Athens — Georgia's David Bliss and Sundiata Gaines played their last game at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday. Dennis Felton may have coached his last one there as well.

On Senior Day, the Bulldogs blew a seven-point, second-half lead by letting Ole Miss put together a 26-6 run from the 13:09 mark until only 3:46 remained. By then Georgia trailed 67-54 on the way to a 76-63 victory for the Rebels.

All the while Felton never bothered to call a timeout — there were two stoppages for media breaks — and he made limited personal changes. In that exact time span, freshman forward Jeremy Price committed five fouls, had two turnovers, scored two points and missed a free throw while the Rebels' post players scored 19 of the 26 points.

"If you'd paid any attention since I've been coaching here, I'm not one prone to calling a lot of timeouts," Felton said. "I coach by feel, and I just didn't feel it. It wasn't a momentous thing even though it sounds like it, 26 to 6. It kind of evolved over a long span of time, and it just didn't feel like a timeout was necessary. But I'm not one to jump up and call timeouts."

The loss was the 11th in the past 13 games for the Bulldogs (13-16, 4-12 SEC) and assures them of finishing last in the SEC East. Had they won, a South Carolina loss to Tennessee on Sunday would have left them in a fifth-place tie with the Gamecocks and the No. 5 seed in next week's SEC tournament in Atlanta would have been decided by a coin flip.

Instead, Georgia will have to turn around and play Ole Miss again in the first round at the Georgia Dome. The Rebels (21-9, 7-9) locked up the No. 3 seed from the West and remains hopeful of an NCAA tournament bid. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. Thursday night.

For Felton, the loss drops his record at Georgia to 71-79 and 26-54 in SEC play. He bristled when asked by a reporter whether he thought he would be coaching for his job in the conference tournament.

"Coaches are trying to win every game," he said. "Do you actually think that I'll coach any harder or better if I'm concentrating on something like that? I won't coach any harder than I always coach."

It's clear Felton has contemplated his situation. He went on to compare the job he's done in five years at Georgia with the fortunes of the programs at Baylor, St. Johns and St. Bonaventure. According to him, those are the only major-conference schools that have had comparable rebuilding challenges complicated by NCAA probation over the same time period.

After Saturday's games, Baylor is 21-9 (9-7 Big 12), St. Johns 11-19 (5-13 Big East) and St. Bonaventure 8-22 (2-14 Atlantic 10) this season.

"We have played in a tougher league based on RPI; we have played a much, much tougher schedule based on RPI; we have won more games than all of them and won more conference games than all of them," Felton said. "That's why I think it's bizarre there would be a question about whether I'm doing a good enough job to remain as Georgia's coach. Put some perspective on it. I don't know that all of them had as tough a situation as we inherited either, and I'm almost positive they didn't have to deal with all the things that we've dealt with since we've been in this position."

The loss and the ensuing discussion spoiled an otherwise lovely Senior Day in which UGA literally rolled out the red carpet for its two graduating seniors. The Bulldogs also made a special effort to honor the late Kevin Brophy, who would have been a senior this season.

Junior Billy Humphrey carried a large framed photo of Brophy, who died in a car accident two summers ago, to center court amid a standing ovation and Bliss wore Brophy's No. 3 jersey in the game instead of his normal 44.

"I was talking to [assistant coach Pete] Hermann, and we thought it'd be a good thing to do," said Bliss, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds. "We want to take every chance we can to remember Kevin."

It was an extremely disappointing game for Gaines. The Bulldogs' leading scorer had a horrendous shooting night, going 5-for-21 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range. He finished with 13 points in 37 minutes.

"Personally I'm really disappointed in myself," Gaines said. "I'd say there were 12 or 13 shots where I just missed it. Layups, right at the rim. Nobody altered my shots. It's disappointing because those are shots I make all the time."

Gaines was asked to weigh in on his coach's situation.

"Coach Felton has been a good coach," Gaines said. "Unfortunately we happened to have a losing season. At this moment in time I think he's going to be here next year. But if other people think otherwise or the athletic association thinks it's time for him to move on, then that's up to them. All we can do is just play and let everybody else take care of that outside stuff."

Said Felton: "I remain very, very proud of the job we do, and that we've done. I remain very, very confident that my coaching staff ,and I can [continue]. At the same time recruiting has gotten better so the future continues to be bright."

If, that is, there is indeed a future.