ATHENS, Ga. – Marcus “Smurf” Millender scored 22 points on his 21st birthday and Georgia (7-1) connected on a school-record 21 3-pointers in a 123-81 victory over Tennessee Tech (3-5) at Stegeman Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
FAST FACTS
• The Bulldogs’ 123 points represented the third-most in school history and their most since defeating Western Kentucky, 124-65, on Nov. 28, 1990.
• Georgia was 21-of-43 from 3-point range, both school-record totals. The previous mark for most makes was 19 against Fresno State on March 26, 1998, and the record for takes was 41 versus Texas A&M on March 2, 2024.
• The Bulldogs shot a season-best 48.8 percent from 3-point range.
• Six Bulldogs posted double-figure scoring totals. Following Millender’s 22, Jeremiah Wilkinson added 20, Kanon Catchings chipped in 17, Justin Bailey contributed 15 and Blue Cain and Jordan Ross put up 12 points apiece.
• Millender, Catchings and Bailey all recorded season-high scoring totals. Catchings scored 15 points in the first half alone, topping his previous season high of 14 points against both Maryland Eastern Shore and Morehead State.
• Georgia raced to an 11-0 lead over the opening 1:57 of the game off of back-to-back 3-pointers from Catchings and Wilkinson, three free throws from Ross and a putback dunk by Somto Cyril.
• The Bulldogs scored 62 first-half and 61 second-half points, their second and third 60-point halves of the season. Georgia has pushed past 50 points in a half seven times this season. Georgia’s highest scoring half was 64 points in the first period against Morehead State on Nov. 9.
KEY QUOTES:
Georgia Head Coach Mike White
Opening Statement…
“Played pretty well, pretty sharp in the first half. Shot well. Obviously, we had a bunch of shots and spaced it and played fast. I thought we were pretty selfless throughout the game. Defensively, we’ve got a ways to go, but it’s nice to see the ball run for us. We’ve got to get back to work tomorrow.”
On whether today’s 3-point percentage confirms what he has seen in practice…
“It confirms it. Our guys, I don’t think that we’ve had any lack of confidence to this point or other than we really questioned ourselves. It just hadn’t gone in at the rate we thought it would go in. I’m not trying to sit here and say we’re like, ‘You should be a team,’ but our numbers coming into this game from three weren’t very good. We shoot better than that. Our guys are better players and shooters than that number indicated. I think some of it early on was a little bit of shot selection and some of it is, again, getting used to the tempo. It’s new for everybody. So, tonight was, again, took a bunch of ‘A-shots’ and turned down some ‘C-shots.’ There were a few C shots too but turned down some ‘C-shots’ to get some ‘A-shots.’ I like the way that it moved a lot.”
On the importance of Catchings and Wilkinson each making their first shots…
“That’s big for us because we’ve often, to this point in the season, missed that first one or two. Nice for us to settle in earlier tonight than we have to this point this season. From that point, it just kind of snowballed a little bit. We just kept going forward.”
#6 | Kanon Catchings | Forward | So.
On what gave the team confidence shooting the ball today…
“I feel like we made the shots we usually do in practice and every other day.”
On what the offensive performance does for the team…
“It gives a lot of confidence. Everybody on the team works hard, gets a lot of shots in outside of practice. It’s just the stuff that’s mandatory. We also do extra stuff. All of us. Just having good shots fall, finally. It was good.”
#7 | Justin Bailey | Guard | Sr.
On what Coach White preaches to them in practice…
“I think we just try to focus on doing the little things. Staying in the moment obviously, but just realizing we’ve got a tough schedule coming up.”
On the team’s offensive capabilities…
“We know what we are capable of. I think we do a good job of playing to our strengths as the season goes on.”
UP NEXT
Georgia will return to action on Tuesday when the Bulldogs trek to Tallahassee, Fla., to face Florida State in the ACC/SEC Challenge at 9:00 p.m. ET on the ACC Network. Following the date with the Seminoles, the Bulldogs will have an 11-day break during final exams before taking on Cincinnati in Holiday Hoopsgiving at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday, Dec. 11.