The season ended Saturday for the Georgia men’s basketball team with a too-large deficit and a too-late comeback adding up to a 79-71 loss to Louisiana Tech in a second-round NIT game.
Georgia fell behind 18-2 five minutes into the game and trailed by as many as 26 points in the first half. The Bulldogs then tried to work their way back into the game in the second half, cutting Louisiana Tech’s lead to single digits with about seven minutes remaining and to four points with 19 seconds left, but the comeback proved predictably futile.
“We had a terrible start and dug such a big hole that we just couldn’t get all the way out of it,” UGA coach Mark Fox said. “We … didn’t play well enough at the start to have a chance of winning at the end.”
Georgia committed six turnovers in the game’s first five minutes as the visitors built the 18-2 lead.
The combination of Georgia turnovers (13 in the first half) and Louisiana Tech shooting (successful on seven of its first eight attempts from three-point range) enabled the visitors to build their largest lead of the game at 39-13 with 7:27 left in the opening half. Georgia trailed by 19 points at halftime.
Georgia cut the deficit to nine points with 6:52 remaining in the game, to seven with 4:27 remaining, to six with 1:10 remaining and, finally, to four on a J.J. Frazier three-pointer with 19 seconds left. Louisiana Tech ended the game with a pair of free throws and a break-away dunk.
Backup guard Frazier was Georgia’s leading scorer with 15 points. Starting guard Charles Mann had 13 points but committed seven turnovers, including five in the first half.
Guard Alex Hamilton led Louisiana Tech with 20 points, and forward Chris Anderson had 18.
Louisiana Tech advances to the NIT quarterfinals. Also known as the Bulldogs, Louisiana Tech (29-7) finished the regular season in a four-way tie for first place in Conference USA before losing its league tournament final to Tulsa.
Please see Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution or MyAJC.com for full story on the game.
