Sahvir Wheeler summarized Thursday night’s 73-70 loss to Missouri, in the second round of the SEC Tournament, as succinctly as he possibly could.
“I feel like this is a game we could have won,” he said.
The Bulldogs certainly had a chance.
After trailing by 12 points with 8:34 left, Georgia rallied and had a chance to tie the game with 19 seconds left and Toumani Camara on the free-throw line. It was not to be. Justin Kier was called for a lane violation, wiping out the first of two attempts by Camara, who missed the second free throw with Kobe Brown grabbing the rebound for Missouri.
“They ran the lane violation to the letter of the law. I just wish that every part of officiating like that was run to the letter of the law,” head coach Tom Crean said. “Was he right on the call? Yeah, he says he was, and I’m sure he is, because he (Kier) broke the plane of it. Was it a mistake? Yes. Do I blame Justin? It happens and you’ve got to move on.”
Kier would do exactly that.
The graduate transfer made up for the mistake moments later when he drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to one, but that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get.
After a quick foul and two free throws by Xavier Pinson pushed the lead back to three, the Bulldogs had one final opportunity to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left. Yet Georgia could only muster an off-balance three-point attempt by P.J. Horne as the buzzer sounded to end the game.
“There were two options. There was a corner option with Justin, and a curl with Toumani to screen P.J.’s man,” Crean said. “We felt he had the look, but I don’t think in his eyes he felt he had a clean shot, so he took the dribble to get it. But we had two options, and the loop cut across the top.”
Wheeler led the Bulldogs with 14 points and 14 assists, followed by Camara with 13 points and K.D. Johnson with 12.
Although the loss dropped the Bulldogs to 14-12, Crean was not ready to call it a season during his post-game Zoom with reporters.
The NCAA tournament is out of the picture, but during his press conference, Crean made it clear that he felt his Bulldogs deserve a spot in the 16-team field of the NIT.
“We’ve told the NCAA we'd definitely opt in to play in the NIT,” Crean said. “We’ll work very hard at that, and I hope we have that opportunity. I think we’ve earned it. So, I didn't say goodbye to my team in the locker room, and I’m certainly not going to reflect on the season just yet, because my mind is not in any one of those places.”
The Bulldogs led 33-32 at the half.
Georgia shot a mere 37.1 percent (13 of 35), but Missouri was not much better in the first half. The Tigers converted the same number of shots as the Bulldogs, albeit with two fewer attempts.
A four-minute drought did not do Georgia any favors, but all of a sudden, the Bulldogs found their range, thanks to a player we haven't seen a lot of lately.
Sophomore Christian Brown has seen only limited action in recent weeks due to a quad injury, but popped a three-pointer followed by a mid-range jumper to put Georgia up 27-25.
A layup by Wheeler and two free throws by Kier pushed the Bulldog lead to five, before the Tigers closed within one at the buzzer.
