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Blue Cain and Jeremiah Wilkinson Lead Georgia Over Tech

Blue Cain and Jeremiah Wilkinson led Georgia with 18 points apiece on Friday, helping the Bulldogs (4-0) earn a 92-87 win over rival Georgia Tech (3-1) before a raucous sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.

FAST FACTS

• Georgia won its third in a row in the basketball version of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, improving its all-time home record against the Yellow Jackets to 56-31.
• Blue Cain (18 points) scored in double figures for the 12th time in his last 13 games, dating back to February of last season.
• Jeremiah Wilkinson starred in his first rivalry game in Athens, as the Power Springs native had 18 points – including back-to-back fastbreak dunks to give the Bulldogs a 46-43 lead with 57 seconds left in the first half.
• Georgia led by a point at the break, before the Yellow Jackets began the second on a 15-6 run, pulling ahead by eight with 14 minutes remaining.
• The Bulldogs answered with a 10-0 spurt, punctuated with Jake Wilkins’ three-point play at the 11:15 mark.
• After Georgia Tech’s Kam Craft knotted the score at 66, an extended Bulldogs’ run of 20-8 helped seal Georgia’s 31st straight home win over nonconference opponents under head coach Mike White.

KEY QUOTES
Mike White
Opening Statement
“Great win. Of course, Georgia Tech’s a big rivalry game. Our fans came out and supported us and created a great atmosphere in the building. Really fortunate to get a win and protect our home court. I thought we showed a lot of resilience in the second half. We learned a lot about our team tonight, but we certainly will go to the film room tomorrow and focus on a lot of things.”

On his team’s depth…
“I like these guys. Assuming all 11 continue to grow and connect and get better, we’d like to play 11. If we have nine that ascend then so be it. I hope that we can be this deep here in January and February. We’ve got talented freshmen. We’ve got a couple older guys coming off the bench. We’ve got depth in our backcourt. I think with these 11, if we can get eight or nine to play really well, we can probably beat some pretty good teams like tonight.”

On Jeremiah Wilkinson’s impact off the bench…
“I had a conversation with him today. He was a starter coming into the season opener, but had an injury, missed practice and we started Justin Bailey. Justin did a terrific job. We’re coming off a game that was the best we played, and it was Jeremiah’s best game and Justin’s best game. If it’s not broken, why fix it? We’ll evaluate it every day. I like that we’ve got 11 different guys that are in the conversation.”

Blue Cain | Guard | #0 | Sr.
On the team’s first game against a power conference opponent
“It was definitely a good test early in the year. It was a 40-minute game and I think it was just a really good test. Obviously this rivalry is big for everybody.”

On defensive improvements in late game situations…
“Just more communication. I messed up a couple switches with J [Jordan] Ross on [Kam] Craft. It’s just being more focused. It’s one of the things we talked about after the game was being more focused and locked in on those. I screwed up a couple times with the switch.”

Brett Thorson Named Semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award

Georgia senior punter Brett Thorson has been named a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award for the third time in his career, according to an announcement from the Augusta Sports Council.  

Thorson, a native of Melbourne, Australia, joins nine other punters nationwide on the list, including two others from the Southeastern Conference.  Three award finalists will be announced on Nov. 25.  The winner will be announced live on Dec. 12 during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards.

A two-time Ray Guy Award finalist, Thorson has the Bulldogs ranked third nationally in Net Punting at 44.0 and is averaging 45.7 on 23 punts this year.  Featuring a long of 66 in the fifth consecutive win over Florida, the All-American has forced 12 fair catches, dropped 12 at the 20 or better, booted eight 50 or more yards and had only a single touchback.  Thorson has been named to the award’s “Ray’s 8” following three games this season.

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