Two teams struggling to avoid clashing in the basement of the Southeast Conference on Wednesday night, when Georgia faces South Carolina in Columbia, SC
Both Bulldogs (9-5, 2-5 SEC) and Gamecocks (3-5, 1-3) are having disappointing losses that left them among the last four teams in the league game alongside Texas A&M (2-5 ) and Vanderbilt (0-5).
Georgia lost its last game 92-84 to Florida, despite shooting 54.2% on the field and receiving 22 assists. The Gators opened the second half with a 16-3 streak and led for 17 with less than six minutes left before the Bulldogs reduced their deficit to one digit in the final minute.
Coach Tom Crean said his Bulldogs simply lacked the aggressiveness they displayed in wins over Ole Miss and Kentucky in the previous two games.
“The fact is that we only had four deviations in half, we were being defeated in dribbling and we just weren’t physical enough,” he said.
This took him by surprise.
“Our last two days have been really good,” said Crean. “They were short. They were concise. They were aggressive. We even backed them up in the past few days because they have been very aggressive in practice.”
Five Bulldogs were in double digits in defeat, with Andrew Garcia leading with 17 points. KD Johnson, who averaged 15.3 points per game, the team’s best average, added 16, but made only one of his six attempts behind the 3-point arc.
South Carolina had great games for their two top scorers, Keyshawn Bryant (24 points) and AJ Lawson (23), but still lost their third straight game, 109-86 to Auburn, since a two-game break earlier this month. . Lawson averages 17.4 points per game, Bryant 15.2.
COVID-19’s problems had a major impact on Gamecocks, which had eight games postponed or canceled because of the pandemic.
Coach Frank Martin had two positive tests, once in May and a second time this month, the day after the Gamecocks conference’s only win, a 78-54 run through Texas A&M on January 6.
“We haven’t been together enough and consistently enough to deal with adversity and good (enough) for me to get an idea of where we are as a team,” said Martin.
– Field-level media