COLUMBIA — Considering the frustrating history that sometimes is Georgia basketball, Wednesday’s outcome here at Colonial Life Arena wasn’t much of a surprise.
The Bulldogs had just knocked off a Top 25 team on the road in Mississippi State and an NCAA Tournament contender at home in Arkansas the previous two games. All the Bulldogs had to do was defeat a one-SEC-win South Carolina team to notch three consecutive conference victories for the first time since the tornado-interrupted SEC Tournament championship in 2008.
Almost predictably, Georgia came up short and found itself discussing a lot of what-ifs after losing to the Gamecocks 57-56.
“It’s tough to lose by one point on the road,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “You have to give South Carolina credit. I thought they played hungrier than we did.”
South Carolina senior Malik Cooke — who played for Fox for two years at Nevada — made the game-winner on a running layup from across the lane with 19.4 seconds left. That was an answer to a 3-pointer by Gerald Robinson on Georgia’s previous possession.
Damontre Harris blocked Robinson’s subsequent lay-up attempt — it was very close to goaltending — and Georgia quickly fouled to put Bruce Ellington at the line for a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 11.7 seconds remaining. Ellington missed the first. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope rebounded and passed to Robinson. Robinson kicked the ball out to Caldwell-Pope, who was open on the left wing. But Caldwell-Pope’s shot was too strong and bounced off the back rim.
“I thought I had made it,” said Caldwell-Pope, who had a 3-for-12 shooting night and missed six of his seven 3-point tries. “It felt good releasing from my hand, and I had a good look at the basket.”
Georgia had one last chance. Nemanja Djurisic tied up the rebound after Caldwell-Pope’s miss, and the Bulldogs had the possession arrow when the final buzzer sounded. Game officials put two-tenths of a second back on the clock for Georgia to try an inbound pass. But Connor Nolte’s pass was deflected, and the Bulldogs never touched the ball.
“You’ve just got to tip it in there,” Fox said. “With that amount of time that’s all you can do, and I think they deflected the pass.”
“I just wished we could’ve made a lot of those easy finishes around the goal,” Robinson said. “Just one of them.”
It was a struggle on offense for both teams. Robinson was the only Georgia player in double figures with 11 points, and the Bulldogs shot only 35 percent. Georgia also had 13 turnovers.
“One of the things we’ve done very well is take care of the basketball and we did not do that tonight,” Fox said.
Cooke led the Gamecocks with 13 points, and Brenton Williams added 10 off the bench. They shot just 38.8 percent.
“Big win for our team,” said South Carolina coach Darrin Horn, whose other SEC win came against Alabama at home. “It was an important game. We needed to get one.”
It was a stinging defeat for Georgia, not so much because of the opponent, but because of the missed opportunities. The Bulldogs missed several point-blank shots and mishandled the ball. They came in committing fewer turnovers than any SEC team.
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