As tough as the SEC is in basketball, when you have games at home, it’s imperative to take advantage.
When you don’t, it’s not going to bode well for the rest of the year.
That’s a lesson Georgia is learning the hard way after another lackluster second half led to South Carolina beating the Bulldogs Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum, 72-62.
“We’ve just got to do a better job of being better in the second half,” senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim said. “They made some timely plays there in the second half and made some big rebounds that hurt us."
The Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5) entered the week still harboring NCAA hopes, but after dropping both home games to Alabama and South Carolina (19-3, 7-2), it might be time to start reassessing those goals.
A brutal second half did the Bulldogs in again.
After the Gamecocks switched to a zone – something head coach Mike White said South Carolina only had done a couple of times all year -Georgia shot just 29 percent in the final 20 minutes. That included the Bulldogs converting just 1 of 10 three-point attempts after going 8 of 18 in the first.
“Obviously, by our body language, our level of confidence, our level or swagger, whatever you want to call it, we didn’t shoot it the way we needed to shoot it down the stretch,” White said. “They’ve only played it a few possessions all seasons. It was a great move by Coach (Lamont) Paris and after those first couple of possessions (in the second half) we lost some mojo for sure.”
South Carolina dominated the game in the paint.
Forty of the Gamecocks points came in the paint, compared to just 24 for the Bulldogs.
“I thought they passed it really well to one another. I thought we probably exerted ourselves too much with pressure and trapping of the post,” White said. “We were cross-matched at the end of press at times because we were zone pressing back to man. We were doing some switching (B.J.) Mack because he presents problems with his picking and popping, his ability to stretch you from three.”
Abdur-Rahim took Georgia's woes in the paint a step further.
"I think we just got to do a better job of being physical. I think when we went and played them in Columbia, we were really physical with them, and for whatever reason today we just lacked a little physicality," he said. "They punched us in the mouth, especially in the paint. That was probably their game plan, and they did a good job of executing it.”
Abdur-Rahim led the Bulldogs with 20 points but converted just 4 of 12 three-point attempts and finished with a plus-minus of 14.
Blue Cain added 11 points, followed by Noah Thomasson with 10.
After leading 40-38 at the half, the score was tied at 51 before South Carolina used an 8-0 run to surge ahead 57-51.
A scoring drought of five minutes did the Bulldogs no favors until a pair of free throws by Abdur-Rahim broke the skid.
Georgia seemed to abandon what worked so well in the second half.
After converting 8 of 18 three-pointers in the first half, the game hit the 7:24 mark in the second with the Bulldogs only attempting three.
From there, the Gamecocks outscored the Bulldogs, 20-11, to close out the game.
“A zone that’s packing the paint to that level sometimes requires you to step up and make a shot,” White said. “We were just not able to do that. We’re a really good shooting team, we showed that in the first half. But again, that was a great call by Coach Paris.”
Except for South Carolina scoring the game’s first basket, the Bulldogs led the entire opening half.
A hot start from three keyed Georgia early on, with the Bulldogs converting six of their first nine attempts.
Three straight by Cain sparked a 13-2 run before a trio of threes by three different Gamecocks brought South Carolina back from a nine-point deficit to only trail 29-28.
Georgia would answer with a 5-0 run, including Abdur-Rahim’s third three-pointer until a layup by Collin Murray-Boyles brought the Gamecocks back within 40-38.
