Georgia’s Jekyll and Hyde effort on the defensive end continued Saturday night in a 72-58 win over No. 20 Vanderbilt at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia still ranks No. 9 in the SEC in scoring defense, but Saturday night was progress. 

After playing defense for only the first half against Arkansas, Georgia put together a full 40 minutes against the Commodores, holding the second-best offense in the SEC to just 33 percent shooting on the game.

“Everybody played hard, like the whole 40 minutes,” said freshman guard Vincent Williams. “We’ve been practicing defense and that’s how you win games: defense.”

That practice paid off.

“We pride ourselves on defense, and when we don’t play defense the right way, it bothers us,” said sophomore forward Trey Thompkins. “Tonight we came out and put extra emphasis on it, that we were going to try to defend to the best of our abilities.”

In Georgia’s previous three games — all losses — the defense had allowed its opponents to average 51 percent shooting, and head coach Mark Fox frequently lamented the Georgia defense, saying it would be unable to get wins until it could get stops.

Wednesday’s loss against Arkansas epitomized that, as the Razorbacks shot 64 percent in the second half to erase a 15-point Georgia lead, beating the Bulldogs 72-68.

So when Vanderbilt took the halftime lead by three — despite Georgia being up by as much as 10 in the first half — and increased its lead to eight out of the gates, it looked as if Georgia would succumb to the lackluster defense that has plagued the squad in its 11 losses this season.

Georgia held Vanderbilt to 33 percent shooting in Saturday’s 72-58 win. Photo by Wes Blakenship

Instead, the expected roles reversed. Vanderbilt’s defense went into hibernation, and Georgia scored 49 second-half points on 67 percent second-half shooting. Georgia ran with the lead behind its highest offensive output in a half this season.

“I was much more pleased with the defense tonight. The other day’s game made me nauseous, so I’m happy I’ll be able to eat tonight,” Fox said after Saturday’s win.

Georgia played so well on the defensive end that its 21 turnovers were largely a non-issue. Even when Georgia turned the ball over, Vanderbilt was unable to capitalize because of the Georgia defense, only scoring two more points off turnovers than Georgia, despite committing 10 fewer turnovers than the Bulldogs.

But more important than the lack of turnovers or the improved defensive effort for the Bulldogs is the emotional boost that their third win over a top-20 opponent provides moving forward into the remainder of the season.

“I think all season we’ve needed a win to keep us going. No one expected anything out of this team at the beginning of the year … And the past couple of days the team has been the most beat up physically. We were only able to practice 40 minutes each day,” Fox said. “So it was great to see the team play so well tonight because we really did need a win.”