Dribble Dawgs Tripped Up By California

BASKETBALL

The University of Georgia men’s basketball team took its first loss of the season in the semifinals of the Progressive CBE Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., after falling 70-46 to No. 18 California on Monday.

“We didn’t play well in any area of the game,” coach Mark Fox said. “We had it in a position in the first half where if we finished the half better, we could have regrouped. You have to give Cal credit. That’s a good basketball team, a mature basketball team, and they taught us a good lesson.”

Freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led Georgia (3-1) with 10 points and six rebounds followed by redshirt senior Gerald Robinson and freshman Nemanja Djurisic with nine each. Sophomore Marcus Thornton led the effort on the boards with eight rebounds.

Senior Harper Kamp put in 16 points for Cal (4-0) while fellow classmate Jorge Gutierrez had 14 and redshirt sophomore Justin Cobb added 10.

Overall, Cal totaled 25-of-50 shooting while the Dawgs were 19-of-58. Outside of shooting, the teams matched up close to even in many categories. The Bears outrebounded Georgia 36-31, but the Dawgs put up 11 fast break points while Cal had four.

With the Bears up 8-4, Caldwell-Pope hit back-to-back three pointers to put Georgia ahead 10-8. The Dawgs then tied the contest at 15 with a Robinson basket and again at 18 with Ware’s three. A 7-0 run that was sparked by Djurisic’s shot beyond the arc and defensive plays by Caldwell-Pope and Djurisic that turned into offensive points gave Georgia its largest lead at 25-22 with 5:12 left in the half.

Cal quickly answered back by closing the first half with 14-straight points to go into the locker room with a 36-25 advantage.

The Bears took control early in the second half with a 10-4 burst to go up 46-25 before a Georgia timeout. Offensive troubles by the Dawgs helped Cal pull away, as Georgia shot just over 33 percent compared to Cal’s 52 percent from the floor. Georgia ended the game on a 6-3 spree, which included four points from freshman John Cannon.

Georgia concludes the Progressive CBE Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 22 in the third-place game, as the Dawgs match-up against Notre Dame at 7:45 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.