Georgia's poor shooting performance leads to blowout loss

There is no other way to put it- Georgia basketball played their worst game of the season in Columbia on Wednesday night. 

Since conference play started, Georgia has struggled mightily, but they completely collapsed against South Carolina. The South Carolina Gamecocks (4-5, 2-3) destroyed the Georgia Bulldogs (9-6, 2-6) at home, amassing an 83-59 victory.

Oftentimes, the numbers are extremely boring to read about, but they need to be discussed after the poor display that Georgia mustered out. 

The shooting was the worst part of this game for Georgia. They finished shooting 31.8% from the field and made just three of their 25 three-point attempts. Winning a game with those shooting numbers is near impossible unless the other team can’t buy a shot. 

“The bottom line is that the lack of shot-making hurt us on the defensive end,” head coach Tom Crean said. 

Several of those shots from beyond the arc were really far and contested, that theme has been present for Georgia all season. There are many possessions where they do not set up a play or try to get any motion going. Instead, errant shots are taken and a possession is lost. 

Georgia shot so poorly from deep that South Carolina backed off on defense, daring the bulldogs to continue to take three-pointers.

“At the end of the day, there is no alternative to that (three-point shooting) because they pack in the defense,” Crean said. 

The game was close for about the first 10 minutes. After that, South Carolina started going on big runs to pull away as Georgia could not figure out anything on offense. 

Again, Georgia’s interior defense struggled, allowing 44 points in that area. The Bulldogs’ lack of size and strength down low keeps catching up with them as the SEC schedule continues. Surprisingly though, South Carolina only secured three more rebounds than Georgia. 

K.D. Johnson and Andrew Garcia were the only players for Georgia that scored in double figures, notching 14 and 12 points, respectively. An extremely poor shooting night led to this game being Georgia’s lowest point total of the season, with their win over Kentucky being a close second. 

Up Next

Georgia has a home match against Ole Miss on Saturday. The Bulldogs will look to bounce back against the team that they won their first SEC game against.