Another game, another ugly loss for Georgia’s basketball team.
The losses keep getting worse.
Tuesday night in Columbia, the Bulldogs blew a 20-point lead with just over 13 minutes to play and fell to Missouri, 72-69.
The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 11-9 overall and a mere 1-6 in the SEC. Missouri improves to 10-10, 2-5.
Although the difference was a mere three points, this loss might have hurt most of all.
With the game tied at 69 after Toumani Camara just beat the shot clock, Missouri jumped back in front when Anthony Edwards had the ball stripped under the basket and put back in for two by Xavier Pinson.
Georgia would get another shot, but Edwards’ shot was swatted off the backboard and into the hands of Mitchell Smith, who went to the line with 8.6 seconds remaining.
Smith made one of two free throws to keep the margin at three, but Edwards nearly lost the ball just past midcourt and was forced to loft a wild shot that bounced off the front of the rim.
“I told my team, momentum is always up for grabs,” Georgia Head Coach Tom Crean said. “We did not guard the dribble as well. We had some guys who really struggled tonight and they really struggled on both ends of the floor.”
On Monday, Crean talked about cutting down on the substitutions and did just that with four of the five starters seeing a minimum of 30 minutes.
Edwards, in fact, played all 40 and scored a team-high 23 points, but struggled from the field, converting just 3 of 12 three-point attempts.
The Bulldogs did get a solid game from Tyree Crump, who added 13 points, including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
Camara added 12.
Junior Rayshaun Hammonds, however, endured one of the stranger games you’ll ever see. Hammonds played 33 minutes, but attempted just one shot, and didn’t score a single point.
“If you are struggling on one, you certainly can’t struggle on the other. We had that. We have to learn that when we play hard and play together like that, we can do a lot of really great things. Momentum is up for grabs and no one went and grabbed it back,” Crean said. “That is the level of toughness you have to have to be able to make strides and to be able to win on the road. Our offense left us a little bit. Bottom line, we did not guard them well enough at the end of the game.”
Georgia returns to action Saturday with a home game against Texas A&M.
NOTE: Freshman Sahvir Wheeler did not play Tuesday after suffering an upper-body injury in practice Monday.
