5-starcommit, bigwin, bigweek

Thiswas arguably the best 24 hours for Georgia basketball in some time: First came the commitment from afifive-star recruit. Thencame a win that should help the current team’s cause for the NCAA Tournament.

Temple was ranked No. 12 in the RPI when it came into Stegeman Coliseumon Friday afternoon. But Georgiawon 84-66, leading by as many as 23, and never less than 14 in the second half.

Georgia enters SEC play in pretty good shape: A 9-2 record, with threewins over teamswitha chance tofifinish intheRPI top50(Temple, St. Mary’s and Marquette) and two true roadwins. It’s also unbeatenathome, including a rout of rival Georgia Tech.

YanteMaten again led the way Friday. The senior had a season-high 30 points, along with 12 rebounds. He didn’t need to carry his team, which got contributions from all over. But Maten played the way a top player needs to in a big game.

Georgiadominatedon the glass 38-20with a 32-13 edge at one point. UGA coach Mark Foxwentwith tall lineups, nullifying a Temple starting front line that went 6-10, 6-10 and 6-8.

“It’s been contributions fromeveryone on the team. It’s very spread out. I think everyone is fifinding a role on the team, and they’re happy with it. It’s trusting Coach Fox andwhat he’s assigned us to do,” Maten said.

“Just me being here the past couple years, we’ve had some bad losses in the nonconference. Coach Fox has explained that to us, I’ve explained that to the team. Wherewe want to go we have to make sure that we win a lot of these, if not all of these nonconference games.”

Fox said: “We’ve played well enough to keep ourselves in the race. ... But we’ve got some quality wins, including one today, and we’ve put ourselves in position to keep playing for something. And nowwe’ve got a chance to hit the reset button heading into league play.”