No. 18 Georgia holds off South Carolina 75-70 for key SEC road win

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Road wins in the SEC rarely come with comfort, and Georgia’s latest one came with a reminder, a lecture and a little bit of relief all wrapped together.

The 18th-ranked Bulldogs did enough Saturday afternoon at Colonial Life Arena to slip past South Carolina 75-70, improving to 14-2 overall and 2-1 in league play. It was the kind of victory Georgia will gladly take — and the kind coach Mike White clearly intends to use as a teaching tool.

“Just winning on the road in this league, don’t take it for granted,” White said. “That was big. But we’ve got to keep getting better.”

Georgia did a lot right, and just enough at the right times. Sophomore forward Kanon Catchings led all scorers with 20 points, 15 of them in the first half, while Somto Cyril turned in a career-best 18 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting night. Jeremiah Wilkinson added 12 and Blue Cain 10 as the Bulldogs won for the third straight time in Columbia and narrowed the all-time series gap with the Gamecocks to a single game.

But this one never felt like it should be put away early, and White wasn’t about to pretend otherwise.

“The way we started defensively in the first half, our shot selection in the first half — some stuff has just got to continue to be addressed,” White said. “Offensively, we had some possessions where we looked bad. Second half, much, much better.”

Georgia’s issues early were a mix of impatience and imprecision. White said his team was “trying to hit home runs” instead of taking what South Carolina’s defense was giving. At halftime, he didn’t mince words.

“It was awful,” White said. “Told a couple guys in particular, ‘If we don’t get locked in, I’ve got to take you out.’ We were going to start with our starters, but we were going to make substitutions really quickly.”

The Bulldogs responded with more purpose after the break, leaning on their balance and their ability to win the game in the margins. Georgia finished with advantages in points off turnovers (14-10), rebounds (38-35), points in the paint (38-34) and fast-break points (18-11) — the quiet categories that usually decide close road games.

Cyril, in particular, continued an efficient stretch that has become a trend. After going 8-for-8 Saturday, he now has five games shooting 100 percent from the field in his last seven outings. Cain, meanwhile, quietly climbed into the program’s record book; his two made free throws moved him to second in Georgia history for single-season free-throw percentage at 91.1 percent (minimum 50 attempts).

Still, Georgia never fully shook the Gamecocks. South Carolina kept the pressure on into the final minutes, and White admitted the finish could have been cleaner.

“They missed a couple free throws for us. They missed a couple shots for us,” White said. “We had a couple fouls that, if we’re just a little more disciplined, maybe you win that game by eight or 10 and you’re a little more comfortable.”

There was also a reminder of where this team is in its growth curve. Georgia isn’t old, but it isn’t last year’s group, either.

“We’ve got a couple juniors that play a lot and a couple sophomores, and we’re still one of the younger teams in the league,” White said. “But we’re not incredibly young like last year, and we’ve got to grow up pretty quickly if we’re going to make a run at this.”

In the end, the Bulldogs grew up just enough for one afternoon — enough to leave Columbia with a win, enough to extend a recent run of success in the building, and enough to keep pace in a league that rarely offers mercy.

Georgia returns home to Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday to face Ole Miss in a 7 p.m. game on ESPNU, carrying with it both a valuable road victory and a list of things its coach made clear still need fixing.