ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Bulldogs men’s basketball team fell to Auburn, 78-75, Wednesday night in Stegeman Coliseum.
Four Bulldogs finished the game with double-digit points. Junior Jordan Harris had a career-high scoring night for the fourth-straight game this season, tallying 18 points to top his previous career-high of 15. Sophomore Nicolas Claxton scored 14 points, while seniors Turtle Jackson and Derek Ogbeide added 13 points apiece.
“We made a great comeback and the fans were incredible,” said Georgia head coach Tom Crean. “They were really good, no doubt about that. This team keeps learning how to comeback, and what they have to do now is get up. We can't have the lulls that we have in the first half or the lack of communication in transition. At the end of the day, the stat that gets us is the second chance points because we cleaned up the turnovers in the second half. It's tough we couldn't get it done at the end."
For nearly half of the opening period, the deficit between the two teams never exceeded five points. Harris and Jackson helped to maintain a narrow margin, scoring a combined 17 of Georgia’s first 20 points. However, Georgia was only able to snag the lead twice in the first period, and the Tigers pulled away for the 50-40 lead going into halftime.
A 13-point Georgia run highlighted the first portion of the second period. A scoring streak by Ogbeide included three-straight baskets to extend the Bulldogs’ run and give Georgia its first lead of the game since the opening minutes of play. After Georgia grabbed its 58-57 advantage over Auburn, the lead shifted eight more times.
Though Claxton tied the game twice— first at 67-all and then at 75-all— the Tigers countered with a three-point basket with less than 30 seconds on the clock for the 78-75 victory.
The Bulldogs fall to 10-18 overall and 1-14 in the SEC.
Wednesday’s crowd of 7,837 fans helped Georgia break its all-time total attendance record. The Bulldogs have now drawn 141,520 fans for their 16 home games. That tops the previous mark of 139,570 established during the 2015-16 season. Georgia still has one more home date on tap. The Bulldogs will host Missouri next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Up next, Georgia will travel to Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday, Mar. 2, to face the Gators at 8:30 p.m ET. The game will be televised on SECN.