday, February 28 against South Carolina. For more information on tickets, visit https://gado.gs/dvq

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BSB: Georgia Defeats Samford in Game Two

No. 9 Georgia defeated Samford 12-4 to take game two of the series at Foley Field on Saturday.

Fast Facts

• Senior Matt Scott (1-0) made his first start for the Bulldogs, tossing nine strikeouts while holding Samford to just three hits and one run across four innings pitched.
• The Bulldogs tallied a total of five home runs, the most in a game so far this season.
  • Sophomore Henry Allen (1-for-2, 3 RBI) launched a three-run first-inning home run for the second straight day to put the Bulldogs up early.
  • In the second frame, senior Kolby Branch (1-for-4, 1 RBI) hammered his second home run of the series.
  • Senior Michael O’Shaughnessy (1-for-4, 3 RBI) notched his first home run as a Bulldog in the third inning to drive in three more runs for Georgia.
  • Junior Daniel Jackson (2-for-3, 2 RBI) kept the home run party going in the fourth inning, launching a two-run bomb of his own to put the Bulldogs up 10-1.
• Junior Tre Phelps (4-for-4, 2 RBI) finished the day 4-for-4 with two singles, a double and a home run to extend his hitting streak dating back to last season to 20 games.
  
  Key Quotes Michael O’Shaughnessy | Sr. | INF
  On his first home run as a Bulldog…
  “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking of anything. Just went up with my approach, went for a heater, flowed to a slider and I felt good. First one out of the way. Now we’re on to the next one.”On playing in the Georgia lineup…
  “I love it here. The whole lineup is great. Everyone is a dog, and everyone eats and fights. It’s special. We have a special team here and a special thing going on. The coaches are a really good group and teaching us really well.”Henry Allen | So. | UTILOn what’s been working for him at the plate…
  “Coming to this school and these coaches, they changed my approach and my swing a ton. Just sticking to their plan that they have for me, it’s changed my career a lot.”On playing in the Georgia lineup…
  “It’s very exciting. We have a bunch of guys with some power, just a bunch of hitters. We’re all dogs. It’s exciting playing around these guys and they make me better.”Up Next
  No. 9 Georgia (5-1) will close out the series against Samford (2-4) on Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and the Georgia Bulldogs Sports Network.

SB: Georgia Wins One, Drops One on Day Two of the 23^rd Annual Georgia Classic.

The No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs dropped a contest to No. 20 Virginia Tech, 9-3, before responding with an 11-2, run-rule victory over Utah State on Day Two of the 23^rd Annual Georgia Classic. Georgia moves to 13-3 on the season.

SOFTBALL | vs. No. 20 Virginia Tech | L, 3-9
Winning Pitcher: Emma Mazzarone (3-1)
Losing Pitcher: Destin Howard (0-1)

SOFTBALL | vs. Utah State | W, 11-2 (5 inn.)
Winning Pitcher: Randi Roelling (5-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jordyn Lish (0-1)

Fast Facts (Virginia Tech):

• RHP Destin Howard made her first start of the season in the loss, pitching the first 2.0 innings and allowing three hits and four runs. LHP Ada Little pitched the next two innings, allowing six hits and five earned runs with two strikeouts. Howard reentered to close the game, and in total, she pitched 5 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and 3 strikeouts.
• After falling behind in the top of the first, Georgia leveled the score off Tyler Ellison’s two-RBI single to center. The Bulldogs added a third run of Gabi Novickas’ solo shot in the seventh inning – her first career home run.
• Kylie Aldridge and Nora Abromavage paced the Hokie offense, going 2-3 and 2-4, respectively, with five combined RBIs. Jordan Lynch was also 3-3 on the day.
• With the loss, Georgia slides to 8-4 all-time against Virginia Tech.

Fast Facts (Utah State):

• LHP Randi Roelling pitched the full five innings in the win to move to 5-1 on the season. She had six strikeouts to just four hits and two earned runs.
• Ellison continued to perform offensively with a grand slam in the bottom of the second – Georgia’s third of the season – and a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning. She went 2-3 on the day with two home runs, five RBIs and a strikeout.
• Delani Sullivan, Gabi Novickas, Natalie Ray and Bailey Lindemuth all had two hits int the win. 
• The Aggies scored their two runs off a two-RBI double to center in the top of the fourth inning.
• The Bulldogs are now 4-1 all-time against Utah State.

Key Quote:
Georgia Head Coach Tony Baldwin
On the performances today…
“We had to sort of piece it together. Virginia Tech has a good team and did what they should do when we did not take care of the ball the way that we needed to on the defensive side. We missed some opportunities there on offense to impact the game early and then it just got sideways from there. That being said, I’m really proud of the way that we responded here in game two. I thought we were much more competitive and had a more competitive mindset. Of course, that started with Randi [Roelling] in the circle really getting us off and going. Then the same thing with Kierstin Roose getting us going, kind of breaking the ice there in that first at-bat. All in all, it’s just a day of early season softball where you’re kind of grinding through it. We are going to have a pretty good team when it’s all said and done, and sometimes you just kind of have to weather the storm a little bit.”

Up Next: 
No. 12 Georgia closes out action in the 23^rd Annual Georgia Classic with a rematch against No. 20 Virginia Tech tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+. Tickets for all Bulldog homes games are available on GeorgiaDogs.com.

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