Michigan State stops Georgia Bulldogs season

By Keith Holt | Mar 20, 2015

The Georgia Bulldogs saw their season end after a hard fought 70-63 loss to the Spartans of Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Mark Fox’s team finished the 2015 campaign with a 21-12 record. This was the last game for fifth-year senior Marcus Thornton, who led the team in rebounds and scoring for the season.

The Bulldogs got off to a quick start and were able to jump out to an 11-5 lead to open up the game. Michigan State was able to stay the course and eventually take over the game during the opening session. With a 9-0 run and then another 11-3 run to close the half the Spartans created a 19-point swing that had them up 35-22 at halftime.

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The Achilles’ heel for the Bulldogs in the first half was turnovers. The Dawgs gave the ball to Michigan State 10 times in the opening session. The Spartans were able to turn those mishaps into points. Georgia also had a hard time containing guard Travis Trice, who dropped in 11 points and four assists for the Spartans. Denzel Valentine also gave Georgia problems early with eight points.

The Bulldogs were happy to have guard Kenny Gaines back in uniform Friday as he contributed five points early on for Georgia. Thornton led the team early with six points and five rebounds but definitely not enough to hold Tom Izzo’s team at bay.

The Bulldogs battled back more than a few times in the second half. Georgia closed the game down to as few as two points against Michigan State at 14:09 mark. The Spartans were able to stretch their lead back out to 12 points but couldn’t maintain as the Dawgs fought back again were within three points when they were down 66-63 with 21 seconds left in the game.

Georgia had a chance to get within one point but Charles Mann missed a key layup with 16 seconds left in the contest.

Georgia resolved its turnover issue in the second half as the team only committed two after the intermission. The Dawgs held the advantage on the boards by out-rebounding Michigan State 43-35. One thing that held Coach Fox’s team back was too many missed shots, especially layups and close shots. The team shot only 33 percent from the field.

The Bulldogs had three players to score in double figures and were led by Mann’s 19 points–14 of those in the second half. Gaines was a welcome return to the lineup as he added 15 points for Dawgs. In his final game in red and black, Thornton added 12 points and nine rebounds for Georgia.

Michigan State had four players reach double figures, led by Valentine’s 16 points. The Spartans made good on shooting from the outside as they were 7-for-18 from behind the arc.

It was a good season for the Bulldogs as they had back-to-back 20 win campaigns under Coach Fox and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in four years. Stay tuned for to ATL All Day for more UGA Hoops news.

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