Georgia falls in a huge fashion to No.14 Auburn in their first matchup of the season.
Athens, GA – The Georgia Bulldogs lost 97-97 to the Auburn Tigers. The Bulldogs fell to 15-12 and 5-9 in the SEC, while the Tigers improved to 21-6 and 10-4.
Auburn won the opening tip and scored right away with a layup by junior guard Chad Baker-Mazara. Georgia responded with a fading jumper by freshman guard Silas Demary Jr. After swapping scores, Auburn embarked on an 11-1 run over three minutes to lead 18-8. Georgia scored five consecutive points, but Auburn rallied with a 9-2 run to reach their largest lead of the half, 27-15 with 9:07 remaining. During the run, Georgia
Blue Cain, a freshman guard, left the game after being hit hard on an attempted block on a fast break against Baker-Mazara. He returned to the court and played with 3:31 remaining after receiving sutures in the locker room. The Tigers and the Bulldogs swapped baskets, with Georgia lowering the Auburn advantage to 8 before Auburn went on a 6-0 run in less than a minute, concluding with 1:46 remaining on the clock to take their highest lead of the half, 14 points; the score was 43-
49. With fewer than two minutes remaining, each team tallied to the scoreboard, and Auburn led 45-34 heading into the locker room.
Auburn shot well in the first half, making 60.7% of field goals, 42.9% of three-pointers, and 71.4% of free throws. Baker-Mazara contributed significantly to this scoring performance with 18 points, hitting 6-7 on field goals and 4-4 on free throws. The Bulldogs shot 40.7% from the field, 12.5% from beyond the arc, and 84.6% on free throws. Demary Jr. scored 13 and went 4-7 on field goals.
Georgia received the second-half tip, but Auburn scored first with a three-point play from junior guard Chaney Johnson. UGA trimmed the Tiger lead to eight points, 42-50, with an 8-2 run that ended with 17:12 still on the clock. Auburn did not let this stand for long, scoring a layup and a three-pointer with 15:53 remaining to make it a 13-point game. Fifty seconds later, the Dawgs went on a 12-2 run over four minutes to cut the deficit to three points, 57-60.
Auburn stormed back, outscoring Georgia 14-2 and taking a 15-point lead (78-63) with 6:12 remaining. Auburn capitalized on this momentum and extended their offensive and defensive success, achieving their largest lead of the game, 23 points, after senior center Dylan Cardwell scored a three-pointer with 1:17 remaining. By the end of the half, the Tigers had outscored the Bulldogs 52-42, winning the game 97-67.
The Tigers picked up where they left off in the second half, shooting 43.6% from the field, 53.8% from field goal range, and 68.8% from the foul line. Baker-Mazara led the Tigers with 25 points, making 8 out of 12 field goal attempts. Broome and Chaney Johnson trailed with 16 points each, followed by Holloway with 15. Broome scored 13 of his points in the second half. Baker-Mazara also contributed four of Auburn’s 16 assists, while Broome grabbed 13 of Auburn’s 33 total rebounds.
UGA made 43.6% of its field goal attempts, but only 21.4% from behind the arc and 80.6% from the line. Noah Thomasson led the Dawgs in scoring with 18 points; he was followed by graduate student center Russel Tchewa and Demary Jr., who each had 16 points. Techwa also led Georgia defensively, grabbing seven of the team’s 24 rebounds. Georgia only had five total assists, two of which came from Demary Jr.
