Bulldogs knock off Vanderbilt, 79-68

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs (20-11, 8-10 SEC) knocked off the Vanderbilt Commodores (20-11, 8-10 SEC), 79-68, on Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum. Four scorers reached double figures headlined by sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. and freshman forward Asa Newell’s 15 points each.

Fast Facts
• After Demary Jr. and Newell’s 15-point performances, graduate guards Dakota Leffew and Tyrin Lawrence followed with 14 and 13 points, respectively, on their senior night.
• Through 119 seasons of competition, Georgia recorded its sixth 20-win regular season in program history and first since the 2014-15.
• Today’s victory also marks the fifth time in school history in which the Bulldogs have produced back-to-back 20-win seasons.
• Demary Jr. has scored 15+ points in each of the Bulldogs’ last eight games of the regular season, averaging 19.3 points per contest in that stretch.
• Dylan James tallied a season-high six boards while Leffew matched his season-best with five rebounds on the day.
• Somto Cyril was a force in the defensive paint, notching three blocks on the day for his seventh game with 3+ blocks.

Key Quote
“Great win for our team, for our program,” head coach Mike White said. “That’s four in a row in the best league in the history of basketball, college basketball. Vanderbilt is terrific. Similar to a lot of the other wins that we’ve had, or a few of them at least in this league, where you’re begging for a stop, you’re begging for an open look. Just two good teams getting after it. Vanderbilt is connected, resilient, tough and physical and they guard you. I think they did a great job at changing defenses. They’ve got really good balance too offensively, and diverse pieces that they utilize really well and they’re going to continue to be a really tough out in the next couple tournaments. So, we’re very fortunate. Feel really good about the way that we played, we continue to grow and get better, it’s a really big win for us.”

Up Next
The Bulldogs now have their sights set on the 2025 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, where they enter as the No. 11-seed and will face No. 14-seed Oklahoma in the second game of the evening session on Wednesday, March 12 at 9:30 p.m. ET at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.

POST-GAME NOTES

• With today’s win, Georgia moves to 38-30 at home against the Commodores.
• Starting Streak – The Bulldogs rolled out the starting five of Cain, Demary Jr., Godfrey, James and A. Newell for the fifth straight game.
• Record Win – The victory today marks the 20th win of the regular season – the most wins in a regular season during head coach Mike White’s tenure.
• Surreal Cyril – The freshman center led the Bulldogs in boards, assists and blocks. His three blocks today mark his seventh game this season with three or more blocks, and his high rebound count marks the seventh time he has led the team off the glass.
• Hot Behind The Arc – Georgia started the game shooting 50-percent from three in the first half and 44-percent across the entire contest.
• Doubling Up – Four Bulldogs scored in double figures in the win – Newell, 15; Demary Jr., 15; Leffew, 14; Lawrence – 13.
• Senior Night – Georgia’s two honorees on senior night, Leffew and Lawrence, combined for 27 points, an assist, ten rebounds and four steals.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Georgia Head Coach Mike White

Opening Statement
“Great win for our team, for our program. It’s four in a row in the best league in the history of basketball, college basketball. Vanderbilt’s terrific, similar to a lot of a lot of the other wins that we’ve had, a few of them at least in this league, where you’re begging for a stop, you’re begging for an open look. Just two good teams getting after it. Vanderbilt’s connected and resilient and tough and physical and they guard you. I think they did a great job of changing defenses .They’ve got good really good balance too offensively and diverse pieces that they utilize really well and they’re going to be a really tough out in the next couple tournaments. So, we’re very fortunate. I feel really good about the way that we played. We continue to grow and get better. It was a really big win for us.”

On the team’s process over the course of the season…
“Process, that’s it. I’m sorry. I know y’all want more than that. I’m sorry, that’s where we’re at. Day off tomorrow, Monday have a great practice. These guys have embraced that, they bought into it. They continue to just get better because we’re not focused on that big picture. This is all I’ll say about it. I would assume we’re in. I mean, we’re good, we’re good. Our whole league is good. And there’s going to be a bunch of teams in our league that make it and that do damage in the NCAA tournament. But we’re focused right now on having a great practice again on Monday, prepping to play well, to continue to ride this momentum, to continue to improve in Nashville one day at a time, that’s it.”

