Georgia basketball falls short in overtime against Tennessee

“If they get 18 offensive rebounds instead of 26, it still would have been too many, but it would have been a big win. At the end of the day, we’re not a great defensive rebounding team.”

But UGA has been resilient, and the Bulldogs (16-5, 4-4 SEC) had the ball with 15.7 seconds left, down three points in the overtime with a chance to tie.

White said Georgia had a play set up for Blue Cain to score on a quick 2-pointer, but when Tennessee switched on defense, the ball went back outside to Smurf Millender.

Millender, the hero in regulation, drove to the rim for the 2-point basket with 0.6 left when UGA needed a 3-pointer to tie the game against Tennessee (14-6, 4-3).

The Vols inbounded successfully to hold on to the win.

White, who said he suspects Millender might have miscalculated how much time was left, stayed in complete support of the transfer from UTSA.

“Smurf played as well as anyone on the team,” White said. “Everyone that came out of that locker room made mistakes, including myself.”

UGA guard Jordan Ross also spoke up on Millender’s miscue on the final play.

“He (Millender) was the only reason we were in the game in the first place,” Ross said, likely aware Millender scored Georgia’s final four points in regulation, and nine of the Bulldogs’ 11 in overtime.

It was a disappointing ending for a sellout crowd that produced an electric environment throughout the action, moments before cheering Millender’s heroics when he drove for the game-tying basket with 3.6 seconds left in regulation.

Kanon Catchings scored 22 points to lead the Bulldogs in scoring while Millender had 19 and Ross chipped in with 10.

Tennessee, fourth in the nation in rebound margin at +12, was led by Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s 21 points, while 6-foot-10 Nat Ament scored 19 and 6-11 J.P Estrella added 17.

Felix Okpara, another 6-11 starter for Tennessee, led the Vols with 11 rebounds.

“That’s a really hard team to prepare for because (White) is just going to get the most out of his guys,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “For the most part, we handled the pressure pretty well. They obviously did a great job of not letting us get into a flow as much as we’d like to. It goes back to Mike and his staff. We were fortunate in a lot of ways.”

The game was tied at 74-74 as the teams headed to the five-minute overtime.

Millender had driven the lane and hit a spinning layup over the outstretched arms of Okpara to force the overtime period. A Gillespie pullup shot was off the mark at the buzzer.

The Vols threatened to run away with the game midway the second half, making four straight shots in building a 66-60 lead on Bishop Boswell’s 3-pointer with 6:51 left.

But Catchings heated up, scoring his first points of the second half on a dunk and free throw with 3:44 left cutting Tennessee’s lead to 70-67.

Catchings struck again the next trip down the floor, hitting a floater that cut the margin to 70-69 and brought the crowd to their feet.

Georgia stayed close but was unable to reclaim the lead the remainder of regulation and headed to its single-season, record-tying fourth overtime game of the season..

The Bulldogs entered the night as a projected No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament, per ESPN’s bracketology.

The Vols had won seven of the past eight meetings against the Bulldogs, and the pace of the game was a telltale sign they would make it eight out of nine.

Georgia, second in the nation with 93.4 points per game, held a 34-28 halftime lead despite Tennessee’s 14-0 advantage in second-chance points through the first 20 minutes.

The Vols got off 10 more shots than the Bulldogs in the first half, but UGA was making its shots count, draining 13-of-25 from the field, including 6-of-13 shooting from 3-point range.

Catchings struck for 14 of his points in the first half, making five of his first seven shots, including four of five 3-point attempts.

Catchings’ 3-pointer at the 7:30 mark sparked an 8-2 run, which he capped with just over 6 minutes left in the half to give UGA its largest lead of the first half, at 30-23.

Tennessee, meanwhile, struggled on offense against the Georgia defense, shooting just 31.4 percent (11 of 35) from the field, including a putrid 2-of-11 clip beyond the 3-point arc.

The Bulldogs return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday against SEC leader Texas A&M (16-4, 6-1). It’s an Aggies team that will be coming off six days of rest, most recently scoring a 92-69 home win over South Carolina last Saturday.

“We just have to play hard and figure out how to win the next one,” Catchings said, “because it’s a big one.”

The Vols play host to Auburn at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday in Thompson-Boling Arena.