Both Georgia and LSU have a lot of catching up to do as they begin the second half of the Southeastern Conference season against each other Saturday in Baton Rouge, La.
The Bulldogs (16-6, 4-5 SEC) have fallen to 11th in the conference after losing three straight games. The Tigers (14-8, 2-7) are in 14th place, but they got a win in their last game, beating South Carolina 92-87 in overtime on Jan. 31.
Georgia hopes to end its losing streak just as LSU ended a three-game skid when it beat the Gamecocks.
“Our guys are resilient,” Bulldogs head coach Mike White said. “We’ve got to clean up details, but this team really works. We’ll accept messages, we’ll learn from the film, we’ll have good practices.”
White is looking for his team to start better than they did in the last game. Georgia fell behind by as many as 20 points in the first half and lost to visiting Texas A&M 92-77. White called it “the worst start we’ve gotten off to in a long, long time.”
The Bulldogs shot 7 of 28 on 3-pointers, but guard Blue Cain didn’t dwell on just the outside shooting.
“We have a bunch of issues we have to address besides that,” he said.
LSU got off to a much better start than Georgia did in its last game, leading for all but 26 seconds in the first half, eventually prevailing in the extra period.
“We were ready to go from the opening jump,” head coach Matt McMahon said, adding that the Tigers “responded the right way” to “the poor performance” in an 80-66 home loss to Mississippi State three days earlier.
LSU managed without starting point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., who has been in and out of the lineup due to a lower leg injury. The week off between games could give him time to return against Georgia, though his replacement, Rashad King, played well against South Carolina, and the Tigers finished with 23 assists on 31 baskets.
“I loved our unselfishness,” McMahon said. “I thought the ball moved. That’s how we need to play moving forward.”
