There have been more than a few head-scratching performances for the Georgia basketball team this year - most not in a good way.

Saturday’s 91-70 beatdown by South Carolina was another unhappy puzzler.

The Bulldogs (14-10, 7-10) actually entered their latest contest with an opportunity to get within sniffing distance of a postseason bid if they could have a strong finish to the season. Those dreams appear all but dashed, thanks to their 10th straight loss to a South Carolina team that, even with Saturday’s victory, boasts just six wins all season long.

“The energy level in the games we win, it never drops, and we always play collectively,” graduate transfer P.J. Horne said. “Tonight, they out-toughed us. They got us quiet. We have to learn how to fight through adversity better to get to the next play.”

Head coach Tom Crean took the blame.

In two games this year against the Gamecocks, Georgia has been outscored by a combined 174-129 margin, losing the first meeting in Columbia by 24 points.

Saturday’s game was no better, as the Bulldogs were down only four points with 15 minutes to play before completely falling apart. Nineteen turnovers did not help Georgia’s cause.

“It starts with me; they wanted to fight, and we didn’t,” Crean said. “I did a poor job of having our guys completely, 100 percent understanding of what this game was going to entail. We never locked into the fight.

“When nobody leads, when nobody plays well, when nobody leads their teammates, and nobody really is willing to cut, get hit, go up strong and shies away from contact—that falls back on me, it really does.”

Horne led the Bulldogs with 17 points, followed by Justin Kier with 16 and Toumani Camara with 10.

Sahvir Wheeler, who dished out seven assists to break Pertha Robinson’s single-season record of 169 assists, finished with just seven points after securing the program’s first triple-double last Tuesday against LSU. He was just 2 of 13 from the field.

Jermaine Couisnard scored 23 points to lead South Carolina, which snapped a six-game losing streak to improve to 6-12, 4-10 in the SEC.

“The ball didn’t move well enough, and we didn’t have enough cutting,” Crean said. “A lot of time, when you don’t want to go through the fight, you settle for jump shots. And that’s somewhat what we did tonight.”

Down by 12 to start the second half, back-to-back 3-pointers by Horne helped the Bulldogs get within seven points, but for every answer Georgia had, the Gamecocks had a response. Five minutes in, South Carolina still held a 10-point lead.

The Bulldogs would attempt to rally.

Back-to-back three-point plays by Andrew Garcia brought Georgia within four, only to see South Carolina bump the margin back to nine with 12:20 to go in the game.

But the Bulldogs would get no closer. In fact, it became rather ugly as the Gamecocks, reminiscent of what they did in Columbia, dominated the game the rest of the way to finish with the 21-point win.

“I don’t think we played well; we’ve got some maturing to do, me included,” Kier said. “They’re a great team, but we came out a foot behind today. That's what the result was, too.”

If anyone needed an example of why the Bulldogs have been so frustrating for some to watch, Saturday’s first half was an excellent example.

After fighting back to take a 17-15 lead on a three-point play by KD Johnson, the Bulldogs would not score again for nearly five minutes.

South Carolina, meanwhile, went on a 13-0 run, quickly pushing the lead to double digits—a lead it maintained right up until the first half buzzer. The Gamecocks went into the locker room up 41-29.

“Our spirit got zapped early on,” Crean said. “Our immaturity came out with the officiating, to be honest with you. We have to be beyond that, but we're not. Like I said, it’s my fault, because we weren't beyond getting frustrated about lack of calls or physical play.”

Boxscore

Georgia will not play again until next Saturday, March 6, when the Bulldogs entertain Alabama in the regular-season finale. The contest was set up by the SEC to give both teams an extra contest before the SEC Tournament in Nashville.