Georgia – 59, Clemson – 47. Maybe the locker room facilities aren’t state-of-the-art…maybe there aren’t enough electronic widgets for the press table…or maybe they just want to have fancy luxury boxes and suites…whatever the case may be, there are folks in Clemson who contend that the Tigers need a new basketball arena. I contend that those folks are nuts. Littlejohn Coliseum is a basketball cathedral. From the tiger paw prints painted on the streets to its convenient and centralized location on the lovely Clemson campus…and from the ticket-takers who always tell visiting fans from other schools “We’re glad you’re here” to the little orange paw prints splattered all over the seats, everything about the Clemson/Littlejohn Coliseum experience denotes College Basketball Done Right. It’s a fantastic place to watch a game.

It’s a shame, then, that only about 1,100 fans turned out at Littlejohn to watch last night’s Georgia/Clemson game…but the good news is that well over half of them were rooting for the Lady Bulldogs, including a ton of road-tripping Fastbreakers. There were many things to worry about last night for Georgia fans: The free throw shooting is still an issue. Too many chances to stretch out an 8-to-10-point lead were frittered away. It was another sub-40% shooting night for the Lady Dawgs and a clear, “go-to” scoring threat with the game on the line still has yet to emerge. But here’s something to smile about: Despite all of those issues (and more), Georgia found a way to win a tough game on the road. Any team can go out and run the other guys off the court when all its cylinders are firing…but gutting out a win on the road with less than your “A” game says something about a team’s heart and character. It’s Exhibit-A for anyone around the country wondering if Georgia’s for real or not.

Georgia’s for real.

Angel was the player of the game for the Lady Bulldogs, posting yet another double-double (12 points, 14 rebounds) and leading Georgia’s dominant effort on the boards (50 total rebounds for the team on the night). Porsha scored also scored a dozen points and Ash wound up with ten points to round out a trio of Lady Dawg double-digit scorers. J.J. (8 points) and Meredith (6 points) never really got untracked offensively…but they made up for it on defense, deflecting several passes that led to Clemson turnovers. Anne Marie once again provided instant offense from the bench as she entered the game and scored a quick seven points.

The Lady Bulldogs invade the Coastal Empire tomorrow night as they travel to historic Savannah for their final tune-up before SEC play cranks up. We’ll have a Georgia/Savannah State preview posted here sometime this evening.

Click here for the official Georgia/Clemson recap and a link to the stats and box score.