It wasn't pretty and at times it wasn't textbook, but Georgia outlasted Tennessee long enough to grab a much needed SEC road win 69-63 in Knoxville. Jeremy Price scored 20 points to lead the Bulldogs.
After building an eight point lead at the half, Georgia seemed to lose their composure as things got tight. Jeremy Price got hit with a technical foul after getting tied up with Steven Pearl resulting in two free throws and the ball. Melvin Goins gave Tennessee its first lead of the second half with a thunderous break away dunk.
The Bulldogs were able to regain their composure and began feeding the ball back inside to Price and Trey Thompkins. Scotty Hopson did all he could to keep the Volunteers in it scoring a career high 32 points but other than Tobias Harris' 18 points, the Vols didn't get much else.
Once Georgia built the lead back to four, they went to work on the defensive glass. The Bulldogs out rebounded Tennessee by a 25-27 margin but surrendered nine offensive rebounds. Those second chance opportunities combined with 14 Bulldog turnovers nearly let the Vols overcome a 51% to 42% shooting advantage that Georgia held.
In addition to Price's twenty points, three other Bulldogs scored in double figures. Travis Leslie scored fifteen while Dustin Ware and Trey Thompkins added twelve and eleven points respectively. Thompkins also pulled down nine rebounds and came up with six steals on the afternoon.
The win couldn't have come at a better time for the Bulldogs who saw their NCAA Tournament hopes fading coming into the game. For the moment, the win breaks a three way tie for third place moving the Bulldogs to 7-5 in the conference. The Bulldogs still can control their own destiny with four games remaining including two on the road against Florida and Alabama.