COLUMBIA, S.C. —Welcome back, Somto Cyril.
That was the sentiment the Georgia basketball team felt after the sophomore center returned with a vengeance in a 70-65 win at South Carolina on Saturday Jan. 10.
After missing the final 30-plus minutes of a loss at Florida Tuesday night after being ejected for a flagrant 2 foul, the 6-foot-11, 260-pound Cyril finished with a career-high 18 points, including 14 in the second half, to go along with 5 rebounds as the No. 20 Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1 SEC) avoided a second straight loss.
It came three days after Cyril posted on social media about getting “threats and hateful messages,” after striking a Florida player with a forearm in a 92-77 loss.
Coach Mike White said he and Cyril had a “lot of conversation” about the fallout.
“He overcame that stuff,” White said in a room near Georgia’s locker room in Colonial Life Arena. “He voiced his opinion. We support him. We love him. He was in a really good headspace this morning. Locked in and played really well.”
Cyril said White “always wants to keep me in check, make sure I’m mentally in the right place. Just want to be available for my teammates. The stuff that happened in the last SEC game was unfortunate. We’re all humans, we all make mistakes. We just have to learn from it and grow and just move on.”
Cyril was limited to just 22 minutes Saturday due to foul trouble in the first half, but made the most of the time he was on the court. He went 8-of-8 from the field.
“He played with a lot more poise, owned a mistake that he made, talked about it openly with me and the staff,” White said. “He was convicted to play with more poise and less emotion today.”
The Nigerian who played at Overtime Elite in Atlanta had all three of his dunks in the second half, including one on a feed from Kanon Catchings, and scored on a finger roll after a pass from Jordan Ross.
“I would hate to guard him, he’s strong,” said Catchings, who scored a season-high 20 points and led the team with 7 rebounds and had 4 assists. “You know what to expect from him every game. Dunks, blocks. Everything you need in a big man, he does.”
With Georgia down by a point, Cyril took an elbow to the neck from South Carolina’s Kobe Knox with 5:27 to go as Blue Cain dribbled past.
This time, the flagrant foul was called against Knox, and Cyril went to the foul line.
He sank both, the second hanging before dropping through.
That put Georgia ahead for good.
“We do pressure free throws in practice,” Cyril said. “You have to make two free throws in a row to end practice. I felt like that was a moment I had to step up and knock them down.”
The SEC’s second-leading shot blocker, who ranks seventh in the nation in swats, had 3 against a Gamecocks team that shot 41.4% for the game.
“He’s one of the most valuable players in our league, he just is,” White said. “When I say that, I know I’m telling other people that are scouting us, our opponents’ stuff, they should already know. If not, I’m just confirming it. Offensively and defensively. I say that, but boy, some of these wall-ups and some of these blocks out, he’s got to make sure he’s really clean and disciplined with all of that stuff.”
Cyril’s defensive presence came in a game where White thought Georgia started off with some “lackadaisical defensive possessions.”
White said of Cyril: “He’s growing in front of our eyes. It’s fun to watch. It’s rewarding. It’s why you get into this business.”
Cyril raised his field goal percentage from 80.3 to 82.3%.
He doesn’t have enough made field goals (65 of 79) to qualify in the national stats, but the Bulldogs saw his value again on Saturday.
“My job,” Cyril said, “is to help my team win games and do whatever I can.”
