Georgia’s basketball season is not over yet.
Led by the combo of Blue Cain and Justin Hill, the Bulldogs roared back with a 12-0 run in the final 3:26 of the game to beat Missouri Wednesday night in the SEC Tournament, 64-59.
"It's a big win. Anytime you can win in the SEC Tournament with the strength of our conference, we'll take it," head coach Mike White said. "We defended at a really high level."
Georgia (17-15) will play arch-rival Florida in the second round of the tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Thursday night. The winner of that game gets Alabama in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Missouri ends its season at a woeful 8-25.
That record mattered little as the Tigers jumped out to a quick lead in the second half and were up 59-52 with just over three minutes left.
A jumper by Hill started the comeback, followed by a free throw by Russel Tchewa and a layup by RJ Melendez.
That’s when Hill drilled his third 3-pointer, with 1:42 left, to put the Bulldogs in front 60-59.
The Tigers would have several opportunities but missed their next five shots. Meanwhile, Hill and Cain each hit a pair of free throws to account for the final score.
"We've been in that position plenty of times this year and we carried it well," Hill said. "We knew it was win or go home. We were just going to play hard to the end."
Cain agreed.
"Coach White always says respond. He probably says that 100 times a day," Cain said. "It's a game of runs. When they made theirs, we just had to respond."
Cain led the Bulldogs with a season-high 19 points, including going 5-of-9 on 3-pointers. Hill finished with 17, followed by Noah Thomasson and Melendez with 10 each.
"We've been very competitive in SEC play, as has Missouri. I think both of our records are a little misleading to a certain extent, in that some of the teams, who are some of the best teams in the country, we were in a position to beat them," White said. "When adversity hit, we weren't the same team down the stretch. Fortunately, tonight we were."
Georgia led 32-31 at the half, thanks largely to Hill, who poured in 10 points, including a couple of 3-pointers.
It wasn’t always that close.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 12 points in the first seven-plus minutes of the game. But Missouri, who at one point was 1 of 9 from the field, managed to rally in the final minute, using a 7-0 run to close within one at the half.
Missouri would lead by as many as eight in the second half before the Bulldogs rallied back.
With the win, Georgia now faces a Florida team that won both regular-season meetings against the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs took the Gators to overtime in Gainesville before falling 102-98. Florida later won the subsequent meeting in Athens, in what was another close contest, 88-82.
