ATHENS, Ga. -- The only thing that could stop Arkansas guard Mason Jones in the second half was what looked like leg cramps with two minutes remaining.
Jones scored 22 of his game-high-tying 26 points in the second half as the University of Arkansas mounted a major comeback against Georgia. The Bulldogs repelled the Razorback runs and held on for a 99-89 victory Saturday.
Jones made seven layups, a three-pointer and 5 of 5 free throws during a sizzling second-half display before going down with about 1:45 remaining. He stayed on the Arkansas baseline while Tyree Crump hit a three-pointer for Georgia in a 5-on-4 situation before being tended to and helped off the court. A team spokesman said Jones is believed to have leg cramps.
Jones, Isaiah Joe and Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards all scored 26 points.
Many analysts project Edwards as the potential top pick in the NBA Draft this summer.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said Edwards has NBA athleticism and strength right now.
"His combination of strength, speed and ... his pull-up jumper off the bounce, he can just rise up over people," Musselman said. "I mean, he's an incredible player with an incredibly bright future.
"Having coached in that league, meaning the next level, he's got an NBA body right now. He can dribble-drive in traffic at the NBA level, take contact, finish through contact."
Arkansas guard Desi Sills said the Razorbacks, who assigned ace defender Jimmy Whitt to Edwards most of the night, tried to string him out but could not contain him.
"I feel like we didn't do a good enough job," Sills said. "We did all we could, and he did what he had to do for his team."
Georgia Coach Tom Crean was impressed with the Joe and Jones tandem.
"Those are high-level guards," Crean said. "That's why there's probably 20 NBA teams here tonight. Those are high-level guards.
"And to me, they're different, but Jones is so good, and we didn't want to let him go right the way that he was going right, and he was beating us with his right hand, he was beating us with his left hand. He's hard to guard."
Sills scores
Arkansas guard Desi Sills' production has gone up since he became the Razorbacks' sixth man. Sills, coming off the bench for the third consecutive game, went off for a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 33 minutes against Georgia.
Sills is averaging 17 points per game in his last three as the sixth man, raising his scoring average from 9.7 point to 10.4 points in the process.
"Just confidence and just coming off the bench and seeing my spots and my teammates believing in me and throwing the ball back to me, and just trying to get me in a rhythm," Sills said. "I feel like I got in that rhythm first half and second half, but that doesn't mean anything if I don't pull out with the win."
Matchup master
Georgia Coach Tom Crean was highly complimentary of his counterpart, Eric Musselman.
"Eric does a phenomenal job of getting the matchup that he wants, and he's coached that way for a long, long time, coached that way in the NBA, coached that way in the CBA, coached that way at Nevada, and he's coaching that way at Arkansas," Crean said. "He's masterful at it, and he's got some really good guys that can get downhill and play, but we had some, too, and so they had to guard ours, too.
"A lot of high-level players on the court tonight definitely."
Slow going
Arkansas missed its first six shots and fell behind 14-0 as the Bulldogs opened with 6-of-8 shooting. Jalen Harris made a three-pointer on his first shot at the 15:53 mark to break the Hogs' drought.
Coach Eric Musselman called two timeouts in an effort to make tweaks and check Georgia's momentum during the hot opening.
The Razorbacks committed two fouls during the slow start, including one on a charging call against Mason Jones.
Exclamation
Georgia's Rayshaun Hammonds got the game's first "wow" moment. The 6-9 junior skied after a missed three-point shot from Jordan Harris, controlled it with his left hand and jammed it through for the game's first dunk to make it 9-0 at the 17:00 mark.
Stegeman stout
Georgia surpassed its school-record season attendance at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday, drawing 10,017 fans to reach a new standard of 154,064 in Year 2 of the Tom Crean regime. The previous record had been a season attendance of 144,047 last year.
"That's great," Crean said. "I can stand here and talk about that all day thanking the fans for what they're doing. I mean they're really staying behind us. We lose those games and all of a sudden, we're sold out again in unbelievable fashion for Auburn."
Get started
Coach Eric Musselman called on the same starting lineup for the second game in a row: guards Isaiah Joe, Mason Jones and Jimmy Whitt, and forwards Adrio Bailey and Ethan Henderson.
Whitt has started all 29 games, while Bailey has started 28, Jones 27, Joe 22 and Henderson 2.
DQ Bailey
Arkansas forward Adrio Bailey fouled out at the 6:11 mark for his sixth disqualification of the season, and his third in a row.
Bailey contributed 6 points on 2-of-5 shooting and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes before fouling out for the fifth time in the past seven games.
Series update
Arkansas leads the series 23-16, and still has won six of the past eight against the Bulldogs. Georgia owns a 10-6 lead in games played at Stegeman Coliseum.
Leap Day
Georgia's last home game on a leap day was so long ago that it came on the day the Bulldogs suffered their first loss ever at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia fell 69-64 to Florida on Feb. 29, 1964, the Bulldog' third game in the venue after victories over Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt.
Sports on 03/01/2020