The Good, the Bad and the Ugly From Georgia's Blowout Loss to Alabama
Georgia basketball's NCAA Tournament journey took a huge blow Saturday with a 115-82 loss to Alabama.
The Bulldogs kept the game close early and trailed 23-22 with 10:10 left in the first half. But Alabama outscored Georgia 28-16 in the last 10 minutes of the half and took a 51-38 lead into the break.
The score didn't get totally out of hand until the final 10 minutes of the game. Alabama scored on 18 of its last 24 possessions in the last 10 minutes and Georgia couldn't keep up. The Tide's 115 points are the most scored by the program against an SEC team in their history.
The Good
Points off turnovers
One of Alabama's best traits is its transition defense that had limited opponents to only 13 points off turnovers per game. Georgia had a lot of success off turnovers scoring 21 points off 18 takeaways.
Georgia's ability to capitalize off Alabama's mistakes was a big reason why the game was so close early on. For a while in the first half, the Bulldogs had the Crimson Tide on upset alert. Unfortunately, Georgia couldn't find other ways to keep the game close.
The Bad
Georgia's three-point shooting vs. Alabama's three-point shooting
The game was decided on the perimeter. Alabama drained 18 of 30 three-point shots, while Georgia only sunk two of its 19 attempts.
Georgia didn't have a bad game offensively. The Bulldogs scored 46 points in the paint, grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and scored 82 total points. Typically, those stats lead to victory, even on nights when three-pointers aren't falling.
The problem is, Georgia did not do a good job of preventing Alabama from taking open three-point shots. The Crimson Tide are the best three-point shooting team in the SEC, so preventing open shots is crucial.
The Bulldogs scored a good amount of points, but for a while, Alabama seemed to score three points for every two points Georgia scored.
The Ugly
The finish
The game was basically decided when Alabama took a 91-69 lead with 6:52 left in regulation. The Crimson Tide wasn't going to cool down on offense and the Bulldogs had several players, including Sahvir Wheeler, in foul trouble.
At that point, it was time to finish strong and build some momentum for Tuesday's matchup against Missouri. But the Bulldogs didn't finish well and were outscored 24-13 from that point.
