How Georgia Bulldogs dim Rebels raised tournament hopes

Athens, GA – In their final home game of the season, the Georgia Bulldogs come out on top 69-66 over the Ole Miss Rebels. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 16-14 on the season and 6-11 in the conference. Meanwhile, the Rebels fall to 20-10 and 7-10 in the SEC. Freshman forward Dylan James opened up the first half for the Dawgs with a pair of free throws in the first minute. The two teams traded baskets, and UGA took two in a row to go up 8-4 with 16:40 left. Each team failed to score for almost three minutes until James made a dunk to put Georgia up 6 (10-4) with 13:47 left. Georgia added a few more to take their largest lead of the half, 8 (14-6), with 11:40 still on the clock. Georgia head coach Mike White was issued a flagrant foul 14 seconds later after a reaction to a foul on freshman guard Silas Demary Jr. Ole Miss made it a 3-point game at the 8:52 mark after a series of jumpers and free throws. The Rebels then made it a two-point (20-22) game with 6:44 on the clock after Brandon Murray hit a three-pint jumper and made it even closer when senior guard Allen Flanigan went 2-2 on free throw attempts. Graduate student guard Noah Thomasson responded for the Dawgs with a three-point jumper with 3:38 remaining. UGA was able to expand their lead to 5, but the Rebels knocked down a jumper with one second remaining to close the half, 35-32, with UGA on top. Ole Miss tied the game within the first minute of the second period with a three-point jumper from senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield. The Rebels took their first lead of the game, 37-35, after Murray put up a layup with 18:37 left. Thomasson took it back for the Dawgs with a 3-point jumper less than 40 seconds later, but Ole Miss was able to answer and put down two field goals to make it 41-40. Graduate student Russel Tchewa recorded his first field goal of the game to kick off a 7-0 Georgia run, which spread over two and a half minutes to put the Dawgs up 47-41 with 11:24 left. The two teams traded baskets until the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run, starting with 8:56 left and ending with 5:52, to grab their first double-digit lead of the game, 57-47. The Rebels cut the lead to 7 a few times over the next three minutes, but starting at the 2:31 mark, the Rebels went on a 9-0 run. The run was capped off by a flagrant on Tchewa, which the Rebels capitalized off of with two made free throws by Flanigan and a three-point jumper from junior guard Brandon Murray with 49 seconds remaining. Despite this effort, Tchewa made a layup from down under and Hill made two free throws to seal the UGA win 69-66 (Jaylen Murray made a three-point buzzer-beater to give the Rebels three last-second points). Each team had key players missing from the game. The Dawgs’ second-leading scorer, senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim, sat all of the game on the sidelines in street wear out with a left ankle injury. As for the Rebels, senior guard Matthew Murrell left the game after being in for the first two and a half minutes due to sickness. Murrell leads Ole Miss in points this season, averaging 17.0 ppg. Three Rebels racked up double-digit points tonight; Brakefield and junior guard Jaylen Murray each led with 19, and Flanigan followed with 11. Jaylen Murray and Flanigan also led in assists with three each. Jaylen Murray continued his impactful performance, leading Ole Miss with 6 rebounds of the Rebels’ 30. The Bulldogs grabbed nine more rebounds than the Rebels (39) and this effort was led by Tchewa and James, who had 10 and 9 respectively. Tchewa went for his third double-double of the season, also racking up 11 points tonight. Tchewa also led the team with 5 assists, all of which came in the first half. Tchewa is one of five bulldogs who crossed into the double-digit range tonight; Thomasson led with 15, senior guard Justin Hill had 11, and James and junior guard R.J. Melendez each had 10. UGA shot only 19.0% off of 21 three-point attempts but took advantage of two-point jumpers, shooting 43.9% on field goals, and outscored the Rebels in the paint 36-22. Tonight was a must-win for the Rebels to keep their tournament hopes alive; the Dawgs put that to a stop. In keeping Ole Miss to 66 tonight, UGA goes to 26-2 under Mike White when keeping their opponents to under 70 points. The Bulldogs led for 36:37 tonight and can close out their season at home with a close win that they have previously not been able to finish. The Dawgs should be sent into Auburn this Saturday with some momentum and a little confidence.