UGA heads to NIT quarterfinals after downing Wake Forest
There's even more Georgia basketball ahead in the final week of March.
The Bulldogs assured that by snagging a road win Sunday at Wake Forest 72-66 in a second round NIT game.
Georgia stays on the road to play at Ohio State Tuesday in a quarterfinal matchup.
The Bulldogs' season already has gone the latest on the calendar since an NIT on March 26, 1998 third-place win over Fresno State in Ron Jirsa's first season. That's a long season considering this team took a summer trip to Italy back in August.
Georgia buried 10 of 17 3-pointers in the first half to run out to a 39-24 lead with 4 from guard Noah Thomasson (19 points) and 3 from guard Justin Hill (21 points) and extended the lead to 49-30 after hitting 4 of its first 5 shots in the second half.
The Bulldogs held on after Wake Forest trimmed the lead to 57-52 on a score from Andrew Carr (31 points) with a score in the lane with 6:39 to go. Georgia went on a 7-2 run that included a 3-pointer from freshman Dylan James who had a career-high 14 points.
Thomasson went 5 of 8 on 3s including with one making one with 2:51 to go that became a four-point play. Wake Forest cut the lead to four in the final minutes, but the Bulldogs hit four free throws.
Georgia has won back-to-back games for the first time since winning 10 straight from Nov. 24 to Jan. 10.
Georgia basketball NIT run longest in quarter century
Georgia (19-16) advanced past the second round for the first time in its last seven NIT appearances since that 1998 NIT.
It will play the Buckeyes (22-13) in Columbus in a 7 p.m. game on ESPN.
Ohio State defeated Virginia Tech 81-73 Saturday night in Columbus.
The winner moves on to the NIT semifinals April 2 in Indianapolis.
The Buckeyes fired Chris Holtmann as coach Feb. 14 and have now removed the interim tag from coach Jake Dieber who replaced him.
The programs have met in basketball only once before, an 84-80 overtime win for the Bulldogs on Dec. 28, 1977 in Louisville.
Injuries sideline starters on both Georgia Bulldogs and Wake Forest
Wake Forest (21-14) was without its top scorer due to an ankle injury and Georgia missed its top post player due to illness.
Demon Deacons' guard Hunter Sallis, who averaged 18 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, played 40 minutes in the 87-76 first-round win over Appalachian State. He finished that game with 16 points.
The junior from Omaha, a firstteam All-SEC pick, led Wake Forest with 75 3-pointers and a 40.5 3-point percentage.
Georgia center Russel Tchewa had started every game this season and led the team in rebounding at 6.6 per
game to go along with 7.8 points per game. White said on Georgia’s pregame radio show that Tchewa hadn’t practiced since the win over Xavier on Tuesday.
Senior Frank Anselem-Ibe, who averaged just 7.4 minutes per game this season, got his first start of the season in place of Tchewa. He had 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 assists.
Georgia was without Jabri Abdur-Rahim (ankle) for the sixth straight game and reserve RJ Sunahara (knee) also missed the game.
A winning homecoming for Georgia Bulldog Silas Demary
Silas Demary expected to be “very jacked,” for a homecoming game back in his home state.
Demary is from Raleigh, about 18 miles away from Winston-Salem.
“Just to get before a whole lot of family and friends will be good for me,” Demary said.
Demary entered the game leading Georgia in steals (51), second in assists (85) and third in scoring (9.7 points per game).
He had a quiet game with 6 points—all in the second half along with 5 rebounds and an assist. His driving layup with 14:02 to go ended an 8-0 Wake run after they had trimmed the Georgia lead to 49-38 and then drew a charge with under 12 minutes to go.