ATHENS – As they head into SEC Tournament play, the Georgia Bulldogs might be tempted to say, “where is Rayshaun Hammonds when you need him?”
To answer the question, Hammonds is coming off the bench for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward is averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a G League reserve.
If Hammonds wasn’t doing that, he might be a senior and four-year starter with the Bulldogs. That would be particularly helpful Thursday night as the Bulldogs get ready to face the Missouri Tigers and their star forward Jeremiah Tilmon at Bridgestone Arena.
As the tournament’s No. 10 seed, Georgia (14-11, 7-11 SEC) drew the seventh-seeded Tigers (15-8, 8-8) in its opening game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (7 p.m., SEC Network). That might seem a fortuitous development since the Bulldogs already beat Missouri -- then ranked No. 20 at the time -- 80-70 on Feb. 16 in Athens.
However, the Tigers notably were playing without Tilmon. The 6-foot-10, 260-pound Tilmon averages 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game for his team. He was named second-team All-SEC earlier this week.
“It’ll have a tremendous impact,” Georgia coach Tom Crean said of Tilmon being in the lineup for Missouri this time. “He’s as difficult a matchup as there is in the entire league, bar none, because of his size, his mobility, his strength. And as sure as I’m standing here, they are going to try and establish him right away in this game with his post presence. We’ve got to be up for that challenge.”
The Georgia game was the second of two Tilmon missed because of a death in his family. Not coincidentally, Missouri lost both of those games. The Tigers have gone 2-2 since, winning road games against South Carolina and Florida.
Georgia has lost three of four since then, the lone win an impressive one, 91-78 over LSU. But the downward trend at the end of the regular season has made the SEC Tournament an all-or-nothing proposition for the Bulldogs.
There likely will be no postseason beyond this tournament if Georgia doesn’t win it all. The NIT has reduced its field to 16 at-large teams in deference to the pandemic, so the Bulldogs likely wouldn’t make the cut even if they made the SEC finals and went down in a close loss.
Meanwhile, the path is tough beyond Thursday is tough. The Georgia-Missouri winner will get No. 2 Arkansas, the SEC’s hottest team as winners of eight consecutive and 11 of its past 12 games. The Razorbacks defeated UGA 99-69 on Jan. 9 in Fayetteville.
But belief is a powerful thing, and the Bulldogs definitely have that.
“Our goal is to win the SEC Tournament,” sophomore point guard Sahvir Wheeler said. “... We can make the NCAA Tournament. I think that would be a successful run, and I know all my teammates have those same goals and aspirations.”
The Bulldogs will need a lot of things to go right for that to happen, starting with Missouri.
Tilmon’s replacement, Kobe Brown, scored a team-high 21 points against Georgia. But the Tigers’ perimeter shooters shot 23.1% (6-26) from 3-point range, and their heralded guard trio of Xavier Pinson, Mark Smith and Dru Smith combined to score only 31 points. Conversely, Georgia was incredibly proficient, shooting 49% overall, 46.7% on 3-point shots, and making 21 of 26 free throws.
“That gives us a lot of confidence, going against a team that we’ve previously beaten,” Wheeler said. “But it’s going to be a new game with them having one of their best players back with Jeremiah Tilmon.”
The problem with Tilmon is that Georgia really doesn’t have anybody to match him. Sophomore Toumani Camara (6-8, 220) is the only regular who comes close physically and is an excellent player. Sophomore Tyron McMillan (6-9, 220) can lend assistance off the bench, but he averages less than seven minutes a game and is foul-prone.
“We’re just going to have to do a great job (defending),” Crean said. “We cannot let him control the post with easy catches and with easy moves to the rim. Now, we don’t have anyone who can match up size-wise or leverage-wise when it comes to what he is with that strength and size, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do a great job with ball pressure and with making things challenging.”
Which brings us back to Hammonds. Often lost in the criticism of Crean as Georgia’s coach these past three seasons is some of the personnel developments that were out of his control. Nic Claxton, who turned pro after his sophomore season, could be a senior on this team. Anthony “Antman” Edwards could be a sophomore -- had he for some unknown reason passed on the chance to become the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick.
Crean said he thought both players did the right thing at the right time. But he didn’t say much about Hammonds’ decision. He also turned pro as a junior last year, but wasn’t drafted.
Hammonds averaged 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds as a junior for the Bulldogs. He had a couple of 30-point nights and was a decent defender. His college resume’ was almost a duplicate of Tilmon’s.
None of that will do the Bulldogs any good this week, but it’s hard not to think about.
“There is no doubt it would be different,” Crean said of having Hammonds. “Size-wise it would be different. But we don’t have that. The bottom line is, you’ve got to scheme and plan the best way that you can to overcome it. We’ve had to deal with bigs all year.”
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