One-and-done is no fun.
The Georgia Bulldogs made it interesting up to the end, but once again they will be going home after just one NCAA Tournament game after falling to Michigan State 70-63 in the second round of the East Regional here at Time Warner Cable Arena
It’s the eighth time in 12 NCAA appearances — and third in a row — that Georgia has failed to advance out of the first round. Seeded 10th in this tournament, the Bulldogs’ season ends at 21-12, same as the last time they were here in Charlotte for their last tournament appearance in 2011.
The seventh-seeded Spartans (24-11) of the Big Ten advance to face No. 2 seeded Virginia in the second round on Sunday.
Charles Mann tried to will the Bulldogs to victory. He led them with 19 points and scored most of them in the second half. Kenny Gaines added 15 and Marcus Thornton had another double-double with
But after holding State forward Branden Dawson scoreless in the first half, he got loose for 14 points after halftime. And Spartans’ guard Travis Trice seemed to be able to score whenever they really needed it. The senior finished with 15 and Denzel Valentime made a bunch of free throws at the end to score 16.
After falling behind by 13 at halftime, Georgia whittled the margin down to two points on Charles Mann’s driving layup just 4:55 into the second half. It was Mann’s eighth consecutive point in barely four minutes.
But the Bulldogs would sit on 37 points for three minutes and went scoreless on their next four possessions. Meanwhile, Trice responded with back-to-back three-point plays to quickly get the lead back to eight points. Georgia would not draw closer until it was too late in a desperate final minute of play.
Ten of Georgia’s 12 turnovers came in the first half and the Bulldogs gave up 19 fast-break points.
The Bulldogs trailed 35-22 at halftime.
Georgia held its own for the first 10 minutes of the game, getting ahead by six in the early and keeping it a one possession game until the 8:19 mark.
But that’s when MSU’s Trice started finding some cracks in the Bulldogs’ defense. His three-point play capped off a 14-3 run that saw the Spartans go from six down to five up in a six-minute span.
Georgia continued to struggle to maintain possession of the basketball — it had 10 turnovers in the opening period and continued to fall behind. As the half drew toward a close, the Bulldogs appeared to peter out. Trice beat the defense back for a fast-break dunk at the 1:26 mark and then rose up to hit his second 3 of the game with 40 seconds remaining after another UGA miss to get the margin to 13.
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