11/20/19 9:15pm
Hoop Dawgs Ride Hammonds’ Hot Hand to 4th Straight Victory
Cover Photo: @ugabasketball
By. Andrew Rodberg (twitter.com/AndrewRod2019) (instagram: 404thebeat)
ATHENS, GA— In what is known in the state of Georgia as, “Clean,Old-Fashioned Hate”, the Dawgs welcomed the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to Athens for their first and only head to head matchup of 2019. With a 7:00pm tip-off, the Dawgs looked to win their fourth consecutive game this season while extending their wining streak vs Georgia Tech to five straight. In doing so, the Dawgs ran into some trouble, Tech showed their zone defense which disrupted the Georgia offense. It was causing so many issues that the Dawgs had multiple turnovers before scoring for the first time nearly after 5 minutes into the game.
It seemed as though once the Dawgs saw the ball go in the hoop, Rayshaun Hammonds awoke and put the team on his back. Following a career best game vs Delaware State (26 pts, 14 rebs), Hammonds continued to ride his hot hand and began to dissect Tech’s zone defense that allowed him to score easy buckets in the paint.
With Georgia Tech building a 6 point lead at one point, that quickly disappeared as Georgia’s defense tightened up and really made Tech shoot contested shots. In doing so, the Dawgs came storming back and went into the half behind Hammonds 19 points with a 35-27 lead.
Key Contributors at Half:
Rayshaun Hammonds: 19 pts, 5 rebounds (leading team in both at half)
Donnell Gresham: 5 rebs
In the second half, Hammonds showed no signs of going cold as he added another 6 points in under 5 minutes and began to get the others involved. With that being said, Tyree Crump got hot from three, Edwards started touching the ball more, and Wheeler started racking up assists. It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes where the game really got interesting… Hammonds picked up his 4th personal foul and it caused Coach Crean to sit him on the bench. With most of the offensive production coming from Hammonds, someone new needed to step up and fill the void until he was able to come back in. It just so turned out to be freshman Anthony Edwards, who took it upon himself to help maintain the lead. Edwards heated up and scored 12 points in Hammonds absence and really took over the game in the 4 minutes that Hammonds sat. Coach Crean called Hammonds name at the 6 minute mark and allowed him to come back in. With Edwards and Hammonds leading the team in points, the Dawgs relied on their defense to hold Tech from making a late game push. The Dawgs defense was able to hold Tech as they went on to a 4-0 season record with a 82-78 victory.
MVP’s:
Rayshaun Hammonds: 26 points, 9 rebounds
Anthony Edwards: 18 points, 8 rebounds
Honorable Mentions:
Shavir Wheeler: 4 points, 5 assists
Tyree Crump: 11 points (3-7 from 3-point line)
Donnell Gresham: 13 points, 6 rebs
Next Opponent:
The Dawgs will travel to Hawaii to face the Dayton Flyers on 11/25 at 2:30pm.
Continue to support your Men’s Basketball team as they begin their 2019-2020 campaign!
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