Georgia narrowly falls to LSU in overtime, loses second straight game
Georgia’s first road test of the season came in exciting fashion, but the Bulldogs were unable to outscore LSU, coming up just short of their first conference victory.
The LSU Tigers (7-2, 2-1) edged the Georgia Bulldogs (7-2, 0-2) 94-92 in overtime on Wednesday night in Baton Rouge. Eyes were glued to the television as this game came down to the final seconds.
This game was close the entire way as halftime ended with the score tied at 42 points a piece, and regulation concluded with the teams knotted up at 80 points.
The largest lead of the game belonged to Georgia when they took advantage of a 12-2 run to go up by 10 points in the second half. LSU then answered with an 8-0 run. Other than these two spurts, this matchup was close throughout the entirety of the contest.
This contest lived up to the hype of being a high-scoring affair. Both teams came into the game near the top of the conference in scoring. LSU boasts two of the top-five scorers in the SEC in Cameron Thomas and Trendon Watford.
Thomas is the leading scorer in the conference, but he could not buy a shot in the first half. Georgia did a solid job of defending Thomas in the opening half, holding him to just four points. The second half was a different story, as the highly touted freshman came alive to finish with 26 points.
Georgia was led by senior Justin Kier who sunk six 3-pointers on his way to scoring 25 points. He hit two clutch free throws and a three at the end of overtime, but it was not enough to put Georgia on top of LSU. Sahvir Wheeler cut the lead to one point with 15.1 remaining in the game. He finished the game with 21 points and nine assists.
Kier made a steal with half of a minute to go, but he was controversially called out of bounds on the play.
“I didn’t understand why they didn’t review it,” Georgia head coach Tom Crean said. “I have respect for those guys (referees), but I never understood why they couldn’t review it.
As Crean noted, there is nothing Georgia can do about calls, good or bad, so they moved on. However, Kier missed the would-be game-tying layup with just a couple seconds to go and that was the heart-stopper for Georgia.
Toumani Camara notched another double-double, ending the game with 14 points and 10 assists. His number was not called much late in the game as Kier and Wheeler led the charge. Georgia finished with four players in double figures and two others that were close to that mark.
After opening up the season with eight games at home, Georgia traveled to Baton Rouge to take on LSU. The question that many found themselves asking was centered around how Georgia would respond to their first loss of the season last week. Georgia fell short in their first SEC battle against Mississippi State, and the trip to Louisiana warranted a matchup with a high-powered offense.
Crean was able to take some positives out of the loss.
“For our first first road game, we showed that we can compete. We showed that we can be tough. we showed that we can really get our break going and move with speed. We showed that we can move the ball, and we also showed that we have a lot of things to get better at,” Crean said.
The Bulldogs have now dropped two straight games to kickoff conference play, and that is cause for concern. The first seven games of Georgia's schedule were relatively easy wins, but there will be no more easy wins as they get deeper into the SEC slate.
Georgia has a three-day turnaround to rest after a hard-fought battle with LSU. The Bulldogs will have their hands full again and can expect another high-scoring game when they travel to Arkansas Saturday for an afternoon matchup at 3:30. Arkansas scored the most points on average in the SEC and are fresh off of a loss to Tennessee.