New-look Georgia basketball opens with 58-51 win at Stegeman Coliseum

ATHENS — Gonzaga transfer Aaron Cook scored 10 points, dished out 8 assists and pulled down 6 rebounds to lead Georgia to the 58-51 season-opening win over Florida International on Tuesday night.

“Our team did a really good job of coming together defensively,” said Cook, one of 10 newcomers on the team. “Our defense started our offense, and that’s what got everything going.”

The Bulldogs’ balanced scoring featured 9 points from three other players: 6-foot-11 Illinois-Chicago transfer Braelen Bridges, Florida Southwestern JUCO transfer Kario Oquendo and former walk-on Jaxon Etter.

Georgia coach Tom Crean ran his record to 4-0 in season-openers with the Bulldogs’, now looking to build off last season’s 14-12 (7-11 SEC) campaign.

“We’re not shooting it great yet, but we are fighting and scrapping,” said Crean, whose Bulldogs hit just 20 percent from 3-point range and 35-percent from the floor. “We had three stops in a row eight times, which is a high number for us.

“We had 42 deflections, and Aaron Cook had 10 of them.”

There are five Division 1 transfers among the 10 newcomers, including two JUCO transfers and three true freshmen.