Trae Golden doesn’t like coming off the bench.
    
But if the sophomore guard has to, he’ll still figure out a way to do some damage.
   
 Golden scored a team-high 16 points after being left out of the starting lineup for the first time this season, and Tennessee beat Georgia 73-62 Saturday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
   
 “I would lie to you if I said I was cool with it or happy with it,” Golden said. “I was down, but I didn’t hang my head.
    
“It motivated me more than usual to come off the bench.”
    
Tennessee (11-12, 3-5 SEC) had four players score in double-digits to get its eighth home win in nine games. Georgia (10-12, 1-7) dropped its fourth game in a row and falls in a tie for last place in the SEC. Its one conference win was a 53-57 overtime victory over the Vols on Jan. 18.
   
 Skylar McBee earned his first career start, taking over point guard duties for Golden. He scored 10 points on 1-of-4 shooting (7-of-8 free throws).
   
 “It was a good feeling, it was nice,” McBee said. “Watching all these guys play growing up and being a Tennessee fan before I was ever a player, it’s special. Especially to be from East Tennessee, know the tradition and how much this means to this community, this basketball program, it was a really good thing to get the start tonight.”
    
McBee, a junior from Rutledge, Tenn., started his career as a walk-on, and earned a scholarship his sophomore year under former coach Bruce Pearl.
    
Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin said he doesn’t try to send messages with lineup changes, but hoped his decision would motivate Golden.
    
“I just felt like Trae needed to work hard on both ends of the floor and really lead us as a point guard,” Martin said. “Not necessarily in production or points, but just his approach and intensity level on the defensive side on the ball and really taking pride in it.”
    
Sophomore guard Jordan McRae was also a spark off the bench for the Vols, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the second half.
    
It was a battle of free throws, as Tennessee shot 28-of-37 (76 percent) from the line, and Georgia was 15-of-20. Junior forward Jeronne Maymon scored nine of his 15 points from the charity stripe, and grabbed eight rebounds.
   
 It was Maymon’s fourth game in a row with double-digit points. He was able to do his work despite he and Jarnell Stokes facing double-teams inside. They even forced both Georgia forwards Marcus Thornton and Donte Williams to foul out.
    
“We just saw such awful foul trouble, and that obviously was a huge factor in the game,” said Bulldogs coach Mark Fox, who was ejected in the final minute of the game. “We had to play a football player (Jay Rome) five minutes in the first half just to stay out of foul trouble.”
    
Georgia, one of the worst shooting teams in the country, shooting just under 39 percent on the year, started the game on fire. The Bulldogs started 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, and finished 7-of-15.
   
 They shot just 13-of-40 otherwise.
   
 “I thought Georgia came out with confidence, had a little swagger to them. That helps (on the road),” Martin said.
    
Georgia started the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 39-32 lead at the 16:33 mark. Then the Vols took a 61-51 lead with 3:25 left thanks to a 29-12 run.
    
Ken Caldwell-Pope led the Bulldogs with 16 points, Dustin Ware added 15 (3-of-4 from beyond the arc) and Gerald Robinson had 13.
    
Tennessee was able to keep up with the Bulldogs shooting for some of the first half, but fell behind by eight at with 5:10 before the break. The Vols ended the half on an 11-2 run, giving them a 30-28 halftime lead.