ATHENS -- On paper, the Georgia men's basketball team should win its next two games -- at home, against teams in last place in their divisions, and against teams with triple-digit RPIs.
Saturday night's game against South Carolina (116 RPI) and next Wednesday's against LSU (205 RPI) are the type that Georgia won throughout the season -- and needs to continue to win to reach the NCAA tournament.
Georgia has lost nine games but none against a team that currently ranks worse than 33rd in the RPI. The Bulldogs are 2-9 vs. top 33 RPI teams and 16-0 against everyone else.
"We have avoided putting a bunch of black eyes on our body of work," Georgia coach Mark Fox said recently. "And that's a plus."
In fact, the absence of what the selection committee would consider a "bad loss" is the strongest plank in the Bulldogs' tournament portfolio.
With three games remaining in Georgia's regular season -- the next two at home and the March 5 finale at SEC West leader Alabama -- most projections continue to have the Bulldogs making the NCAA tournament. But those projections are premised on Georgia winning at home against South Carolina and LSU.
South Carolina could be dangerous, notwithstanding its triple-digit RPI and last-place standing in the SEC East.
The Gamecocks (14-12, 5-8 SEC) broke a five-game losing streak with a win over Ole Miss on Tuesday night and should be a fresher team Saturday night. Georgia (18-9, 7-6) will be making a quick turnaround after Thursday night's loss at Florida. Tipoff is 7 p.m. on FSN.
Georgia beat South Carolina 60-56 in Columbia two weeks ago, outscoring the Gamecocks 28-9 in the first half before being outscored 47-32 in the second. In a single game, Georgia allowed its fewest and its most points in a half this season.
The Bulldogs have led at halftime in each of their past six games but have lost three of them, including Thursday's 71-62 defeat at Florida. Fox attributes the second-half downfall mostly to lapses in rebounding and defending.
"We've got to stay mentally attached to what we're doing for a longer period of time," he told reporters on Friday.
South Carolina is Georgia's final SEC East opponent of the regular season. The Bulldogs are 3-6 against opponents within the division.
Georgia closes its home schedule on Wednesday against LSU (10-17, 2-10, and tied with Auburn for last place in the SEC West).
Based on RPI -- a computerized measure of teams' relative strength that is used by the selection committee in choosing and seeding the NCAA tournament field -- the "worst" team to beat Georgia this season is No. 33 Temple. Georgia currently ranks 39th in the RPI.
Etc.
The final 500 student tickets for Saturday night's game will go on sale at 5 p.m. at Stegeman Coliseum. Reserved seats are sold out. ... Heading into the next-to-last weekend of the regular season, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee are tied for third place in the SEC East with 7-6 records -- four games behind first-place Florida (11-2) and one game behind second-place Vanderbilt (8-5). ... South Carolina is the only East team to beat Florida, winning 72-69 in Gainesville on Jan. 15. ... Georgia has lost its past two home games, falling to Xavier on Feb. 8 and Vanderbilt on Feb. 16. ... The Bulldogs had one Thursday-Saturday turnaround last season, losing in overtime at Vanderbilt on the front end and then returning home to defeat Florida. ... Georgia is 3-3 in SEC home games this season.
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