Georgia Bulldogs lose to Baylor Bears, 83-73
By John Buhler
The Georgia Bulldogs were not able to upset the No. 17 Baylor Bears in the 2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge, falling in Waco, Texas, 83-73 Saturday night.
The Georgia Bulldogs’ 2015-16 NCAA season schedule hasn’t been kind to the Dawgs, as 18 of their 19 games have come against teams in the Top 200 of the RPI. Regardless of strength of schedule, the Georgia Bulldogs had a great opportunity to win a big game on national television against the Baylor Bears in the 2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge, but ultimately came up short in Waco, Texas, 83-73.
Georgia actually had a three-point lead over Baylor at the half, 35-32, but were unfortunately outscored in the second half in their inter-conference game, 51-38. Baylor orchestrated a 24-4 run to start the second half and the Georgia Bulldogs had to play catchup for almost the entire final frame.
Though the Georgia Bulldogs fall to 11-8 (4-4) on the season, there were plenty of promising things that happened for the Dawgs in their rare road game against a ranked Big 12 in the end of January. Junior guard J.J. Frazier set a career high in assists against the Baylor Bears in his double-double.
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Frazier had 21 points on 6-12 shooting, including 4-8 from three, to lead all scorers. He had half of UGA’s 22 assists Saturday with 11 dimes himself. He also had four rebounds and a steal in a losing effort for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Power forward Yante Maten had to deal with early foul trouble that kept him out of most of the first half of the game, but still managed to put together a strong night on the stats sheet. Maten had 18 points on 8-12 shooting, seven rebounds, a steal, and a block in limited action for the Dawgs.
Kenny Gaines had 14 points on 5-15 shooting, but 3-7 from three, to go along with his three rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block against Baylor. Charles Mann had 13 points, five assists, and two rebounds doing most of his work at the charity stripe. Mann continues to climb the UGA record books with his free throw shooting, making six of his seven attempts in a high intensity environment at the Ferrell Center in Waco.
The Georgia Bulldogs have lost their last two games in similar ways. They’ll get behind big in the early part of the second half, only to rally in the final minutes, only to come up short against a team that isn’t exponentially better than them. LSU and Baylor are strong teams, but they’re nothing like that Texas A&M Aggies team we saw two weekends ago.
Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Frontcourt issues continue to hurt Dawgs
Georgia will try their luck against one of the better teams in the SEC in 2016 in the 19-2 South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday night. That game will be at Stegeman Coliseum, tipoff is at 7:00 PM ET, and ESPN U will have the game. Go Dawgs!