Texas A&M and visiting Georgia will meet for the second time this season, albeit under much different circumstances when the Aggies host the Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference game on Tuesday in College Station, Texas.
Both teams had reason to be optimistic after the Aggies’ 81-79 over host Georgia on Jan. 4, when Marcus Williams hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining after the Bulldogs had taken the lead with 5.5 seconds left in the game.
But Texas A&M and Georgia both have fallen apart as the season has progressed. Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9 SEC) has lost nine of its past 10 games and Georgia (6-21, 1-13) has dropped seven straight and 15 of its past 16 games.
The Aggies are coming off a 72-67 loss at Vanderbilt in which the Commodores scored six of the final eight points to pull out the win. Texas A&M committed 20 turnovers.
“Those last two turnovers in the final two minutes of the game are obviously critical,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “We just had so many empty minutes that forced guys to do things that were a little too much at times.”
SEC Sixth Man of the Year candidate Quenton Jackson, who leads the Aggies in scoring at 13.4 points per game, had 23 points, six rebounds and seven turnovers, while Hassan Diarra added 13 points and six rebounds against Vanderbilt. Tyrece Radford, who averages 9.7 points per game, was the only starter in double figures with 12, as the Aggies’ bench outscored the starters 50-17.
Henry Coleman III, who averages 10.2 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game, failed to score and grabbed five rebounds in 27 minutes before fouling out.
Georgia continued its slide toward one of the worst seasons in school history. After trailing 42-38 at halftime against Ole Miss, the Bulldogs fell behind by as many as 20 points in the second half en route to an 85-68 loss in Athens, