Georgia falls to Arizona State in first true road game of season
Published 4:29 pm Monday, December 16, 2019
- Kathryn Skeean | The Red & BlackGeorgia head coach Tom Crean discusses penalties with freshman Anthony Edwards (5) after he comes off of the court. The University of Georgia men’s basketball team opened its regular season with a win by 91-72 against Western Carolina University on Nov. 5 in Athens.
In the first road game of the 2019-20 season, the Georgia men’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm and fell to Arizona State 79-59. The loss brings the Bulldogs’ record to 6-3.
Georgia went 23-for-66 from the field (34.8%) and 2-for-24 from behind the arc on Saturday. Conversely, the Sun Devils shot nearly 50% from the field and hit six 3-pointers.
Shooting wasn’t the only aspect of the game Georgia struggled in. It turned the ball over 19 times, which was tied for second most of the season.
“It was tough to get anything going and we never got into a rhythm,” head coach Tom Crean said. “We did not move very well without the ball early on and we didn’t move the ball as well as we needed to.”
If there’s one positive takeaway from the Bulldogs’ loss, it’s their ability to compete on the boards despite being undersized. They won the rebounding battle against Arizona State 43-42, which is especially impressive after starting forward Amanze Ngumezi’s suspension on Dec. 4.
Tye Fagan led the Bulldogs with 15 points in just under 19 minutes of playing time. Freshman Anthony Edwards scored 12 of his 13 total points in the first half and was held in check for much of the second half.
Junior Rayshaun Hammonds was largely quiet as well, finishing 1-for-9 from the field with four points and eight rebounds.
It wasn’t a wire-to-wire win for Arizona State. The Bulldogs were within 3-4 points for the majority of the first half but fell apart late in the half. A quick 5-0 spurt in the final 30 seconds gave the Sun Devils an 8-point lead heading into halftime.
Arizona State stretched the lead to 10 points in the first four minutes of the second half thanks to Remy Martin and Romello White. The Sun Devils kept the Bulldogs at bay in the second half and ended with a dominant win.
Martin finished with 23 points and six assists, while White finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
“We have got to get mentally tougher, and this was our first true road test,” Crean said. “We didn’t handle that as well as we needed to, and we have to learn from that.”
