Sophomore Forward Paul George showed no sign of injury his first game back with the Bulldogs as he scored a career-high 30 points.

George went out with an ankle injury on Jan. 21 against Utah at home.

“I just wanted to keep it calm, my teammates have been playing so well without me, I didn’t want to come in and throw it off,” George said.

The Bulldogs dominated in Thursday night’s game against No. 1 seated New Mexico, finishing 83-64. This is the first time since Feb. 10, 2007 that the Bulldogs have beat the Aggies.

George led the ‘Dogs, contributing seven rebounds, three assists and added one steal to go along with his 30 points.

George said it felt good to be back playing with his team after missing four conference games.

“It was tough early on to watch from the bench and cheer on, which was all right because I love this team and I love my teammates, but it was nice to be out there tonight,” George said.

Head Coach Steve Cleveland said that George was less than 100 percent at practice the last two days. He expected to see George play 24 to 26 minutes but George showed no sign of stopping as he played a total of 36 minutes.

While George made an impressive return, center Greg Smith went down with an injury to his shoulder just eight minutes into the second half.

Smith later returned to the court with ice on his right shoulder. He watched the rest of the game from the bench but not before scoring 16 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.

“Greg played really well tonight, “ Cleveland said. “We didn’t win this game without Greg. “

Smith is scheduled for an MRI Friday morning.

Cleveland hopes that Smith will bounce back from the injury.

“Hopefully it will be OK,” Cleveland said. “It is bruised and it is a little tender right now but you just don’t know until the docs look at it.”

Starting forward Sylvester Seay contributed 14 points, two from the three-point line, nine rebounds and three blocks.

“I have been working a lot on my threes and on my game all around,” Seay said. “I was allowed to get some good looks from the outside.”

But Cleveland was more impressed with the team play from the ‘Dogs.

“I like the number 21. This is the number of assist we had. We were very unselfish with the ball,” Cleveland said.

As a team, the ‘Dogs played aggressive on offense and dominated on defense.

“This is a team deal, and I think we played really unselfish,” Cleveland said. “It’s a good win for this group, we just have to continue to stay focused.”

With the status of Smith still unknown, Cleveland may have to shuffle the lineup as the ‘Dogs take on Idaho on Saturday.

“I hope that Smith can play,” Cleveland said. “But who knows what’s going to happen. We have to go day to day and someone is going to have to step up.”