On keeping guys bought-in despite lows throughout the season…
“Two huge in-season responses, two four-game losing streaks. We didn’t lose to a bad team. I’m not sure we were favored in any of those. Y’all would have a better idea. The narrative is what is wrong with Georgia? Wheels falling off. Are you kidding me? We lost to really, really good teams. We played more top teams than any team in college basketball played. But again, it’s the best league in the history of college basketball. I think going into this game, if I’m not mistaken, our worst loss was to net 39. I mean, we didn’t even have an average loss, let alone a bad loss. We’ve taken care of business. We’ve been incredibly consistent. The mid-major teams we played, we did well against. We had a road win at Georgia Tech. We had a home win against Notre Dame. I mean, played Marquette close for a long time. We just got a chance to make a deep run, beat St. John’s. And then we find a way to go 8-10 in this league, continue to get better through it. The resilience, continuing to talk about the big picture. There’s a lot of teams that in this league over the past couple years has gotten better and better and better, have had a couple of losing streaks and bounce back. Or are in a really good spot, and then the wheels do fall off. And how do you respond again to the positivity, to the negativity? Let’s just focus on today. And again, we’ve got a team that’s very young but mature beyond their years. Who were the guys? All of our guys. Really, all of our guys. Silas [Demary Jr.] and Blue [Cain] have stepped up as sophomores in their leadership. Want to, in their leadership skills. Aca [Newell] led from day one with his example. RJ Godfrey as well. Justin Abson. Somto Cyril has come a long way, made some huge plays today. And these two seniors, and I’m leaving some guys out. Dylan James is as consistent as anyone I’ve coached. And these two seniors that we have, finished as strong as possible. Same guys every day, Dakota [Leffew] and Tyrin [Lawrence]. Came back from Atlanta originally to wear the G, proud of those guys. Played as well as they played all year on senior day. It’s a neat day; it’s a really neat moment for those two guys.”

On the caliber of the SEC this season…
“I don’t think there’s just one thing. We’ve got a great roster of head coaches and staffs. I think the commitment from the athletic directors, from the fan bases, facilities. We’ve got a few facilities in this league that are newish. We’ve got some others that have had work done to them. I think the SEC Network has been a big factor. The uptick in recruiting, I think, is because of all of those other things. And now we’re sitting here in a league that’s unbelievable.”

#7 | Tyrin Lawrence | Gr. | Guard

On the difference in the second half…
“I mean, it took a lot of energy and effort and focus. I would say one play, Somto [Cyril] came in and he changed the energy, so that was big for us. Luckily we were able to feed off of it.”

On playing against his former team…
“I just did whatever was necessary to get the win for bragging rights or whatever. I got a few guys still over there that I talk to every day, so I couldn’t let them go home with the win.”

On correcting turnovers in the second half…
“I think we just started the game too, I might say this wrong, but lackadaisical. I don’t know, but the coach taught us to have time, just telling us to be focused, play off of two feet and take care of the ball and value it, so that’s what we were able to do in the second half.”

#14 | Asa Newell | Fr. | Forward

On playing in the regular season finale at home…
“Yeah, for sure. My goal is to get to the NBA. God-willing I make it this year. That’s pretty much it.”

On sharing a moment with his teammates and coaches after the game…
“Yeah, it was an amazing moment. I’m just so grateful and blessed that I even get to have this opportunity and it’s something I’ll never take for granted.”

On the progress of the team this season…
“We just want to trust the process and that’s what we did, non-conference and conference. We just stayed the course, grinded every single day and the process took care of itself. It’s just an amazing feeling. We still got a lot of hard work, but we’re going to be dancing.”

Vanderbilt Head Coach Mark Byington

On the second half…
“We had our chances, the score doesn’t quite tell how the game was, and we took the lead in the second half, and we had opportunities there, but they were just open shots that didn’t go down. They were making some tough ones, they have guys that don’t typically make threes, and we have guys who do and are not and sometimes that’s tough to swallow, but it does happen. I thought our guys fought really hard, we played as hard as we possibly could, we were down a bunch of guys tonight, we had guys in foul trouble and everything else. But those guys on the court that played tonight played really hard.”

On his team’s turnovers…
“We were sloppy, we kept trying to drive between two guys, we kept trying to split double teams and instead of passing the ball on time We were we were forcing some things. That’s the way their defense is, their defense is a collapsing team. When we’re doing it right, we make them collapse and we pass, if we don’t do it right, we make them collapse and we turn the ball over. We did well with that in the first half and in the second half we didn’t.”

On Jackson Edwards’ performance…
“I thought he had a good rhythm to his game, there was spacing out there, and he was making good plays in space. He got tired, he got cramped out in the second half which I think you kind of saw that towards the end with him. It’s one of those things where you know he’s not scared. He was ready to play. He’s from Georgia, I’m happy he played well here, but I think everybody in the locker room is just disappointed with the outcome. It’s one of those things where you got to move on quick. We won eight games in the toughest league in the history of leagues, every game’s a battle, we’re a little beat up right now, so we have to get healthy. I don’t even know who we’re playing or when we’re playing, we put everything into this one, but we’ll find it out soon.”