Dribble Dawgs Fall In Overtime

BASKETBALL

Ole Miss’ Marshall Henderson scored 25 points, 19 of which came in the second half and overtime, to hand Georgia an 84-74 overtime loss Saturday night at C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum.

Georgia was led by sophomore guard Kentavious Caldwell Pope, who picked up his 4th double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

“That’s a tough loss,” said coach Mark Fox. “I am really proud of our team, proud of how they competed, how hard they played and how they laid it all out there. It’s a game that we should have won in regulation.

“I thought we played really, really hard. I thought we competed hard, I thought we were unselfish and I thought that we defended pretty well throughout the whole game. We just couldn’t keep them off the foul line and that’s so hard to overcome, but I was really pleased with a lot of things…We had a lot of guys play well and I thought our team played well we just didn’t finish the job.”

After leading nearly the entire second half, Ole Miss took a 66-64 lead with under three minutes remaining, eventually forcing the game into overtime after junior forward Donte’ Williams nearly ended the game with a tip-in as the buzzer sounded.

Georgia trailed early in the first half, down by as many as five but closed the half on a 15-4 run, holding the Rebels scoreless in the half’s final four minutes to take a 41-35 halftime lead.

The Rebels fought back in the second half, taking the lead 51-49 off of a Nick Williams jumper, but Georgia went on a 10-0 run to grab back the lead 59-51.

With just 3:36 remaining and the Dawgs up 64-56, the Rebels’ Henderson, who was limited to just 25 minutes in the game due to foul trouble, went on a 10-0 run to put Ole Miss 66-64, and eventually force the game to overtime.

Ole Miss outscored Georgia 14-4 in overtime, including six from the free throw stripe. In the game, Ole Miss went 30-for-36 from the free throw line, while Georgia shot 13-for-19. The game was physical from the start, with four players fouling out and 48 total fouls being called.

Georgia outrebounded the Rebels 45-30, and shot nearly 50 percent from the field. Ole Miss capitalized on points off turnovers, scoring 24 to Georgia’s 10.

Worth Noting...

• The starting line-up was V. Williams, Caldwell-Pope, Morris, Florveus and D. Williams. They’re now 5-2.

• With the loss, Georgia is now 0-3 in overtime games.

• Georgia scored its 39th point with three minutes remaining in the first half off of a Kenny Gaines 3-pointer. In Tuesday’s loss, the Dawgs didn’t score its 39th point until the 3:20 mark in the second half.

• Georgia outrebounded Ole Miss, 45-30, and drops to 9-4 when outrebounding its opponent.

• Georgia had a 2-1 (10 assists, 5 turnovers) assist-to-turnover ratio in the first half, but finished the game with an even ration (18 assists, 18 turnovers).

• With his 19 points tonight, Caldwell-Pope has still scored in double figures in every game this season. He also picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 12 rebounds.

• Caldwell-Pope remains one of just 11 players in all of NCAA Division I that have scored in double figures in each of their team's games. He's the only SEC player to accomplish this feat and one of just five from the "BCS" leagues to do so.

• In Georgia basketball alumni news, former Georgia forward Travis Leslie was named MVP in the NBA D-League All-Star game. Leslie had 19 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes of play, leading the “Prospects” to a 139-125 over the “Futures.” Leslie was drafted with the 47th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He is currently a member of the Santa Cruz Warriors (affiliate of the Golden State Warriors). Leslie is averaging 16.2 PPG and 7.1 RPG in 21 games this season.

Career Highs:

• Vincent Williams set a career high with seven assists (Previously… 6 vs. Jacksonville (11/9/12).

• Kenny Gaines set a career high with 13 points (Previously… 12 vs. Tennessee (2/6/13). Gaines has set a new career high in points three different times in February.

• Tim Dixon set a career high with three assists (Previously… 1 vs. Multiple)

The Series: Georgia still leads the all-time series 66-40, but Ole Miss now leads in Oxford, 25-24. Ole Miss’ victory marks the first time since 2009 in the series that the home team has won a game.

Next Up: Georgia travels to Fayetteville to play Arkansas on Thursday. The Razorbacks lead the all-time series 16-13, including 6-3 in Fayetteville. The Dawgs have won the previous three match-ups.