The University of Georgia Men’s Basketball team lost to the Ole Miss Rebels 85-68 on Saturday afternoon in Stegman Coliseum.
Former Bulldog Tye Fagan led all scorers with 20 points for the Rebels, while Austin Crowley and Duke transfer Jaemyn Brakefield each had impressive offensive performances, scoring 18 and 19 points, respectively. Braelen Bridges had a great game down low for the Dawgs, putting up 17 points on 7-9 shooting while also leading Georgia in assists from the center position with 5.
Ole Miss suited up deprived of their 3 leading scorers, with Jarkel Joiner, Daeshaun Ruffin, and Matthew Murrell all watching from the sideline. Despite their disadvantage, the Rebels, who entered the matchup second to last in the conference in points per game (68.15) and 10th in field goal percentage (43.2%), shot the lights out in Athens and finished the game on 56% field goal shooting.
Saturday’s game went similarly to many of Georgia’s recent games, as the Dawgs appeared to be in it during the first half and much of the second half before going cold over a stretch of about 8 minutes. The first half was neck-and-neck, and Georgia trailed by just 4 points at the half despite a 13-0 advantage in points off turnovers in favor of Ole Miss. The Dawgs shot an impressive 15-26 from the floor in the first half and connected on 3 of their 6 3-Point tries. The Bulldogs also held a 16-12 rebounding advantage and both teams matched each other’s paint production at 22 points apiece.
In the second half, Georgia was very much within striking distance for the first 8 minutes, as they trailed by 6 points with 12:36 to play at a score of 55-49 after a layup from Jabri Abdur-Rahim. The game got away from the Dawgs at that point, as Fagan scored the next 7 Rebel points before Ole Miss went on a 6-0 run to expand their lead to 12 points with 7:42 remaining. Over the game’s final 8 minutes, Georgia was able to muster just 3 made field goals as the Ole Miss lead grew to as many as 20 points after back-to-back 3-Pointers from Brakefield and Luis Rodriguez. The Dawgs attempted just 4 3-Pointers in the second half and none over the game’s final 11 minutes as they tried to get to the rim and take advantage of opportunities at the foul line but failed to convert on several point-blank tries.
Saturday’s final score was unfortunately not Georgia Basketball’s most damning headline of the weekend, as rumors regarding an altercation between assistant coaches at halftime of the LSU game led to a report that the University was looking into firing head coach Tom Crean following a failure to properly report the incident. When asked about the situation in a post-game press conference, Crean commented that “it’s an unfortunate situation that we’re dealing with, but it was all handled correctly, and we’ve tried to keep our focus on basketball.” Crean declined to provide further insight into the situation when asked in subsequent questions.
The loss on Saturday brings Georgia to just 1-13 in conference play as the Dawgs prepare for their final 4 games of the regular season, the first of which coming on Tuesday at Texas A&M.
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