ATHENS – While Sahvir Wheeler may be chopping it up over at Kentucky, the Georgia Bulldogs feel like they have themselves a pretty good point guard, too.
Aaron Cook, a graduate transfer from Gonzaga, continued his good work for the Bulldogs (2-1) in a 76-60 win over South Carolina State Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum. The 6-foot-2 guard from St. Louis led the Bulldogs for the second time in three games with 22 points and added 7 assists and 3 turnovers in 36 minutes of work.
Georgia also got 17 electrifying points and four steals from sophomore guard Kario Oquendo and 15 points and 8 rebounds from senior forward Braelen Bridges. All three players are among the 10 newcomers on the Bulldogs’ roster this season.
But it was Cook, again, who looked most poised and polished and ran the team as if he’d been doing it for years. His scoring Tuesday came on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and he added three steals and three rebounds on the defensive end.
“Coach Crean instilled that confidence in me as soon as he started recruiting me,” said Cook, who played a backup role in the Zags’ run to a national championship last season. “He told me he wanted me to run this team.”
And run it he has. Heading into Friday night’s rather significant tilt against Georgia Tech at Stegeman (9 p.m., SEC Network), Cook is playing a team-high 33.3 minutes per game. He is second scoring at 14 points a game and is averaging 8.5 assists. Those numbers are comparable to what Wheeler has produced in three games (30 mpg, 11 ppg, 10 apg)
“He’s a power player. He can get in the lane, he’s getting better at finding other people,” coach Tom Crean said of Cook. “I’m playing him too many minutes; I said that about five times now that I’ve got to get him some more rest. But he’s savvy. We love Aaron. I mean, we love him, and that’s why was such an important get for us.”
Cook seems to have found his shot now after a 3-for-12 struggle in the opener against FIU and a 3-8 night in the 73-68 loss at Cincinnati last Saturday. But Crean said Cook’s best contributions might have been on defense. Cook and Oquendo each reached double figures in deflections and Cook kept the team organized on that end.
The Bulldogs jumped on South Carolina State early, leading 8-2 in the first two minutes and stretch it into a 28-13 lead on Oquendo’s steal and fast-break dunk at the 12:47 mark. Oquendo had four steals in the game and almost as many dunks.
The visiting Bulldogs got within five in the second half as Crean might have over-subbed for stretch early in the second stanza. But with Cook and the main cast in the game, Georgia seemed to steadily distance itself.
Crean went with an all-transfer starting cast of Cook, Bridges, Oquendo, Jailyn Ingram and Noah Bauman. What that lineup lacks in size it makes up for in hustle and know-how.
The Yellow Jackets (2-1) made 12 3s on the way to defeating Lamar 75-66 at McCamish Pavilion.
While Cook and many other Georgia players are going to be new to the Tech rivalry known as Clean Old Fashioned Hate, they’ve all been briefed on what to expect Friday night.
“Since I’ve been here, that’s all I’ve been hearing about,” Cook said. “When I saw that game on the schedule, everybody said, ‘hey, we have to win this game.’ I know how important it is to Georgia fans for us to get that win, so we’re going to go out and give it our all.”
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