Texas A&M spoils Georgia’s Senior Night in a 70-56 Finish

Mar 3

The Georgia men’s basketball team’s senior night celebration was short-lived after Texas A&M was able to supplant the Bulldogs 70-56 during Saturday evening. Both teams entered play fighting to avoid Wednesday games in the SEC Tournament. Buzz Williams’ squad, which started SEC play 6-4, has fallen off of the Bubble and out of the NCAA Tournament field, according to Bracket experts.

By Justin Brosemer

Georgia (15-14, 5-11 SEC) was able to get out the gate quickly on offense, led by Blue Cain’s scoring burst off the bench for a game-high 11 points. Jabri Abdur-Rahim followed behind with 10 points of his own thanks to his three 3-pointers. Silas Demary Jr., who just became the only freshman in this year’s Southeastern Conference to start in all their team’s games, followed up with nine points and three rebounds. However, Georgia’s starters only accounted for 23 of the team’s 56 points and shot 32 percent from the field.

Texas A&M (16-13, 7-9 SEC) powered past the Bulldogs thanks in-part to Tyrece Radford’s dominant double-double performance at the guard spot, adding 10 boards to his 20 point showcase. Manny Obaseki (12) and Andersson Garcia (11) followed him up with double-digit outings of their own en route to the victory. Obaseki picked up his first start of the season and has now scored ten plus points in back-to-back games. The Aggies snap their five-game losing streak with a win over an in-conference opponent.

This serves as one of the more disappointing losses of the dwindling season for Georgia. Considering the offensive prowess the Red & Black showcased from behind-the-arc early in the matchup–shooting 50% from 3-point range in their first 12 attempts–the Aggies were forced to run those shooters off the line before the game got out of reach. Texas A&M fought back behind a 13-3 run and did not look back after taking the commanding lead.

The 3-point line proved to be a double-edged knife in this matchup for Georgia. After starting hot, they would finish at a meager 24.4% on a 10/41 clip, marking their season high attempts in the loss. The Bulldogs shooting 2-for-20 after half thanks to the Aggies’ suffocating defense was enough to leave Georgia without a counter.

“We have to rebound better. We have to defend better. We have to respond to adversity better when shots aren’t falling,” said Head Coach Mike White on the disappointing loss. “We are going to continue trying different lineups. I thought our freshmen were really good tonight. I thought some of our older guys really battled. We've just got to get back to work tomorrow.”

Georgia will have to lick their wounds quickly as they prepare for their final home tip-off of the season inside of Stegeman Coliseum against Ole Miss on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs will be fighting down the stretch for their first winning season since the 2020-21 Covid season.