Georgia basketball was back in action Saturday afternoon as they hit the road to take on the fourth ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The Bulldogs were fresh off their bounce back win against South Carolina earlier this week, but in the SEC there is no time to celebrate.
Not only is Alabama one of the best teams in the conference, they are one of the best in the country, so this clearly would be no easy task for Georgia. In fact, the sportsbooks did not love Mike White and Georgia’s chances as the Tide were heavy favorites. Sometimes the odds don’t end up mattering all the much, but unfortunately they did this time.
Alabama dominates Georgia
Saturday’s game began as most expected as Alabama jumped out to an early 24-10 lead halfway through the first half. Georgia was unable to get anything going on the offensive end of the floor during the first half and unfortunately found themselves trailing Alabama 39-28 at the half.
This felt like an impossible deficit to climb out of considering how good Alabama is, but Georgia did show a little bit of life. The Bulldogs cut Alabama’s lead to seven points early in the second half, but that was as close as UGA got. Alabama slowly but surely increased their lead the rest of the game and ended up winning 90-69.
Freshman sensation Asa Newell led the way again for Georgia with 16 points and seven rebounds. RJ Godfrey was the only other Bulldog to reach double figures as he added 10 of his own points.
The fact that Georgia’s leading scorers only combined for 26 points is very concerning, but two other stats were big reasons why Georgia lost this game. UGA shot an abysmal 47.8 percent from the free throw line and 17.4 percent from the 3-point line. Compare that to Alabama’s 82.6 percent and 42.3 percent and you can see why they were able to win this game so easily.
What’s next for Georgia?
Georgia finally heads home once again for a two game stint that begins on Wednesday against LSU. The Tigers debatably are the worst team in the SEC, so a win will be expected. After that Georgia gets another home game, this time against a ranked Mississippi State team next weekend.
The opportunity to go 2-0 next week is there, and the Bulldogs would really benefit from that as they continue to work on their NCAA Tournament resume.