It was another day and another loss for the struggling Tennessee Volunteers.
The No. 22 Vols (18-9, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) continued their avalanche slide down the SEC mountain Wednesday night as the Georgia Bulldogs (15-11, 8-5) emerged with an 88-76 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena.
To be very honest with you, I’ve never experienced a season like this since I’ve been coaching, UT head coach Jerry Green said after he saw his team lose its fifth straight and eighth in the last 10 games.
Trailing 66-63, Georgia reeled off 15 unanswered points to, literally, take the game out of the Vols’ hands. UT had no answer for D.A. Layne’s shooting. He finished with a game-high 21 points.
I think this was a statement game for us, Layne said, especially the stretch run. We wanted to win one on the road.
Layne nailed two free throws, followed by a Chris Daniels tip-in, giving Georgia a 67-66 lead.
Anthony Evans hit two more free throws to make it 69-66. Layne then rolled off seven consecutive points to extend the Bulldogs’ advantage to 10 points.
Daniels drove around the UT defense for an uncontested layup and a 78-66 Georgia lead with 2:30 to play.
We were continuing to make mistakes and giving them a chance, Green said, and they weren’t making mistakes.
After another Daniels layup and an Evans dunk, UT’s Jon Higgins hit a layup to make it 82-72 with 1:17 left. However, time was on the Bulldogs’ side as Tennessee was forced to foul and the UGA players made the shots down the stretch.
Georgia didn’t miss on its final 14 free throws and finished the game 23 of 28 from the line.
We made our foul shots, which we haven’t normally done this year, Harrick said. I told our guys that the officials made this a foul shooting contest and whoever makes their foul shots is going to win.
Although Layne was Georgia’s playmaker during the 15-0 run, it was Daniels who spurred the second-half attack.
The 6-foot-7 freshmen from Albany, Ga., didn’t even play in the first half. However, Daniels came out on fire in the second half, netting 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting to go along with five boards in his 11 minutes.
The Bulldogs dominated the Vols on the boards, outrebounding UT 47-29 despite Tennessee’s obvious height advantage in the paint. UGA also shot 50 percent from the floor while hitting 5 of 10 from behind the arc.
Ron was the only one who rebound for us in the first half, Green said. He had half of our rebounds.
The Volunteers, on the other hand, were not so productive from long range. UT shot 27.8 percent from 3-point range and went 0 for 8 in the second half.
We’ve got the same players but we’re just not making the plays now that we made earlier, Green said. I can’t find the answer. If I knew the answer, I’d certainly push the button.
Ron Slay led the Vols with 20 points and 10 boards. Marcus Haislip followed with 16 points, Isiah Victor had 14 and Tony Harris had 10.
Despite being booed off the floor after the game, Green managed to stay optimistic about Tennessee’s fan support.
Our fans are going to be there but we’ve got to give them a product they can be proud of, Green said. We need a win.
If there is an answer out there, I’m searching for it.
