ATHENS — It’s another Top 25 game for Georgia basketball, and one that appears winnable for a Bulldog team trying to stay on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
UGA will host No. 21 Missouri at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, presenting another Quad 1 opportunity at Stegeman Coliseum. It’s a similar opportunity to Georgia’s Saturday home game last weekend, a 76-75 loss to No. 22 Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs (16-9, 4-8 SEC) could be without guards Dakota Leffew and Tryin Lawrence for the second consecutive game. Leffew hurt his ankle in practice Monday, and Lawrence injured his hamstring Saturday against Mississippi State.
UGA seems to have a better shot at seeing Leffew on the court Saturday. Georgia coach Mike White said Leffew did practice Thursday, while Lawrence did not.
Starting guards Silas Demary Jr. and Blue Cain played even more minutes than usual in the first game without Lawrence and Leffew, a 69-53 loss at No. 8 Texas A&M on Tuesday. Reserve guards De’Shayne Montgomery and Savo Drezgic also filled in more time off the bench.
“We went into last game talking about the fact that throughout these long seasons, especially these young guys (say), ‘Man, I wish I had an opportunity. If I was out there, this is what I’d do,’” White said. “Well, this is your opportunity. That’s the challenge to some of these guys that are playing a few more minutes or getting any opportunity at all that may have not got an opportunity to this point.”
The Bulldogs will update both guards’ status Friday night in their SEC availability report.
Saturday seems like the best opportunity for the Bulldogs to avoid a five-game losing streak to finish February. UGA will visit No. 1 Auburn and host No. 3 Florida next week to end the month.
February losing streaks have been a problem for Georgia in recent seasons. Beating the Tigers (18-6, 7-4) would help the Bulldogs stop a potential season-killing losing streak and enter March with momentum to finish the SEC season.
White has pointed to focus as one of the reasons Georgia lost its past two games. The Bulldogs failed to get back on defense after several key scores Saturday, and struggled to project the basketball Tuesday night.
“The easy ones they got off those live ball turnovers were the biggest difference in the game,” White said. “We’ve got to be better against Missouri, or we’re going to get the same result.”
The Tigers certainly pose a challenge for the Bulldogs in the turnover category. Missouri leads the SEC with 10.0 steals per game, and forces the third-most turnovers in the conference (14.7).
Demary and Montgomery could be the only natural ball handlers on the court Saturday. The duo will need to protect the ball well and involve superstar freshman Asa Newell than the offense did Tuesday.
Newell is coming off a season-low six-point performance against the Aggies. The 6-foot-11 forward did not score until the second half after getting into foul trouble early.
Cain also could be a significant part of Georgia’s undermanned backcourt. The surging sophomore has become a more consistent offensive contributor in recent games, nearly notching a triple-double Feb. 5 and scoring 17 in the Texas A&M loss.
“Added swagger, as Silas likes to talk about, and it’s true,” White said. “Blue just carries himself a little bit differently than he did a couple months ago, and certainly differently than he did as a true freshman.”
Georgia is 10-11 all-time against Missouri. The Bulldogs beat the Tigers the last time the teams met, a 64-59 SEC Tournament win.
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