Bulldogs Favored Against the Missouri Tigers to Start SEC Tournament

UGA will face Missouri at 9:30 PM EST tonight in the second game of the SEC Tournament.

Nashville, TN – The Georgia Bulldogs take on the Missouri Tigers in the second game of the first round of the SEC tournament tonight at 9:30 PM EST. The 11th-seeded Bulldogs are favored by 2.5 points in tonight’s outing over the 14th-seeded Tigers. UGA closed the regular season 16-14 overall and 6-12 in conference play. Missouri ended 8-23 and had a 0-18 SEC record.

The Bulldogs faced Missouri earlier this season in their SEC opener on January 6th. During this game, the Dawgs took a 17-point lead with 5:50 left in the first half. The Tigers, however, made it a two-point game (38-40) before going into the locker room. It remained a single-digit game for the rest of the half, but UGA was able to go on a 6-0 run that lasted just over three minutes to take a 7-point lead with just over a minute to go. Georgia ended the game with a 75-68 win. Three Bulldogs had 15 or greater points that night; graduate student center Russel Tchewa led with 18, senior guard Justin Hill grabbed 16 (a season-high at the time), and graduate student guard Noah Thomasson put up 15. Tchewa also picked up 11 rebounds of the Dawgs’ 34, and Hill led with 4 assists. Mizzou had four players reach the double-digit range when it came to scoring: senior guard Sean East II (18), junior guard Tamar Bates (15), sophomore forward Aidan Shaw (14), and senior forward Noah Carter (13).

In Georgia’s last game of the regular season, the Dawgs had their second meeting with No. 13 Auburn, this time at Auburn. Auburn knocked down a three-pointer within the first minute and never trailed for the entire of the game. Despite both teams scoring 47 in the second half, the blue and orange Tigers won commandingly 92-78. Freshman guard Silas Demary, Jr., led with 15 points for the Bulldogs, and Tchewa recorded another double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Georgia center Russel Tchewa during Georgia’s game against Ole Miss at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2024. (Cassie Baker/UGAAA)

Offensively, Thomasson leads Georgia in points throughout the entire season (12.8 ppg, and during SEC play, 13.2 ppg). Senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim is second behind Thomasson with 12.2 ppg, but Abdur-Rahim has been inactive for the past two games for the Dawgs due to an ankle injury. Four Bulldogs, Thomasson, Demary Jr., Hill, and Tchewa, saw an increase in point production after entering SEC play. Hill is also the team’s leading distributor, with an average of 3.3 assists per game. Tchewa, however, has led in assists for the Bulldogs over the past two games, with five against Ole Miss and three against Auburn. Defensively, Tchwea is a massive part of the Bulldog gameplay, grabbing 6.8 rebounds per game.

Four Tigers are averaging double-digit points this season. This offensive effort is led by East II with 17.9 ppg; East II is No. 4 in field goal percent (53.0%), No. 5 in the SEC in scoring, and No. 8 in free throw percentage (85.3%). Bates, Carter, and senior guard Nick Honor are the other three Tigers in the double-digit range with 13.5, 11.0, and 11.0 ppg, respectively. East II is also ranked No. 9 in the SEC in assists, contributing 4.0 per game. Senior guard Caleb Grill leads defensively with 5.8 rebounds per game, but in two of Mizzou’s last three games, Shaw led the team with 9 rebounds.

Georgia’s all-time record in the SEC tournament is 48-60 and has reached the semi-finals 15 times (most recently in 2016). While the Dawgs have not had the best season, they have been in 14 games that were one-possession battles in the last 5:00. If UGA gets a win tonight, their season will go at least one more game forward and be an example of the program’s resilience.

Other Georgia News:

• Bulldogs Come Up Big with 69-66 Home Win Over Ole Miss
• Bulldogs Add Sixth Game to Losing Streak After Being Up over Florida
• UGA Suffers Fourth Consecutive Loss after Falling to Mississippi State
• In a Game of Physicality, Georgia Loses their Third Straight to South Carolina

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