NASHVILLE—Georgia's stay in Nashville came to a quick end Wednesday night, as it lost to Oklahoma, 81-75.
"We fought. We did some good things offensively and defensively. Not enough to advance," head coach Mike White said. "Unfortunately, we broke the four-game streak that we had. We were hoping to get to five and advance. I thought we could be competitive here in this tournament, but we went out a little earlier than we'd hoped. That said, this team has accomplished a lot. And we're ready to get some rest and move on to the next thing."
Despite the loss, the "next thing" for Georgia (20-12) is expected to be the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015.
"We took a tough one tonight. You don't ever want to lose a game. You always want to win as many as you can. But I would say, just looking back, we went through a lot of adversity," sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. said."But although we lost this one, I think we're just looking ahead to see where we're going to be, and just be ready for the next chance we get."
Georgia simply couldn't get it done down the stretch as Oklahoma (19-12) used a 16-0 run to turn a six-point deficit with 8:26 to play into a 10-point lead.
The Bulldogs - who went scoreless for almost six minutes late in the second half - would only get as close as four the rest of the way.
Equally as unfortunate for Georgia, the Bulldogs were minus Demary Jr. for almost four minutes of Oklahoma's run after the sophomore was forced to sit with four fouls.
"Yeah, Silas, for us, he's an impact on both sides of the court, offensively and defensively," freshman Asa Newell said. "We just didn't key in on our details, and they took advantage of that."
White agreed.
"It certainly did help us when Silas went out. He had fouls because of Oklahoma's offense. It really brought fouls and put pressure on the rim and our entire defense," White said. "But it was a combination of things, offensively and defensively, for them to make that run when he was out. Our backcourt collectively is better than we played tonight, and it's got to be better next week."
After scoring just two points in their earlier meeting with Georgia, Jeremiah Fears led the Sooners with 26 points, followed by Jalon Moore with 14.
Demary Jr. led the Bulldogs with 24 points, with Newell scoring 21 and pulling down a career high 17 rebounds. Blue Cain added 17 points.
Fears and Demary Jr. spent the first half seeing who could outdo the other.
The Bulldogs sophomore scored 14 of his 22 points. Fears singlehandedly carried Oklahoma through a two-minute stretch, scoring 11 straight points to put the Sooners ahead 32-26 with seven minutes left in the half.
Georgia responded with a 7-0 run a few minutes later, including Demary Jr.’s third three-pointer.
But the Sooners had their perimeter game working, too.
Three straight three-pointers, two by Moore, shot Oklahoma back up by six before a jumper by Tyrin Lawrence cut the Sooners’ halftime lead to 43-39.
