Georgia’s struggles against SEC teams continued Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Bulldogs entered their game against South Carolina with one conference victory this season, against Vanderbilt on Jan. 9. Against a tough Gamecocks team, the Dogs (10-11, 1-7 SEC) lost 86-80 to extend their SEC losing streak to six games.
“We were missing close-range shots, missing some layups, we were staying on the glass, we were staying aggressive,” coach Tom Crean said.
“So it wasn’t about the offense. We missed some layups, we missed some open 3’s. Today we didn’t guard the ball well enough, and we didn’t guard the shooters well enough, whether we were in man or in zone, we just did not have a hand up the way we needed to.”
Turnovers plagued the Bulldogs throughout the game. Georgia ended the game with 14, which led to 15 points for the Gamecocks (11-10, 6-2). Rayshaun Hammonds led the team in turnovers with four.
On the flip side, Hammonds’ steal and dunk with 13:49 left in the game added a sense of momentum to Georgia’s offense. His basket trimmed Georgia’s deficit to four points, at 57-53. However, South Carolina responded and went on a 12-3 run with 9:39 left in the game to build its lead back to 13, at 69-56.
Georgia closed the deficit again to four, 71-67, capitalizing on defensive rebounds to score with at 6:28 left to play. South Carolina responded once again with a 9-5 run to keep its steady lead with under four minutes to play.
The Bulldogs fought their way back to within three points, 83-80, with 1:06 to play, but a pair of free throws from South Carolina put the game out of reach for Georgia with 32 seconds left. Three missed 3-pointers by Georgia and a pair of free throws by South Carolina sealed the win for the Gamecocks.
“We brought it down, I think two or three times to single digits and we just let it slip again,” forward Derek Ogbeide said. “It’s that kind of slippage that is really what affected us, it is what lost us the game.”
Ogbeide led the Bulldogs with 16 points, followed by Tyree Crump with 14.
“I feel like we executed the plays,” Crump said. “South Carolina is just an aggressive team. We were kind of able to fall back on our shots some, but we were not going up as strong as we usually do.”
South Carolina built an early lead in the opening minutes of the game. The Gamecocks went on a 7-0 run through the first three minutes. Georgia did not score its first points of the game until the 16:20 mark after two offensive rebounds from Claxton to put the ball in.
The Bulldogs struggled to put the ball away and were 3-of-19 from the field in the first 10 minutes of the game, missing all of their 3-point shots. The struggles continued through the first half, as Georgia’s eight points through 9:36 were off second-chance opportunities. Georgia ended the game shooting 40 percent, 26-of-64, including 6-of-20 in 3-point shooting.
“We had some guys that were disappointing with their level of hand pressure and hand activity today, and as a team I’m very disappointed with our communication, because it was a winnable game,” Crean said.
