After losing at South Carolina on Wednesday, Georgia moved directly into the “now or never” scenario for any hope of a postseason appearance.
The Bulldogs (15-12, 6-9 SEC), who host LSU (16-11, 7-8) at 2 p.m. Saturday, need to run what’s left of the table just to finish at .500 in the conference and would probably need to win a game or two in the SEC tournament to merit even cursory consideration for the NCAA tournament.
And nobody is more aware of that than Georgia coach Mark Fox.
“We obviously have just three games left in the SEC season,” Fox said Friday. “Our guys know they are of critical importance. We can only worry about the next one, and I think they understand how important every game is and how home games are and certainly this next game is.”
When asked if he felt the team was feeling more pressure now that the season is running out, Fox said, “I don’t think there’s pressure. I think that obviously there’s a desire to find wins and the goal has always been the win the next game, and hopefully we’ll be able to find a way to do that.”
LSU will clearly do what it can to upset Georgia’s plans and continue its own momentum. The Tigers, coached by Will Wade in his first season after stints at Virginia Commonwealth and Tennessee-Chattanooga, defeated Vanderbilt 88-78 on Wednesday, thanks in no small part to a dynamic performance by freshman guard Tremont Waters, and are riding a modest two-game winning streak as they arrive at Stegeman Coliseum.
The 5-foot-11 Waters collected 28 points and nine assists in LSU’s win Wednesday, and he figures to give the Bulldogs – who have had inconsistent play throughout the season from their backcourt – all they can handle and more.
“He’s playing dynamite. … He’s really a great example of a scoring point guard who makes everybody else better,” Fox said of Waters, whom he called “Steph Curry-like.” “He’s had a tremendous, tremendous year and probably comes into the game playing as well as maybe any guard in the conference. He’s a huge challenge – not someone you’ll shut out, not someone you’ll completely contain in any way. You just hope to contain him a little bit because he’s impacting the game in so many ways.”
Besides Waters – who’s averaging 15.2 points and nearly six assists per game – the Tigers tout forward Duop Reath (13.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Skylar Mays (11.1 ppg, four rpg) and Aaron Epps (9.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg).
“LSU is a team that has great firepower and a tremendous backcourt player and a front line that shoots the 3, so they’re an interesting matchup for everybody, but for our guys it’s about doing the things necessary to try and win,” Fox said.
The two teams played in mid-January in Baton Rouge, and Georgia escaped with a 61-60 victory after coming back from being down by double digits at the half. Yante Maten scored the winning field goal with 5.7 seconds remaining to snap a two-game conference losing streak for Georgia.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Fox said. “In the first game, we had to play from behind, but it was a possession-by-possession game for most of the second half, and we were fortunate to have the last full possession and get a basket. Their team is playing significantly better now than they were then. They’ve improved, as most teams do throughout the year, and it will take a complete effort to win.”
Maten remains the Bulldogs’ centerpiece, averaging an SEC-leading 19.3 points per game. He ranks third in the league in rebounding at 8.6 per night, and he posted 21 points and 12 rebounds earlier this season against LSU.
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