Ice cold starts dooms Georgia, Texas A&M hands Bulldogs 3rd straight loss

Jeremiah Wilkinson led UGA with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, making just one of his 10 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

Blue Cain and Kanon Catchings had 14 points each, Dylan James recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds and Smurf Millender had 12 points.

“They came out with way more urgency than we had,” Cain said. “I’m not sure what to credit that to, but we have to learn from it.”

Georgia (16-6, 4-5) lost consecutive home games for the first time this season with the defeat.

The Bulldogs fell behind by 20 points in the game’s opening moments before closing to 10 points at halftime and staging a second-half rally to climb back into contention.

Dylan James scored on a conventional three-point play with 9:05 left to cut the Aggies’ lead to 69-67.

It was the first time since the opening minute UGA was within two points, but it didn’t last long.

Jacari Lane hit a 3-point shot to trigger a 15-3 Texas A&M run that made it 84-70, and UGA failed to draw closer than nine points the remainder of the game.

Georgia was projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament entering the day, according to ESPN’s Bracketology, and had a No. 34 NET ranking while the Aggies held a No. 39 NET ranking.

White noted UGA had two four-game losing streaks in SEC play last season and rebounded to make the NCAA tournament, and he’s expecting to make the most of the extra time coming up with no mid-week game.

“Our guys are resilient,” White said. “We have to clean up details, but this team really works. We’ll accept message and learn from film.”

Texas A&M held a 51-41 lead at the half, riding the momentum of a 7-0 run over the final two minutes before intermission.

Georgia had cut the lead to 44-41 moments earlier when Millender hit a 3-pointer at the 2:31 mark.

The Bulldogs had been able to cut into the 20-point deficit despite Somto Cyril playing only 4:44 in the first half on account of foul trouble.

Cyril picked up his second foul at the 11:17 mark and came out of game with UGA down 26-10 and didn’t go back in the remainder of the first half.

Cyril was ineffective in the second half and finished with just nine points with two rebounds in the 9:19 he played.

White said Texas A&M presented a difficult matchup for UGA’s starting center, and with the team in comeback mode throughout the game, he stuck with what was working.

James had come off the bench early and scored eight points with six rebounds in the first half, the Bulldogs outscoring Texas A&M by nine points in the 10:45 he played before intermission.

Georgia returns to action at 6 p.m. next Saturday at LSU, while Texas A&M plays at Alabama at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.