Georgia at LSU

WHEN: Saturday, 2 p.m.

WHERE: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge

RECORDS: Georgia 15-15, 5-12; LSU 20-10, 11-6

TV/RADIO: ESPN2 (Kevin Fitzgerald, Jon Sunvold); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie); XM/Internet (380.970)

Although the focus for his Georgia basketball team remains on Saturday’s regular-season finale at LSU, Georgia head coach Tom Crean admits finishing over .500 for the year would be a huge deal for his team.

The Bulldogs have a chance. Georgia enters the 2 p.m. game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 15-15 with next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville still to go, and Georgia will have that opportunity.

“It’s big. It really would be big. You’re going after every win, but that would be big, obviously,” Crean said before practice on Friday. “I put more focus on the fact we need to go beat LSU, than what the record would be. But in the whole scheme of things, to get back on the winning track, especially with the fact that we didn’t play the other night like we have the past couple of weeks—the South Carolina loss would be good for us as we continue to build forward.” Georgia finished 11-21 in Crean’s first year, is assured the 13th-seed, playing the opening game Wednesday at the SEC Tournament, against either Missouri or Ole Miss.

Saturday’s game and next week’s SEC Tournament also figure to be the final appearances in a Bulldog uniform for freshman Anthony Edwards, projected by many to be the top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, barring a memorable run through the SEC Tournament, Georgia will conclude its season without Edwards ever playing in an NCAA Tournament game.

Disappointment? No doubt it would be one. But Crean doesn’t necessarily see it that way.

“I think I said this the other day, but if I look back, what surprises me about this year right now is our lack of shooting, with as much time as we spend on it—really being able to knock down shots,” Crean said. “But I don't look at anything as a wasted year. We got guys getting better. We just had a good stretch over two weeks when we were three out of four there, and could have easily been four out of four.”

Georgia’s losses have all featured the same common denominator: lack of defense and not enough movement offensively to create the kind of consistent shots Crean wants to see.

The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s game next to last in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 75.4 points per game.

“All year long, it's been when our defense is not where it needs to be or when our cutting and our movement is not where it needs to be offensively. We can still win if we're not making threes, but we cannot win if we're not guarding well, and if we're not moving well without that ball, because we're not big,” Crean said. “We're not nearly as aggressive and gritty in those situations as we need to be, or as we will be moving forward. But it's all part of learning what you have. I don't choose to look at it in any type of negative way; I choose to look at it as, okay, here are the inconsistencies, this is what we've got to continue to work on, this is what we're trying to build; this is where it's got to go. Then you make those decisions as you go along."

...LSU is 20-10 on the year, including an 11-6 record in SEC play. The Tigers are 14-2 at home this season, including a 7-1 mark in league play.

...No less than five Tigers are averaging double figures, including three who have started all 30 games to date. Skylar Mays leads that trio at 16.6 ppg, while Javonte Smart and Darius Days add 12.5 ppg and 11.5 ppg, respectively. Freshman Trendon Watford, who has gotten the nod for all but one outing, averages 13.6 ppg and a team-best 7.1 rpg. Emmitt Williams rounds out the quintet of double-digit scorers for the Tigers at 13.6 ppg.

Edwards leads Georgia and is the nation’s top-scoring freshman at 19.6 points per game. He has reached double figures in the scoring column in 26 of 30 games, with 13 20-point outings and three 30-point efforts.

The Atlanta native has scored 587 points this season, the second-most ever by a Bulldog freshman, and 59 shy of UGA’s freshman record of 646 by Jacky Dorsey in 1974-75.

Anthony Dasher

The Bulldogs face a tough task against an LSU team that's second in the SEC in scoring offense at 80 points per game against a Georgia defense that ranks next to next (75.4).

Georgia is fourth in scoring offense (76.1), but with the team's inconsistency on defense, it's difficult to imagine Tom Crean's squad winning a track meet on the road. Prediction: LSU 92, Georgia 84.

Dan McDonald

LSU is the better team here, and the Tigers are coming off a loss to Arkansas that doesn’t help when it comes to where LSU ends up on Selection Sunday. Will Wade’s team needs to avoid a bad loss at home here to Georgia on Senior Day, and I expect they’ll do just that behind a big day from Skylar Mays in his last home game. Prediction: LSU 75, Georgia 62