ATHENS — Guards J.J. Frazier and Kenny Gaines combined for 49 points leading the Georgia men’s basketball team to an 80-66 win over Ole Miss Saturday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum.
With the win Georgia improves to 15-12 overall and 8-8 in Southeastern Conference play. Ole Miss drops to 18-11 overall and 8-8 in the SEC. UGA now holds a 71-42 all-time record against the Rebels, including a 41-12 edge in games played in Athens.
Frazier led all scorers with 26 points, marking the 10th time this season that he has scored 20 or more points. Gaines eclipsed the 20-point barrier for the fifth time this season, finishing with 23 on the afternoon. Yante Maten added 19 points and 10 rebounds of his own for his eighth double-double of the year.
“It was a typical hard-fought SEC game,” head coach Mark Fox said. “We were fortunate enough to win and we talked a lot today about playing with a determination and we did that. I was pleased with our team’s effort. The previous couple of games had been difficult and I think our spirit was down. I think adversity can be a good thing and I’m extremely proud of the way we came back and dug in together and came away with the win.”
Georgia jumped out to an 8-2 lead after the first media timeout, but the Rebels cut the advantage to 11-9 with a 5-0 run of their own. The Bulldogs would go on a 7-0 run following the second media timeout after Gaines buried a long three-point jumper and Maten muscled his way to four points down low. Georgia extended its lead to as large as 25-13 with 8:30 left in the half, but the Rebels scored 13 unanswered points to grab their first lead of the game. Following a pair of three-pointers from Georgia, Ole Miss’ Tomasz Gielo buried a shot at the buzzer to cut Georgia’s lead to 33-32 heading into halftime.
Ole Miss hit a trio of three-point baskets before the first media timeout in the second half taking a 43-39 lead with 15:45 left in the contest. The Rebels built their lead to as large as eight, but Georgia answered with a nine-point run capped off with a three-pointer from Frazier to claim its lead back at 52-51 at the 12-minute media timeout. After several minutes of back and forth action, Georgia found some separation following a 7-0 run capped off by a long three from Frazier putting UGA up 67-58 with 6:20 to go. The Bulldogs ensured the victory hitting several big buckets down the stretch keeping the Rebels out of striking distance.
The Bulldogs hit the road for their final regular season road game of the year with a trip to Columbia, South Carolina to face the University of South Carolina at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be shown on ESPN2.
