Catchings career night leads Georgia past No. 16 Alabama, 98-88

ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Bulldogs (21-9, 9-8) rolled past the No. 16 Alabama Crimson Tide (22-8, 12-5) on Tuesday evening in Stegeman Coliseum, 98-88, in front of a sell-out crowd. Sophomore Kanon Catchings led the Bulldogs with 32 points to post a new career high.

FAST FACTS
• In addition to his 32 points, Catchings also posted career-bests in field goals, field goal attempts, three-pointers and three-pointers attempted.
• Blue Cain, Smurf Millender and Kareem Stagg joined Catchings in the double-digits with 16, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Kareem Stagg tied his career high in field goals made, and Justin Abson matched his season high of seven points in a perfect 3-3 night from the field.
• After Alabama cut the lead to five with 9:38 to play – and a 20-minute shot clock malfunction delay – Georgia went on a 9-5 run over the next four and a half minutes to extend the lead to nine. The Bulldog held onto the lead for the eventual 10-point win.
• The contest had eight lead changes, with Georgia leading the entire second half. Georgia outscored Alabama in points in the paint (40-18), second chance points (25-9), rebounds (40-30) and blocks (5-1).
• Georgia moves to 34-34 all-time against the Crimson Tide in games played in Athens. More, the Bulldogs have won two of the last three contests in Stegeman against Alabama.

KEY QUOTES

Head Coach Mike White

On Kanon Catchings and the team’s performance…
“Just a high level of confidence. His body language exuded confidence. He wasn’t second guessing himself. He didn’t have any of those delayed decisions. We tried to get a couple of other guys going in the second half, mainly Jeremiah [Wilkinson], and went away from Kanon a little bit. In retrospect, maybe we should have called his number a bit earlier in the second half. He might have had a few more. Kanon gets 33 because our shot selection was better, so much better than it was a couple months ago. We’re passing it well, and we’re spacing it well. Guys are executing what we do as opposed to ‘let me go get one up.’ Getting better this time of year is fun to watch.”

On the Bulldogs’ impressive paint performance…
“Our paint discipline, defensively, was significantly better than it’s been in the last four or five. Being able to shot fake and create angles in isolation situations at a number of different spots – we were good there. We were pretty disciplined at the rim. We did enough.”

#6 | Kanon Catchings | So. | Forward

On the post-game locker-room environment…
“I got in there late because I had to do media, but everybody was just excited. Alabama is a great team. They got me out last year in the Sweet Sixteen, so I feel like that’s a great team. They’ve got great players, and they’ve beat great teams, and we beat them.”

#4 | Smurf Millender | Jr. | Guard

On Coach White’s message during the delay…
“Coach White was just telling us to stay locked in, giving us the game plan and how to handle our business. He just gave us juice on the defensive side. The crowd played a big part, as well.”

On the value of the win…
“This win really gives us momentum. We got another one Saturday against Mississippi State to finish out the regular season, but going into Sunday this is huge for our resume.”

Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats

On the game…
“I’ve got to give Georgia a lot of credit. They needed the win. It looked like they needed it. They came out and played harder than us, turned us over, had twenty-one points off turnovers, destroyed us on the second chance points, and then add those two numbers up, they’re at 46 points, second chance and on turnovers to our 24. So, when you lose that by 22 points, it’s going to be really hard to win the game. Our rebounding issues are just killing us right now. It’s going to be hard to win games with the rebounding issue we’re having. Ton of credit to Georgia, having those guys ready to go. They’re fighting for a lot here, but so are we. We’re fighting for seeding in the SEC tournament, seeding in the NCAA tournament. We’ve got some young guys that have no idea what it takes to win at this level, particularly on the road. This was our last chance to get a quality road win. We failed it. Our guys have got to understand that nothing’s easy in this league. There’s not a road game that anybody’s going to hand to you. I didn’t do a good enough job getting these guys mentally ready to play tonight.”

UP NEXT
Georgia wraps up the regular season on the road against Mississippi State on Saturday, March 7 before awaiting seeding for the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament set to start next Wednesday, March 11 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. Tip-off against the Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss. is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.