ATHENS — A cold start doomed Georgia against SEC leader Texas A&M on Saturday.

The Aggies jumped out to a 22-2 lead before UGA’s offense gained any traction, making just one of its first 10 shots.

Georgia’s slow start proved costly, as the Bulldogs failed to hold the lead at any juncture in suffering their third-straight loss.

The Aggies (17-4, 7-1 SEC) stayed atop the league standings with a 92-77 victory over the Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum on a snowy day on the UGA campus.

Jeremiah Wilkinson led UGA with 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting, making just one of the 10 3-point shots he attempted.

Blue Cain and Kanon Catchings had 14 points each, Dylan James recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds and Smurf Millender had 12 points.

“They came out with way more urgency than we had,” Cain said. “I’m not sure what to credit that to, but we have to learn from it.”

Ruben Dominguez had 18 points to lead Texas A&M, which held a 46-39 rebounding lead on UGA and made 19 of 20 free-throw attempts.

The Aggies had the fresher legs, having not played a game since last Saturday while UGA was coming off an 86-85 overtime loss to Tennessee on Wednesday.

“A&M is as connected as any team we’ve played and they’ll continue to be, I’d be surprised if they didn’t have more success,” UGA coach Mike White said. “They are older, they are skilled, they are tough and they pass it well.”

Georgia (16-6, 4-5) lost consecutive home games for the first time this season with the defeat.

White pointed out UGA had two four-game losing streaks last season in the SEC and was able to bounce back and make the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years.

White is expecting more of that kind of resiliency this week, as UGA will not have a mid-week SEC game for the first time since the league schedule started.

“Our guys are resilient,” White said. “We have to clean up details, but this team really works, we’ll accept messages and learn from film.”

The Bulldogs fell behind 22-2 in the game’s opening moments before closing to 10 points at halftime and staging a second-half rally to climb back into contention for the win.

James scored on a conventional three-point play with 9:05 left to cut the Aggies lead to 69-67.

It was the first time since the opening minute UGA was within two points, but it didn’t last long.

Texas A&M’s Jacair Lane hit a 3-pointer after the Aggies pulled down one of their 14 offensive rebounds, triggering a 15-3 run that made it 84-70 with 5:14 left.

UGA failed to draw closer than nine points the remainder of the game.

Georgia was a projected as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament entering the day, according to ESPN’s “Bracketology,” and had a No. 34 NET ranking while the Aggies held a No. 39 NET ranking.

Texas A&M held a 51-41 lead at the half, riding the momentum of a 7-0 run over the final two minutes before intermission.

Georgia had cut the lead to 44-41 moments earlier when Smurf Millender hit a 3-pointer at the 2:31 mark.

The Bulldogs had been able to cut into the 20-point deficit despite Somto Cyril playing only 4:44 on account of foul trouble.

Cyril picked up his second foul at the 11:17 mark, and came out of game at 10:54 with UGA down 26-10 and didn’t go back in the remainder of the first half.

Cyril was ineffective in the second half and scored just nine points with two rebounds in the 9:19 he played.

White said the Aggies presented a tough matchup for the Bulldogs’ starting center, and with James playing well and UGA playing from behind, White stuck with what was working.

James had come off the bench early and scored eight points with six rebounds in the first half -- the Bulldogs outscoring Texas A&M by nine points in the 10:45 he played before intermission.

Georgia returns to action at 6 p.m. next Saturday at LSU, while Texas A&M plays at Alabama at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.