ATHENS — Georgia’s basketball season certainly didn’t go the way it hoped, but there remains a chance to rewrite the script.
That opportunity awaits in the SEC tournament, which gets under way Wednesday night in Nashville, Tennessee. The Bulldogs (16-15, 6-12 SEC) will tip off as the league’s No. 11 seed against 14th-seeded Missouri (8-24, 0-18) in the second of 13 games scheduled to be played at Bridgestone Arena this week. Tipoff is scheduled for 25 minutes after the first game, or somewhere between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. barring overtime delays.
It is, as the annual refrain goes, a new season for every team involved. That’s especially true for Georgia.
“Coach (Mike White) has been preaching it’s a new season, clean slate,” said Bulldogs guard Silas Demary Jr., who was named to the SEC all-freshman team this week. “Everybody is zero-zero at this point. If we can make a run in the tournament, it might give us a chance at the NIT or something. We want to win it all, so we can get (an NCAA) tournament bid. So, we’re going in there with a clean slate and confidence.”
You won’t hear anybody in Georgia’s camp talk about anything other than the opening-round matchup against Missouri, the only winless team in SEC play this year. But the fact is, the Bulldogs have a reasonable route for making it into the weekend.
The winner of Game 2 between the Tigers and Georgia draws No. 6-seed Florida in the second round late Thursday night. The winner of that game draws No. 3 seed and double-bye recipient Alabama on Friday.
Georgia played all three teams tough this season. The Bulldogs beat Missouri 75-68 in early January in Columbia, led Alabama by 14 at halftime only to fall 85-76 on Jan. 31 in Athens, and lost two close games to Florida, including a 102-98 overtime loss in Gainesville that probably should’ve been won in regulation.
Replaying these opponents on a neutral court with nothing to lose and everything to gain, the Bulldogs have an opportunity to make some noise in the SEC tournament, something that hasn’t happened for a while.
“It’s a fresh start for us and for Missouri,” White said Tuesday. “They’re a team whose record I don’t think represents who they are. They’ve played as hard as anybody in our league. They’re well-connected, they’ve gotten better throughout the year and they’ve lost by an average of about 10 points a game. I mean, they’re very competitive.”
There is some school of thought that the Bulldogs will be feeling some pressure Wednesday night not to be the only team to lose to Missouri all season. In their second season under coach Dennis Gates, the Tigers went winless in conference play for the first time since joining the league in 2012. In fact, the last time the Tigers didn’t win a conference game was the 1907-08 season (though all victories in the 2013-14 season were taken away because of NCAA infractions).
“We’re desperate, too,” White said. “We want to play in the NCAA Tournament. “We want to finish strong. I don’t see that being a factor. I just think it’s going to come down to how well Missouri plays and how well we play.”
Georgia actually was the first team to beat them in this season of infamy. The teams met in the conference opener Jan. 6 in Columbia, Missouri, and the Bulldogs pulled away at the end of what was a 75-68 decision. Center Russel Tchewa led the way for Georgia with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Demary made a late 3-pointer to help seal the victory.
The Bulldogs would win two more in the next three games and looked to be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC. Missouri lost in overtime to South Carolina 71-69 a week later and has lost five more two-possession games in conference play, including two in the last week.
The Tigers are led by guard Sean East, one of the SEC’s leading scorers at 17.9 points per game. Guard Tamar Bates adds 13.5 points per game and the Tigers feature a 7-foot-2 senior center in Mabor Majak.
Georgia also made 12 3-pointers in the last matchup with Missouri. Long-range shooting is something the Bulldogs have struggled with of late, and it hasn’t been from a lack of trying. In the past three games, they’re 21-of-84 from beyond the arc, or 25%.
“Just keep shooting,” guard Noah Thomasson. “I know I’ve been struggling a little bit from 3. But my mindset is, if I’m open, shoot it. That’s the best shot, the right shot, you’ve got to take it and hopefully it goes in.”
Georgia actually has a decent performance history in the SEC tournament. Many of the Bulldogs’ deep runs have come during seasons after which they didn’t receive particularly high seeds.
Long forgotten by now is the fact that Georgia was seeded sixth the year it won the 1983 SEC Tournament in Birmingham and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four. The Bulldogs were seeded seventh out of 10 teams when they made the finals in 1988 in Baton Rouge, were third in the East when they made the finals in 1997 in Memphis and were sixth when they last made the semifinals in 2016 in Nashville.
Of course, Georgia was sixth in the East and considered last among the 12 SEC teams when it made that historic run to the championship in the tornado-interrupted SEC tournament at the Georgia Dome in 2008.
Barring another natural disaster, the Bulldogs will have to get it done the old fashioned this way this year. That involves playing great defense, efficient offense, making free throws and avoiding unforced errors.
Statistical metrics indicate Georgia is a much better team this year than it was last year, even though the final record doesn’t indicate as much. Starting with scoring margin in conference play, the differential this season is minus-3.7 opposed to minus-13.0 a year ago. The average differential in advanced analytics and rankings, including Torvik, BPI, KenPom, NET, KPI and SOR is plus-55.
But White and anybody who has watched the Bulldogs closely this season could tell you this team is much improved.
“We are significantly better; just ask our opponents,” White said. “We’re a better team; we’re more competitive; better point differential; more competitive. We’ve had a chances in a few games if we hold on to a few of those leads, we’re potential sitting here as a bubble team.
“That didn’t happen, but there’s still basketball ahead of us.”
