Georgia overcomes 17-point deficit on road to beat Florida State
Georgia Basketball overcame a 17-point deficit in the final 6:30 of action to win 68-66 over Florida State Wednesday night in Tallahassee. The Bulldogs saw Justin Hill make a jumper with 1.5 seconds left, allowing Florida State only an opportunity for a heave from beyond half court, to give them the lead and the win in their first-ever ACC/SEC Challenge game.
Hill, who hit a game-winner last season against LSU, finished with 13 points on the night, one of four Georgia players to reach double-figures. Freshman Silas Demary led the way with 15 while Jabri Abdur-Rahim RJ Melendez each poured in 12.
Melendez also managed to lead the team in rebounding on a night in which the Bulldogs saw big man Russel Tchewa ejected from the game early in the second half as the Illinois transfer came up with 11 boards. It’s just the second time Melendez has brought down double-digit rebounds, first in a Georgia uniform. In each of the two outings he’s done so, he finished with a double-double.
Justin Hill with the game winner for the Dawgs! #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/jsOU6AtpRd — Georgia Basketball November 30, 2023Neither Georgia nor Florida State got it going offensively in the first half. The Bulldogs had an over ten minute stretch in which they were held without a field goal, and at one point the two teams were a combined 2-for-their-last-31 from the field. The Seminoles however managed to make a trio of 3-pointers and forced seven Georgia turnovers to lead 25-21 at the break.
Georgia came out of the gate strong with a couple of nice plays by Demary. He made a 3-pointer and had a 3-point play with an and-one, both of which cut the Bulldog deficit to one. But, with the help of a 7-0 run, Florida State maintained its lead until the 12:27 mark when Hill had his own and-one to tie things at 37.
Things started to spiral from there for Georgia, and it seemed that the Bulldogs were out of it. Florida State hit back-to-back 3-pointers before going on a 10-0 run to jump out to a 14-point lead. That advantage was extended to as many as 17 with another pair of 3-pointers, both made by Darin Green who led all scorers on the night with 21.
As has been the case several times this season though, Georgia didn’t go down without a fight. Sparked by Demary, Melendez, and Abdur-Rahim, the Dawgs took their first lead of the second half with 2:29 to go, up 64-63 on an Abdur-Rahim 3-pointer.
While Florida State responded with a layup to go up one with 2:07 left, Frank Anselem-Ibe hit two clutch free throws with under a minute to go to put Georgia back on top. Then, after the Florida State free throw shooter De’Ante Green made just one of two from the stripe to tie things at 66, Georgia was able to call its final timeout with the shot clock off to step Hill up for the game-winner.
The Georgia victory helped the inaugural intra-conference event end in a 7-7 tie. Other winners from around the SEC included Kentucky and Arkansas with wins over top-10 Miami and Duke teams respectively along with South Carolina (Notre Dame), Missouri (Pitt), Ole Miss (NC State) and Auburn (Virginia Tech).
Georgia, now 4-3 on the season with its second win over a power conference opponent, is back in action on Friday against Mercer. Tip time between the Bulldogs and Bears at Stegeman Coliseum is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
