Georgia Georgia/Wake Forest Wake Forest Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

"Our defense does have a tendency to grind people down," Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said following a 75-57 victory over Georgia on Saturday night. "It just kind of brings them to a halt."

The Bulldogs weren't about to argue that point.

Josh Howard scored 15 points in the first before being thrown out and the Demon Deacons (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) held yet another opponent under 40 percent shooting in the 18-point victory.

Wake Forest came into the game third in the nation at 54.1 percent shooting, but managed just 41 percent against the Bulldogs. However, the defense blocked 10 shots and had 11 steals to disrupt any offense Georgia attempted to run.

"I don't think anybody in my year-and-a-half at Georgia has blocked 10 shots on (Anthony) Evans and (Shon) Coleman," Georgia coach Jim Harrick said.

"They just had the hands and arms going," Harrick added. "They were much more aggressive, had much more energy, much more enthusiasm."

The Demon Deacons (8-0) won their 13th straight dating to last season's NIT championship run -- matching the longest streak in Odom's 12 years as coach. It is also the nation's second longest streak to Michigan State's 19.

Robert O'Kelley added 15 points for the Demon Deacons to pick up the slack for leading scorer Craig Dawson, who made just one of seven shots for six points -- 10 below his average.

Once again, Wake Forest relied on its defense, holding Georgia (6-4) to a season-low 35 percent shooting and forcing 17 turnovers. The Demon Deacons scored 26 points off the miscues by the Bulldogs, who saw their four-game winning streak halted.

"Give them the credit," Harrick said. "We beat them last year and they jumped right on us in the first half."

Georgia was the 13th straight opponent Wake Forest has held under 40 percent shooting. D.A. Layne led the Bulldogs with 10 points.

Howard made seven of eight shots in the opening 20 minutes and was on pace to set a career-high point total, which he accomplished last week against Kansas with 21.

But after being fouled hard by Adrian Jones away from the basket, the sophomore jumped up and exchanged words with two Georgia players. Howard then failed to back off when instructed by officials and was thrown out with 17:51 left.

"I wasn't surprised he threw me out," Howard said. "I learned a lesson. I won't do that again."

Wake Forest was up by 17 at that point and proceeded to go on a 9-2 run to put the game out of reach at 56-34.

"Really the guy that gave us the energy was Josh Howard," Odom said. "He gave us a lot of defensive energy and he was able to score pretty much in the lane when he wanted to. He gave us our working margin. Our team continues to respond positively to the things he does."

Georgia was trying to beat its third straight Atlantic Coast Conference team. Its previous ACC games were five-point wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina State -- teams expected to finish in the lower half of the ACC standings.

Wake Forest, however, looks like it's ready to challenge No. 1 Duke when the ACC season starts the first week of January as its depth was just too much for the Bulldogs.

"I don't think there's any question they're in the upper tier of the ACC," Harrick said. "Besides Duke I'm not sure there is any team in the conference that can beat them."

Georgia started 7-for-12 from the field against one of the nation's best defenses, but committed seven turnovers in the opening eight minutes to fall behind 25-15.

The Bulldogs did pull within seven later in the half as the Demon Deacons went more than four minutes without a basket against the Bulldogs' zone. But Howard scored on a follow shot and a twisting fastbreak layup after a Darius Songaila block to propel a 10-3 run to close the half with a 15-point lead.

"We got in a funk the last 15 minutes of the North Carolina State game and played exactly the same way," Harrick said. "We started turning the ball over, missing layups and missing foul shots. You can't do that against a real good team."

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Georgia Clubhouse

Wake Forest Clubhouse

Doherty: Wake up!