No. 14 Auburn beats Georgia, 97-76

ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia men’s basketball team fell to No. 14 Auburn, 97-76, before 10,523 spectators on Saturday evening inside Stegeman Coliseum.

Noah Thomasson led the team in points with 18, sinking seven free throws. Silas Demary Jr. and Russel Tchewa each contributed 16 points while adding four steals and seven rebounds respectively. Auburn (21-6, 10-4 SEC) shot 62 percent from the field, making 14 3-pointers in the game while holding Georgia (15-12, 5-9 SEC) to just 43.6 percent shooting.

Auburn opened the game with a double-digit lead that it held for most of the first half due to knocking down nearly 60 percent of its shots in the first 16 minutes. Despite 13 points in the half from Demary Jr., the Bulldogs headed to the locker room trailing the Tigers, 45-34. Georgia cut the deficit to just five at 60-55 after Thomasson converted on a second-chance opportunity and Justin Hill knocked down a 3-pointer in transition heading into the under-12 media timeout. Hill then got it down to three points after getting to the rack for a layup, but the Tigers stretched it back out to nine, 72-63, after a pair of 3-pointers. The Bulldogs were unable to make the run they needed down the stretch as the clock hit triple zeros.

Georgia’s next game will come against LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. The contest will be broadcast by the SEC Network. Georgia previously beat the Tigers on Jan. 24 at Stegeman Coliseum, 68-66, and will look to win multiple games against LSU in the same season for the first time since 2017-18.

Five Fast Facts
• Silas Demary Jr. finished with 16 points, marking the 14th time in his collegiate career he’s finished in double figures.
• Georgia finished the game with just six turnovers, its lowest in the statistic this season.
• Russel Tchewa brought in seven rebounds, marking the 13th game this season he’s reached or exceeded that figure.
• Silas Demary Jr. racked up four steals, including three in the second half, tying his personal best.
• Freshman Dylan James finished with a team-high two blocks, tying his most in a game while also setting a new personal best in minutes played.

Key Quote
Head Coach Mike White: “We don’t have as many wins as we like. We’re a more competitive, better basketball team obviously. Better than we were early and better than we were last year. We are building and we’re better, but we want results to show it. We’ve got to get better.”

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