University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
15-11, 6-7
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Mississippi State
14-11, 5-8
Georgia Prevails in Battle of Bulldogs, 79-72
February 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball
Behind 24 points from Yante Maten, Georgia rolled to victory on Valentine's Day in Athens.
More Video: Coach Fox's Post Game Press Conference
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
| Georgia | TEAM | Miss St |
| 79 | SCORE | 72 |
| 44.2% | FG% | 43.8% |
| 38.5% | 3FG% | 37.5% |
| 87.5% | FT% | 77.8% |
| 37 | REB | 30 |
| 17 | ASST | 13 |
| 11 | FLS | 24 |
ATHENS, Ga. ----Yante Maten poured in 24 points to power the Georgia Bulldogs past the visiting Mississippi State Bulldogs 79-72 Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
The game was notched at 54-all with six and a half minutes remaining before the hometown Bulldogs exploded for eight unanswered points, the biggest lead for any team at that point. Mississippi State (14-11,5-8) responded with a three-pointer but Georgia (15-11, 6-7) fired back with a Maten layup and an alley-oop from J.J. Frazier to Mike Edwards. The sequence gave Georgia a nine-point lead, 66-57, with a little over three minutes to play. The advantage proved to be enough as the Bulldogs of Athens held onto the victory down the stretch.
"Obviously, offensively -- and let's credit Mississippi State's defense, they were much more physical than us -- I thought we played like a tired team in the first half and only shot 25-percent," Georgia head coach Mark Fox said. "In the second half, we were certainly much better and shot nearly 65-percent, and that really allowed us to build a lead. We did a little better job in the second half guarding the three-point line, and those things were key for us."
The 20-point performance marked the 10th such game this season by Maten and the 22nd of his career. In addition, the junior forward snatched team-high nine rebounds and was 12-of-13 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Frazier and redshirt junior guard Juwan Parker chipped in 17 points and 16 points, respectively, to aid in scoring.
At the half, Georgia trailed the visiting Bulldogs by four points, 32-28, despite getting outshot 43 percent to 25 percent from the field. The host Bulldogs stayed close by drawing fouls early and often resulting in a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe. Maten and Parker teamed up for the dozen perfect free throws and led Georgia with nine points apiece.
Georgia notched the game at 32-all early in the second half as Maten collected a steal and found Derek Ogbeide for a breakaway lay up. Moments later, Edwards converted a 3-point play with a lay up, foul and free throw to give Georgia its first lead since 8:44 of the first half. Frazier drained a three in the next possession to give the home Bulldogs a five-point advantage, 40-35, at the 14:20 mark.
Mississippi State cut its deficit to at least three points three separate times in the following minutes but each time Georgia matched the visiting Bulldogs' score. The last instance, Frazier sank a trey to go up six points with 10:21 in regulation. The Bulldogs from Starkville slimmed Georgia's lead to two points with 8:43 left but again Frazier dropped a high-arcing three to stretch it back to five.
Xavian Stapleton of MSU drained a long distance three that tied the game at 54-all with six and a half minutes in the contest. The subsequent and defining 8-0 Georgia run featured a highly contested Frazier layup that was called goaltending on MSU and a thunderous two-handed slam by Maten.
Georgia flipped the script in terms of shooting in the second half as they shot 66.7-percent from the floor. For the game, the home Bulldogs converted 28-of-32 trips to the free-throw line while the visiting Bulldogs were 7-of-9. Georgia also gained the rebounding edge at 37-30.
The Bulldogs continue their homestand with a game against the 11th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats Saturday. The tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN.
Mississippi State Head Coach Ben Howland
"So, I'm a little disappointed because we had a great first half. We did great defensively, in field-goal percentage and in defense wide all in the first half. Second half, obviously another story for us in terms of their field goal percentage. Defense is hard with (Yante) Maten inside. We were leading at halftime and we came out and there were a couple bad turnovers. Our first couple possessions in the second half were not great ones. We were tied and had two key turnovers at 54-all that led to baskets for Georgia that were key turning points in the game. Seems we get right to that point in the last couple games and can't close the deal."
Georgia head coach Mark Fox
On what changed in the second half...
"We just talked about at the half how we have to play offense physically just like you play defense physically. I felt that J.J. [Frazier] was a little worn down tonight, and we didn't do a good job as a coaching staff of getting him looks at the basket. He was trying to create them all for himself in the first half. I thought we settled for way too many jump-shots in the first half. In the second half, we said, `we're going to get this ball inside and we're going to establish some things near the basket.' Derek [Ogbeide] and Yante [Maten] were certainly able to do that for us."
Redshirt-Junior Guard #3 Juwan Parker
On the different rotation of starters...
"It's not a problem at all, everybody on this team can start. I mean that's what coach emphasizes all the time, we have a deep team and anybody can step up on any given night. Tonight it was E'Torrion's (Wilridge) night. I'm happy for him."
On Georgia's free throws...
"It kept us in the game. We shot like 25 percent in the first half, but we got 12 points from the line, so those 12 points really helped."
On J.J. Frazier's second half scoring...
"That's J.J. Frazier. J.J. goes crazy. He has those little spurts like that, that are just miraculous scoring, so I wasn't surprised."
Sophomore Forward #13 E'Torrion Wilridge
On when he knew he would start...
"Coach told me about two practices ago. They were a matchup problem, so coach thought my defense would really help. I feel like I did what I needed to do for the team."
On closing out the game...
"We stepped up our defense. They are a great three-point shooting team, (Lamar) Peters is great shooter, so we just had to guard the 3-point line and go inside."
