It took a career high 25 points from sophomore Trey Thompkins, and the game was in doubt until the final minute, but Georgia was able to walk away from their season opener with the first win – a 67-59 victory over New Orleans – of the Mark Fox era Friday night.

“You come to the gym everyday with one goal in mind: win. And we were able to do that. I was extremely pleased with parts of our play and disappointed with parts but for our first game with this group together, I was pleased that we had a close test for confidence” Fox said of the first win of his career at Georgia.

“I’m pleased we had a closely contested contest, and I’m very pleased that our kids played well in the last 4 minutes of the game. And we were fortunate to get the win.”

With Georgia only up 2 points 58-56 with 2:21 remaining on the clock, senior guard Ricky McPhee rose up and drilled a crucial 3-point bucket. Following a quick answer three from New Orleans to again get them within two points of Georgia, McPhee came up big again, just 40 seconds later, with another pivotal bucket – a driving layup with 1:41 left on the clock, to seal the victory for Georgia.

“Ricky’s got a lot of clutch in him, so I had a feeling it was going in, so I didn’t even crash the glass on it,” Thompkins said of McPhee’s crucial three late in the game.

It was Thompkins who carried Georgia throughout, scoring 16 of the Bulldogs 34 first-half points. Thompkins’ career night came on 7-of-11 shooting, which included 3-of-5 from behind the arch, and 8-9 from the free throw line.

“Ricky made a couple big plays late, but Trey really carried us early,” Fox said of his star sophomore. “He made a lot of winning plays tonight, and he really played mature basketball tonight.”

Added point guard Dustin Ware: “Trey played really well tonight. He really carried us.”

For Thompkins, notching the career high was great, but it was his 12 rebounds which he was really proud of and helped his team to a 41-27 rebounding advantage, which New Orleans coach Joe Pasternack cited after the game as the difference maker.

“That’s my most important thing that I’m worried about. I pride myself on rebounding the ball,” Thompkins said of his impressive rebounding numbers. “It’s an aspect of me that I’ve been working on for years, and this team needs me to do it and I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”

New Orleans guard Billy Humphrey, who played at Georgia for three seasons prior to his dismissal in July of 2008 and was booed nearly every time he touched the ball by the Georgia crowd, had 11 points in 32 minutes of action in his return to action.

In addition to Thompkins, Georgia got key production from it’s other post players with junior Jeremy Price chipping in 12 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting and junior Chris Barnes grabbing 11 rebounds in only 24 minutes of action.

Despite solid numbers from his front court, Fox was still concerned with the offensive load Thompkins was forced to bear, which he had talked about in the preseason as being one of his chief concerns for a team that he says is “not as gifted offensively as some.”

“Trey needs help scoring the ball. He certainly answered the call tonight, but we need to develop other people who can consistently score. It might be by committee, won’t necessarily be the same second person every night, this team is not as offensively gifted as some, and we’re going to have to be disciplined in how we play. But we do need that extra scoring punch if we’re going to be a good team.”

“We came in to the locker room looking kind of sad because we didn’t think we played as well [as we would have liked],” Barnes said, “but he said ‘you guys have to smile, you just got a win!’”