ATHENS – An after-dinner cup of coffee might be required to catch Georgia in the SEC Tournament this week.
The Bulldogs’ postseason fate actually was sealed with its loss to Florida last Tuesday night in Athens. The only question was what team the Bulldogs would face in the first round late this Wednesday night in Nashville.
That question was answered with this past Saturday’s games. Georgia drew LSU for what’s scheduled as a 9 p.m. tip on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) could not move up or down in the seedings regardless of the outcome of its contest against South Carolina on Saturday. As it turned out, Georgia dropped its fifth game in a row when it lost to the Gamecocks 61-55 in Columbia.
The Tigers (13-18, 2-16) finished 14th – or last in the league -- with a 79-67 loss to Florida this past Saturday.
The winner of Georgia-LSU’s late-night affair will return to Bridgestone Arena the next night to take on Vanderbilt. The Commodores (18-13, 11-7) tied Missouri and Tennessee for the fourth-most conference wins, but finished sixth on a series of tiebreakers.
The Bulldogs beat LSU 65-63 on Feb. 14 in Athens. It ended up being their last victory of the regular season. Georgia dropped an 85-82 decision to the Commodores on Jan. 21, also in Athens.
In Georgia’s Mike White and LSU’s Matt McMahon, the Bulldogs’ opening game will match two of the league’s six new coaches this season. Missouri’s Dennis Gates won the battle of the newbies this season as the Tigers (23-8, 11-7) finished as the No. 4 seed. The others are Florida’s Todd Golden, Mississippi State’s Todd Golden and South Carolina’s Lamont Parris.
White emerged from Saturday’s disappointing loss to the Gamecocks undeterred in his mission to rebuild the Bulldogs.
“I will continue to do what I do and what we do as a staff: Challenge these guys; motivate them; love them,” White told reporters in Columbia on Saturday. “We have a great group of guys. We’ve done some good things this year. We have achieved a lot.”
One more win would give the Bulldogs their most victories since 2018. It also would assure them of a winning overall record.
White came to Georgia after seven seasons at Florida. He’s eager to see what the Bulldogs can do in a win-or-go-home, tournament environment.
“It’s a new chapter,” he said. “Everyone gets a clean slate. Anything can happen in conference tournaments and this is our final chapter. How will we react?”
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