Georgia and LSU are both having better seasons than they had in 2022-23.
The Bulldogs (15-12, 5-9 SEC) can match their overall and conference win totals from last season if they defeat the Tigers (14-13, 6-8) on Tuesday night in Baton Rouge, La.
LSU already has matched its overall win total and has four more conference wins than it had in 2022-23.
But the improvement for both teams was tainted by lopsided losses in their most recent outings.
Georgia endured its worst loss of the season when it fell at home to Auburn 97-76 on Saturday. On the same day, the Tigers also suffered an ugly home loss when they dropped an 87-67 decision to Mississippi State.
“We’re a more competitive, better basketball team, obviously, better than we were early and better than we were last year,” Bulldogs coach Mike White said. “We are building and we’re better, but we want the results to show it.”
Georgia had a season-low six turnovers against Auburn but didn’t shoot well enough to keep up. The Bulldogs got outscored 35-17 down the stretch and finished 3 of 14 on 3-pointers.
Noah Thomasson scored a team-high 18 points, however he was just 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
“We rely so heavily upon the (3-pointer),” White said. “They scored 97. That’s not a good recipe for success.”
LSU was coming off back-to-back wins against ranked opponents South Carolina and Kentucky, overcoming a 16-point second-half deficit against the Gamecocks and a 15-point second-half deficit versus the Wildcats.
“You get down double digits every single game and you want to come back, but we can’t keep digging ourselves a hole,” guard Jordan Wright said. “It sounds good when you get down 15 and win, but it’s not the way we want to play.”
Tigers coach Matt McMahon said the SEC grind caught up with his team.
“This was our sixth game in a row against (a projected) NCAA Tournament team,” he said, “and we just didn’t have the energy and the toughness that we needed.”
Trae Hannibal scored 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor to pace LSU.
Georgia defeated visiting LSU 68-66 on Jan. 24.
–Field Level Media