Bulldogs fall to Wildcats in New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. – The University of Georgia men’s basketball team fell to Northwestern, 78-62, in the third-place game of the Roman Legends Classic Tuesday evening at the Prudential Center.

Redshirt-senior Braelen Bridges and sophomore Kario Oquendo led the team with 12-points. Bridges shot 5-for-9 from the field, 2-of-3 from the free-throw line, and pulled down 4 rebounds, while Oquendo went 5-7 from the field, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Graduates Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram each tallied 10-points. Cook went 4-for-12 and dished out a team-high six assists, while Ingram went 2-for 7, a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe, and recorded a team-high nine boards. The Bulldogs shot 38.2 percent from the field and five three-pointers on 20 percent shooting beyond the arc.

“We never overcame our own diversities and circumstances in the first half,” Georgia head coach Tom Crean said. “In the second half we sucked it up and we went… but in the first half, we never overcame it and put ourselves in a hole. (Northwestern) is too good of a shooting team, too good of a free throw shooting team, and too good of a passing team to do that.”

After Northwestern (5-1) scored the first bucket, Georgia (2-4) ripped off a pair of free-throw by Ingram and a three by Cook to take a 5-2 lead. The game went back-and-forth before the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to take a 17-10 lead at the 10-minute mark. The Bulldogs quickly got back to within three with 9:31 left in the first half, but the Wildcats responded and entered the locker room up 43-23.

Both squads battled it out coming out of the half, then Georgia went on a 9-0 run to draw within 15 of Northwestern with 13:56 left to play. The Wildcats responded with a short run of their own to get the lead back up to 18, 60-42. The Bulldogs chipped back into the Wildcat lead narrowing the margin to 10, 62-52, thanks to buckets from Cook, freshman Christian Wright and sophomore Jabri Abdur-Rahim. The teams continue to battle, but Northwestern pulled away topping Georgia, 78-62

Georgia will return to the court Sunday, Nov. 28 to host Wofford at Stegeman Coliseum. The contest will tip at 4 p.m. and will be streamed on SECN+.