Written by Brian Pohl
Athens, GA- The Tom Crean era is officially underway at UGA as the Bulldogs opened the 2018-19 season with a 110-76 blowout of the Savannah State Tigers.
Head coach Tom Crean was excited to get his first win at UGA under his belt saying, “I’ll always remember this one.”
Things started fast for the Bulldogs, as they opened up with a 14-0 run before the Tigers were finally able to get on the board for the first time. UGA was able to use their distinct size advantage to win the battle inside, rebounding and getting to the rim on offense to get out to the early lead and never look back.
UGA forward Nicolas Claxton on the fast start, “We wanted to set the tone and bring the intensity early. We didn’t want to give them any confidence.”
Big performances from Nicolas Claxton and guard Tyree Crump led the way for the Bulldogs, as the team played their best basketball when they were on the floor. Claxton delivered the only double-double of the game with 15 points at 13 rebounds, and also dominated on the defensive end with five blocks. The sophomore is being called upon to make up for lost production after the graduation of Yante Maten, and Claxton showed a glimpse of his immense potential.
Crump gave coach Crean and the Bulldogs some much-needed knockdown shooting from the outside, connecting for four consecutive three-point shots in the first half and finishing with 14 points for the game. The junior needs to show that he can deliver these types of performances consistently, but it was great to see Crump start his season on the right foot.
Savannah State could never recover from the early deficit, struggling with their calling card three-point shooting throughout the game. The Tigers never strayed from that game plan, moving the ball quickly and shooting a total of 59 threes in the game, which was the third most in college basketball in the last 20 years. The Tigers only hit 29 percent of their shots from behind the arc and was a big reason they lost by a large margin.
Tyree Crump spoke about the pace and style of play by Savannah State saying, “I never played a team that shot the ball like they do. But, we expected it, but I’ve never seen it like that in my life. It definitely was good for us. We got a chance to see where we at for conditioning, we got to get in better shape, those guys right there showed us we got to run. But I mean if we get in shape, we will be able to execute. I thought we had what 23 turnovers, we are cutting down on turnovers. We will be better.”
Ultimately the difference in the game was UGA’s ability to use their size to their advantage and work inside to overmatch Savannah State. The Bulldogs were able to answer the pace of the Tigers and control what they did best, delivering a rebound advantage of 62 rebounds to Savannah State’s 41. This, combined with the Tiger’s poor shooting, allowed to Bulldogs to get in the driver’s seat early and cruise to a big win in their home-opener.
Next, the Bulldogs will travel up to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls on Tuesday, November 13th at 7 pm.
