Dogs beat Wofford in tough opener

ATHENS -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope took what Wofford was giving him, which wasn't much in the second half.

Even so, Georgia's prized freshman seemed content with not forcing shots that might hurt an already poor offensive night for the Bulldogs.

"They tried to crowd me a little bit," Caldwell-Pope said. "In the first half, I just made good shot selections and got myself open and used my teammates."

Caldwell-Pope scored 15 points, Dustin Ware added 14 and Georgia held off Wofford for a 62-49 victory in the season opener for both teams on Friday night.

Caldwell-Pope, the Bulldogs' first McDonald's All-American signee since 1992, was scoreless in the second half until he hit a pair of free throws in the final minute.

"I was a little nervous with it being my first game and my first start, but when I made my first basket, the butterflies kind of went away and I just started flowing and went with it," he said. "In the second half, there wasn't much there for me, but other guys were doing good things in transition and working the boards."

Brad Loesing scored 13 points and Kevin Giltner had 12 for Wofford, which was outscored 22-14 in the paint.

Ware, one of two starters from the 2010-11 squad that earned Georgia's first NCAA tournament bid in three years, was the only Bulldog remaining from the team two years ago that lost to Wofford in its second game under coach Mark Fox.

Ware's 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining gave the Bulldogs a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

Brad Loesing scored 13 points and Kevin Giltner had 12 for Wofford, which was outscored 22-14 in the paint.

Both teams struggled offensively with the Terriers shooting 35 percent and Georgia 34.

Gerald Robinson, the Bulldogs' leading returning scorer, was just 2 of 12 from the field. He scored six of his 11 points on free throws.

"We were settling with too many jump shots early and we weren't getting high percentage shots," Robinson said. "We played decent defense as a team. Everybody helped out and played as a unit."

Ware, one of two starters from the 2010-11 squad that earned Georgia's first NCAA tournament bid in three years, was the only Bulldog remaining from the team two years ago that lost to Wofford in its second game under Fox.

Ware's 3-pointer with 1:51 remaining gave the Bulldogs a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

The Terriers pulled within three when Loesing hit a 19-footer on a fastbreak, making it 33-30 with 14:12 remaining.

"We had a couple of opportunities to make it more interesting, but Georgia really did a good job of squelching those opportunities," Wofford coach Mike Young said. "They're a well-coach team, but I think we did some good things tonight."

Caldwell-Pope, who started at forward, was 5 of 11 in the first half, but took only one shot in the final 20 minutes.

Wofford lost four starters from last season's team, the first in school history to win consecutive Southern Conference titles and earn two straight NCAA tournament berths.

Georgia forward Donte' Williams pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds

The Bulldogs' bench players outscored Wofford's 17-7. Nemanja Djurisic finished with eight points and rebounds in 13 minutes.

"We got outrebounded terribly in the first half, and if you noticed we won the rebounding battle in the second half and ended up winning it for the game," Fox said. "But our guys have so much to learn, and we need some mistakes to grow from and some experience to build on."

Georgia's next game is Sunday at home against Bowling Green.