Once again, Georgia never came out of the halftime locker room.

The Bulldogs led No. 21 Missouri 41-38 at halftime of Saturday's tilt in Stegeman Coliseum. But the Tigers (19-6, 8-4) then outscored Georgia (16-10, 4-9) 49-33 in the second half on their way to an 87-74 victory.

Georgia has a habit of performing poorly in the second half in SEC play. After the game, head coach Mike White said he is unsure why his team so often doesn't answer the bell after halftime.

"That's all we talk about at halftime," White said. "We've tried watching positive. We've tried watching negative. We've tried not watching. We've tried just talking. We've tried not talking. We've tried giving our guys a lot of time just on their own. We've tried giving them no time on their own, in the middle. This is a mystery. I haven't coached a team that's struggled this much early second half. I can't put my finger on it."

Georgia wasted no time in coughing up its halftime advantage.

Missouri scored on its first eight possessions of the second half. That turned a three-point deficit into a 55-49 lead.

"I think it was early second half when we couldn't collect any stops," White said. "I think there was an emotional toll. You could see it with body language. You could see the way our guys carried themselves. The connection reduced a little bit. You could see it offensively, defensively. It's a monster league. Missouri came out early second half and won the game right there."

The Tigers put the game away for good later with a 15-0 run that lasted over four minutes. Missouri built a 73-54 lead with 9:26 remaining before the Bulldogs stopped the bleeding.

Georgia never got closer than 15 points until a dunk in the final seconds made the final margin 13 points.

"It's not a good feeling, knowing that the other team played harder," forward RJ Godfrey said after the game. "Knowing they got every 50-50 ball. I think they out-reminded us. It's just, losing sucks, especially this way, knowing that you could have played harder and controlled the game through effort."

Missouri shot just under 59 percent overall in the second half. The Tigers made 16 of their first 19 shots after halftime.

"We just could not establish ourselves defensively. We just couldn't do it," White said. "Then when we forced a tough one and there's a long rebound, they beat us, dead honestly. They beat us to a lot of those 50-50 balls. Maybe a lot is kind to us. I would correct myself and say most. They're deep and they're athletic and they're tough. We needed to get more of those."

The second-half collapse came after another solid first half.

Georgia scored 41 points after shooting over 60 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Asa Newell led the opening half with 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting. The freshman finished the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

"As I told the guys in the locker room, Asa Newell, we're down double figures late, and he's playing like it's the Super Bowl," White said. "That's who he is. We need more consistent effort like that from some of our older guys. He’s a true freshman. He showed a lot of character today, as he always does."

Georgia now has a week before its next game, a road trip to face an Auburn team who will likely be No. 1 in the country. White isn't concerned about frustration boiling over - in fact, he said, more anger could be a welcome sight.

"I wish we would get a little more frustrated. Frustration boiling over? Sure, let's do it. Let's take it out on them, how we block out. Let's go get a rebound. Let's get a stop," White said. "I wish we could have played more frustrated early second half. Really, the entire second half defensively. If a tough week of practice can get some more out of some guys in terms of their intensity in our mental and physical toughness and our ability to fight through fatigue and get stops and get rebounds. If you're frustrated, that's fine. As long as you continue to be a good teammate and be connected with your teammates and continue to do what we're asking you to do, we've got to play a little more frustrated."

News and Notes

- Silas Demary Jr. played all 40 minutes of the game, the first time this season a Bulldog has done that. Demary finished with 16 points and four assists.

- Newell's performance marked the sixth double-double this year for the freshman.

- Missouri outscored Georgia 19-0 in fastbreak points.

- Georgia led 1-0 when the game actually tipped off. Missouri was assessed an administrative technical foul before the game before submitting an incorrect starting lineup.