We knew bad things happen when we look furtively in the direction of Georgia basketball.
And look what happened. The Hoop Hounds struggled to find consistency, and while they showed some fight, came up short against Oklahoma in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, 81-75.
Oklahoma freshman point guard Jeremiah Fears was the sum of all fears, pouring in 29 points on the night. Fears led a devastating 16-0 run late in the second half from which the Bulldogs just couldn’t recover.
Silas Demary led Georgia with 24 points, and Asa Newell chipped in a solid 21. But it just wasn’t enough. The Bulldogs were also hurt when Demary had to leave the game with his fourth foul late, in part because Oklahoma did a solid job of working the floor and attacking to the rim, creating foul opportunities. The Sooners were 17 of 25 on free throws.
Notably Georgia got only 8 points off the bench, and the ‘Dawgs were a pedestrian 9 of 16 from the free throw line. Not getting to the charity stripe and not converting consistently when you do is usually a harbinger of bad things against a hot opponent, which the Sooners certainly are at the moment.
It was an inauspicious exit for the Red and Black, who beat the lower seeded Sooners in the regular season. Worryingly, Georgia once again surrendered a lead and failed to respond when an opponent took control late. The Red and Black will now wait to learn their NCAA Tournament fate this weekend. They likely did enough to make the field with their strong finish to the regular season.
But this loss was a reminder of just how brutal SEC basketball has become. On any given night nearly every team in the conference is capable of playing tournament-quality basketball. The ‘Dawgs now have to refocus and regroup with the biggest basketball in recent UGA history still in front of them. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!