Big nights from Oquendo, Wright push Georgia past No. 18 Memphis

Georgia snapped a four-game losing streak on the hardwood on Wednesday, beating No. 18 Memphis 82-79 at Stegeman Coliseum. Led by Kario Oquendo and Christian Wright, who combined for exactly half of the Bulldogs’ scoring on the night, Georgia moves to 3-5 on the year after a tough stretch of games to start the season.

​​“We needed something good to happen for us,” Georgia head coach Tom Crean said after the win. “Brian Fish just said that, and he’s right. We needed something good because we’ve been so close … We’ve had numerous games where we were close. Too many times, our wounds have been things that we’ve done to ourselves. Tonight, that didn’t happen. We’ve got a really good group of people who are learning leadership, learning commitment, learning what it takes, and it was a great step in the right direction for us to get a win like that.”

The Bulldogs beat the Tigers without starting point guard Aaron Cook, who is second on the team in points and first in assists. Crean made mention to Cook fighting an illness for nearly a week now. However, in his absence, others in the backcourt stepped up to the challenge.

Wright made his second career start and finished with 17 points, second only to Oquendo’s 24. The true freshman out of Alpharetta, Ga. also contributed six rebounds and three assists. While he had a strong first half, it was his second-half impact that made the biggest difference, being able to finish at the rim on a few difficult layups while making important free-throws down the stretch.

“I don’t think I knew for sure until an hour before the game,” Wright said when asked about getting the start and any advice Cook gave him. “But not even today, all of the practices he would pull me to the side and tell me to be loud and lead; just giving me advice. A combination of all the practices and today he helped me and the coaches helped me out leading the team today.”

“Coach explained how they were leading the nation in forced turnovers,” he continued. “They told me just to make a simple play and not try to throw a home run pass or try to force passes that weren’t needed. I was just making the right reads, my teammates were getting fouled and I was just logging the minutes. I was tired, but I was good towards the end once I saw we were in it to win. I had to push through it. We don’t play tomorrow; I can rest tomorrow.“

Georgia led for the majority of the game, taking the lead momentarily at the 15:10 mark in the first half before regaining it less than a minute later and controlling it until under two minutes remained before the break. Oquendo made a layup to put the Bulldogs ahead while adding a couple of his signature highlight plays on the fast break. However, Memphis would go into the locker room up 34-32.

Then, in the second half, it was once again Oquendo who got the Bulldogs back in the game, making a layup, free throw and a pair of 3-pointers, the second which tied the game at 45 a piece. Memphis led for the majority of the second half but could never put the Bulldogs away, leading by no more than five.

With 1:56 to play, Georgia’s Jabri Adur-Rahim made a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up 78-77, followed by an Oquendo steal and score, allowing Crean’s team to never look back.

“I feel like we were never really rattled tonight,” Oquendo said when asked about the composure throughout the contest. “One of the first crazy games we played was Cincinnati. It was the closest game, and I feel like that was the first time we ever had to go through adversity as a team. I feel like every game we are building up every time. We just kept composure and stayed in it tonight.”

One of the standout statistics from the game that ended up being a deciding factor was turnovers. After all, the Tigers came into Wednesday’s game as one of the top teams in the country for forcing them. In the first half, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 11 times. However, in the second half, Georgia only gave the ball up twice. It took advantage of that and was able to convert the possessions they gained into points.

“These are great kids, they really are. We have a lot to learn, there’s a lot of room for growth here but I think people are seeing it,” Crean, who earned his 400th career win with the victory, said. “They’re really seeing it and if anybody was in our exhibition at Charlotte and saw tonight, you’d really see a difference from October 24 to December 1, so it’s coming but it’s special.”

Georgia Basketball returns to action next Tuesday when the Bulldogs take on Jacksonville at home. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

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