COLUMBIA, S.C. – Tom Crean wasn’t in a talkative mood following Georgia’s 94-90 overtime loss to South Carolina.

There were some subjects he simply didn’t want to address.

“We deserved to win; So, did South Carolina, and they got the win. To me, you’ve got to show up, you’ve got to compete, and you’ve got to be in the fight,” Crean said. “We were, and I’m not going say much tonight, because I’m going to go in a direction that I don’t want to go. If we had won the game, it wouldn’t have been a fluke, just like it wasn’t a fluke for South Carolina; they deserved it, too. But we were right there in the hunt, we were right there in the fight, all the way, and had to overcome quite a bit tonight. We just couldn’t overcome it in the end.”

It was s frustrating night for Crean who in the post-game press conference said little after watching the tightly-officiated game that resulted in four Bulldogs (Rayshaun Hammonds, Toumani Camara, Jordan Harris, and Wheeler) ultimately fouling out.

A pair of seemingly close calls–one a push-off charged to Anthony Edwards with 24.9 seconds left and Georgia trailing by three, and another when Sahvir Wheeler was whistled for a charge while driving for the South Carolina basket in the final second—ultimately resulted in the Bulldogs coming up just short.

“Judgment call,” Crean said, when asked about the Wheeler foul.

Ditto for Edwards’ push off.

“Judgment call,” Crean said. “I’m not being facetious; judgment call.”

Crean declined further comment.

“I’m not going to talk about the officiating anymore,” he said. “I apologize. I’m not even remotely writing a check to anybody for anything that I say wrong, so I’m not doing that. No offense.”

Tied at 79 going into overtime, Georgia surged ahead 85-84 with 2:03 left on a layup by Edwards, before a pair of free throws by Gamecock Jermaine Couisnard extended the margin to three with 30 seconds left.

Edwards’ push-off resulted in a two more free throws by Couisnard to put South Carolina up 91-86, only to have Georgia close within one on a pair of free throws and a layup by Wheeler with six seconds remaining.

After a quick foul, Couisnard missed his first free throw before converting his second, giving Georgia a final chance with four seconds remaining. Wheeler got the ball in open court, but with one second left, was called for the charge, sending Keyshawn Bryant back to the line, where he converted both of his free throws to account for the final score.

“We played hard; everybody played hard,” said Edwards, who led the Bulldogs with 36 points.

Up by one in regulation with 1:15 left, Hammonds hit a big basket in the lane for a 77-74 lead, only to have the Gamecocks tie the score again on a three-pointer by A.J. Lawson.

A pair of free throws by Edwards tied the game with 7.5 seconds before a long three-point attempt fell short, sending the game into overtime.

"We came out and played a tough game," Edwards said. "We didn't let them punk us. Last game we let them punk us. Last game they basically told us we're not scoring and they are. This game we were like, we're going to score too and we're going to try to stop them, but their inside game is hard to stop because they've got two good bigs. We've got to work on how we're going to stop bigs."

It was certainly a different-looking Bulldog team from the one that struggled from the outside against the Gamecocks in Athens. In that game, Georgia trailed at the half by 18. Wednesday night, the Bulldogs went into the locker room with the lead, 42-40.

The Bulldogs led by as many as six, before an 8-0 run by the Gamecocks pushed South Carolina ahead 32-29 at the 4:11 mark.

However, Georgia would keep its poise, and moments later surged back in front on a four-point play by Hammonds, before the Gamecocks tied the score again.

But the Bulldogs would regain the lead once more, using a jumper by Hammonds and two free throws by Edwards to push ahead by two at the half.

“We deserved to win the game,” Crean said. “We didn’t win the game, and there are some nights you don’t deserve to. We did a lot of good things, there is no doubt about that. There are very few nights I'm going to walk out after a loss saying we deserved to win. But it didn’t happen. We now have to internalize what we have to get better at.”