Noah Thomasson netted all 17 of his points in the first half, and Georgia snapped its six-game losing streak Wednesday night by cruising past Vanderbilt 76-64 in Nashville, Tenn.
Thomasson made 6 of 11 shots — 5-for-9 from distance — in the first 20 minutes as the Bulldogs (15-11, 5-8 SEC) were better at both ends of the court and built a 16-point halftime lead.
They beat Vanderbilt (7-19, 2-11) for the first time in the Music City since an 80-78 win on Feb. 22, 2020, and won for the first time since topping LSU 68-66 on Jan. 24.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim tallied 13 points and seven rebounds and Russel Tchewa totaled six points and 10 rebounds for Georgia, which shot 52.8 percent (28 of 53).
The Bulldogs held a 39-26 edge on the glass and outscored the Commodores 32-20 in the paint.
The Commodores’ Paul Lewis topped his team with a career-high 18 points, while Tyrin Lawrence (six rebounds) and Ezra Manjon (six assists) had 12 apiece. Ven-Allen Lubin had 10 points and eight boards.
The Commodores lost for the first time in five games against Georgia.
In the first meeting this season between two of the conference’s bottom four teams, Georgia started out hot by scoring the first seven points, getting a 3-pointer from Thomasson and a pair of layups from Silas Demary Jr.
Thomasson proved to be a problem for the home side, sinking two more from long range and eventually finishing the half with five 3-pointers, as the Bulldogs moved ahead 19-7 at 12:29.
After Georgia extended the lead to 37-19 at 4:24 on Justin Hill’s deep ball, Vanderbilt cut the deficit to 11 on Lewis’ trio of free throws at 1:58.
However, Abdur-Rahim sent Georgia to the locker room with a 44-28 edge after draining a trey from the top of the key at the horn.
In addition to holding a plus-11 advantage in rebounds, the Bulldogs made 16 of 27 shots (59.3 percent) including 8 of 17 from long range.
Vanderbilt missed 20 of its 29 shots (31 percent) and went 6-for-15 from outside the arc.
In the second half, the Commodores trimmed the deficit to 11 on Lewis’ 3-pointer at 14:34, but Hill scored five points during a 12-0 run as Georgia opened the separation to 23 points.
–Field Level Media
