ATHENS — Georgia basketball will need a major rebound over the next few weeks to revive NCAA tournament postseason hopes.
The Bulldogs got bounced out of their home gym on Saturday, falling 72-62 to South Carolina in front of the sold-out crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia’s press and trap game didn’t work to well on defense, and South Carolina’s zone game did.
The Bulldogs were just 1-of-10 shooting the 3-pointer in the second half on Saturday, after opening 8 of 18 in the first half and taking a 40-38 lead into halftime.
Georgia fell to 14-8 overall and 4-5 in the SEC with the loss at the halfway point of the league season, 10th among SEC in the “NET” rating that the NCAA tourney selection committee utilizes.
Team captain Jabri Abdur-Rahim led the Bulldogs with 20 points, but he was just 6-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-12 from 3-point range.
Abdur-Rahim insists Georgia basketball is not deflated, and that the team will fight back.
“This is a confident group, really resilient, we’ve done job showing that in games,” said Abdur-Rahim, who was making 3-point shots at over a 40-percent clip in the midst of UGA’s 10-game win streak earlier this season.
“I know we’re going to respond the right way, we just have to get ready to go to Mississippi State.”
No doubt, for Georgia to creep back into the NCAA tournament picture it will need to win games like the one coming up at 9 p.m. on Wednesday in Starkville in the battle of SEC Bulldogs.
It won’t be easy; the Maroon Bulldogs are a projected No. 9 seed in the most recent ESPN bracketology and have home wins over Top 10 teams Auburn and Tennessee this season.
Here’s a look at Georgia’s remaining schedule, with the date, time and each team’s “NET” ranking entering the action on Saturday:
Wednesday, At Mississippi State 9 p.m. (37 Net)
Saturday, At Arkansas, 6 p.m. (120 Net)
Feb. 17, vs. Florida, 1 p.m. (36 Net)
Feb. 21, At Vanderbilt, 8:30 p.m. (235 Net)
Feb. 24, vs. Auburn, 6 p.m. (8 Net)
Feb. 27, At LSU, 7 p.m. (95)
Mar. 2, vs. Texas A&M, 6 p.m. (46 Net)
Mar. 5, vs. Ole Miss, 7 p.m. (59 Net)
Mar. 9 at Auburn, 6:30 p.m. (8 Net)
“We’re going to focus on everything,” White said. “We’re going to focus on being the best we can be. We will meet on Monday at length. This is three losses in a row and it’s something we haven’t been through yet this season. It will be heavy film and talking on Monday.
“We’re going to try to talk some things out. We’ve got to figure out what gives us the best chance to win moving forward.”