You'd better take advantage and finish when you have opportunities to win conference games on the road.
Unfortunately for Georgia, the Bulldogs did neither, ultimately dropping a 68-65 decision at Arkansas.
This one hurt.
Georgia (14-5, 2-4) led the game against Arkansas – searching for its first SEC win in five attempts – by as many as 15 points.
But even with the absence of star point guard Boogie Fland, the Razorbacks (12-7, 1-5) rallied back, outscoring Georgia in the second half 42-27 to eke out the win.
“I couldn't even put it into words,” said head coach Mike White said. “You take one turnover away, you take one of their offensive rebounds away, you take one of our reaching fouls where one of our bigs is up there blocking … there's probably 20, 30 things we could have done better. We block out correctly four or five more times, and you’re sitting here in the locker room and sitting here during this interview thinking about what a great win it was at Bud Walton Arena.”
Instead, the conversation focused on how the Bulldogs managed to blow a 15-point lead, resulting in their third straight defeat.
Arkansas outrebounded Georgia on the offensive glass 18-8, resulting in 33 second-chance points compared to just 16 for the Bulldogs.
“We gave up 18 offensive rebounds on the road, and that’s tough to overcome,” White said. “A lot of those led to fouls, which led to 29 made free throws by Arkansas. Credit those guys for attacking the glass. They're long, they're athletic, they played really hard, they're tough, they're physical, and our defensive attention to detail and physical and mental toughness wasn't as sharp as it needed to be to win on the road.”
The Bulldogs appeared to have the game well in hand, leading 52-41 with 12:18 left before the Razorbacks kept clawing back.
It wasn’t until the 4:40 mark that Arkansas grabbed its first lead at 59-58. However, Georgia would respond.
A drive and foul on Silas Demary Jr. resulted in a three-point lead with Georgia going back up 61-59.
The lead would change hands two more times before a pair of free throws by Asa Newell tied the game at 65 with 14 seconds remaining.
Yet that was plenty of time for Arkansas to run its offense and get the ball to Adou Thiero, who drove the lane, resulting in a foul by Newell with 1.7 seconds left.
Thiero would hit one of two free throws, but after missing the second, grabbed the rebound and followed with a quick layup to account for the final score.
Newell led the Bulldogs with 18 points, followed by RJ Godfrey with 11. However, it was for naught, as failure to finish cost Georgia a game it should have won.
So, what happened?
“Yeah, it's a great question, and it's something we'll continue to address and talk about as a staff and brainstorm and discuss with our guys. That was the whole conversation at halftime today,” White said. “It really wasn't much about scheme, offense, defense. It was about our approach, our mentality, our early second half. We didn't get out of sorts offensively, which we have in other games, which really cost us in defensive transition, but were pounded on the glass early second half. I mean they set the tone. Again, we didn't meet that challenge as well as this team is very capable of and has done most nights this season.”
Georgia returns to action on Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs travel to No. 6 Florida. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
