If the nation hadn’t taken notice of Georgia basketball before Wednesday night, the Bulldogs offered a reason to pay attention.

At least for the first half.

Then No. 6 Tennessee stormed ahead and prevailed with a 74-56 victory over the No. 23 Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs led Tennessee 26-25 at halftime in Knoxville, but turnovers and Zakai Zeigler sparking the Vols’ offense led to a 26-4 run out of the locker room.

Georgia (14-3, 2-2 SEC) lost in its first game as a ranked team since January 2011. That was followed by home wins against No. 7 Kentucky and No. 16 Oklahoma last week.

The Volunteers (16-1, 3-1) shot 57.6% in the second half behind guards Jordan Gainey (19 points) and Zeigler (16 points, 7 assists, 6 steals).

Freshman forward Asa Newell led Georgia with 13 points and five rebounds, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over 19 times, including six to guard Dakota Leffew.

Georgia faces its fifth straight opponent at home on Saturday when No. 1 Auburn comes to the Stegeman Coilseum.

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