Another game, another injury issue to deal with. That’s a familiar scenario for the Georgia Bulldogs, who travel to Auburn to face the Tigers in the regular-season finale Saturday.
Starting shooting guard Kenny Gaines will accompany the Bulldogs (19-10, 10-7 SEC) to that game, but whether he can play won’t be determined until sometime shortly before the 4 p.m. tipoff. He suffered a sprained ankle in practice Thursday, and his status for the game is questionable.
“He has a slight sprain,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said before the Bulldogs’ practice Friday at the Stegeman Basketball Training Facility. “Day-to-day. Nothing broken, nothing broken, none of all that. Slight sprain, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Gaines’ absence could be problematic for the Bulldogs in an extremely meaningful game against a team that beat them in Athens. The 6-foot-3 guard is Georgia’s top perimeter defender, not to mention its No. 2 scorer (11.7 ppg) and No. 2 3-point shooter (.357).
The good news is Fox didn’t characterize the injury as a serious one that could permanently alter the postseason prospects for the Bulldogs.
“Oh, no, it wasn’t that significant of a play,” Fox said. “You know, that’s one thing (injuries) we’ve had experience with. So we’ve just kept on moving.”
The unfortunate reality is Georgia had just gotten back to something resembling full strength. That was reflected in the last game as the Bulldogs led No. 1-ranked and undefeated Kentucky (30-0, 17-0) by six points with five minutes to play. Then the Wildcats ended the game on a 14-2 run on the way to a 72-64 victory.
But that’s not the game Georgia is thinking about as it gets set to visit Auburn. No, the Bulldogs’ eyes are firmly affixed on the Tigers (12-18, 4-13), who saddled them with a 69-68, RPI-sagging loss Feb. 14 in Athens.
There are a myriad of reasons for that defeat, including the impact of injuries. Georgia was still without Juwan Parker and Kenny Paul Geno, Marcus Thornton was not long back from a concussion and J.J. Frazier suffered an orbital bone fracture and concussion in the second half against the Tigers.
But more troublesome was the way the Bulldogs closed that game. Similar to the Kentucky game, Georgia led by nine points with 5:08 to play, but had a defensive collapse down the stretch. The Tigers’ scored on nine consecutive possessions to end the game.
“We are aware that we’ve had some defensive letdowns late in games,” Thornton said Friday. “And it’s not just defensively. Offensively we haven’t executed either, which is half of that problem. We’re well aware with have some things to address in late-game situations. It’s about competing and being tough enough to close the deal.”
It’s extremely important that Georgia “close the deal” Saturday. The Tigers have lost five consecutive games since their victory in Athens. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have played their way back into postseason consideration.
Georgia still projects as an NCAA tournament at-large selection. But of immediate concern is the SEC tournament, which gets under way next week in Nashville.
The Bulldogs are tied with LSU (21-9, 10-7) for fifth in the league and would get the sixth seed based on their head-to-head loss to the Tigers on Jan. 10 in Baton Rouge (87-84, 2 OT). However, there is a scenario that could land Georgia within the top four in the conference and give it one of the coveted “double-byes” into Friday’s quarterfinal round.
In addition to a win over Auburn, the Bulldogs also need Arkansas (24-6, 13-4) to beat LSU in Fayetteville on Saturday (2 p.m.) tip. Then they need either Texas A&M (20-9, 11-6) or Ole Miss (20-10, 11-6) to lose at home to Alabama (17-13, 7-10) or Vanderbilt (18-12, 8-9), respectively. Georgia holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with both teams, having beaten the Rebels twice and the Aggies in College Station.
But don’t try to engage the Bulldogs into conversations about hypothetical scenarios.
“We’re not really thinking about that,” Thornton said. “We’re just focusing on winning this game, and we know it’s going to be a challenge. Obviously, (Auburn is) a team that has beaten us before. So we have to come in with a different level of preparation and toughness in order to win.”
Said Fox: “I haven’t even looked at it. We’re just worried about how we play. The rest of it will take care of itself. Auburn beat us the first time, so we know we have to play better.”
And that goes for whether the Bulldogs are short-handed again or not.
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