Injury-plagued Georgia drops NIT contest

Playing without their second- and third-leading scorers, 2017 Wooden Legacy participant Georgia dropped a 78-69 decision in the opening round of the NIT Wednesday to Belmont, which made 10 more three-point shots than the home-standing Bulldogs.

Juniors Yante Maten and Juwan Parker missed the game for the Bulldogs, who made only four of 17 shots from beyond the arc. Maten, the Southeastern Conference’s fourth-leading scorer (18.2 points per game), suffered a setback from his knee sprain following the conference tournament, while Parker suffered a partial tear to his right Achilles.

Georgia (19-15), which used 10-point scoring efforts by sophomore William Jackson II and freshman Tyree Crump, pulled to 72-64 with 3:23 remaining but didn’t get closer. A pair of guards, Jackson and Crump combined for all four successful three-point attempts for the Bulldogs.

The 2017 Wooden Legacy will be played at two sites in southern California November 23, 24, and 26. Cal State Fullerton will host the first two days of the 2017 Wooden Legacy on its campus at Titan Gym November 23 and 24. The placement games will be played November 26 at Honda Center in Anaheim.

Saint Mary’s (West Coast Conference, 28-4) and Cal State Fullerton (Big West, 17-14), two other schools in the 2017 Wooden Legacy, will also continue participating in the post-season with berths in the NCAA and CollegeInsider.com tournaments, respectively.

Saint Mary’s, which netted its first NCAA berth since 2013 where the school will be seeded seventh in the West Regional and will play Atlantic 10 runner-up VCU in the second-round Thursday in Salt Lake City.

After finishing the regular season with its most wins since 2012, the Cal State Fullerton will host Big Sky runner-up Weber State in the “Riley Wallace Classic” Thursday at Titan Gym. The game will serve as the opening round contest for the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

DePaul (Big East, 9-23), Harvard (Ivy League, 18-10), Saint Joseph’s (Atlantic 10, 11-20), San Diego State (Mountain West, 19-14) and Washington State (Pac-12 Conference, 13-18) will also compete in the 2017 Wooden Legacy.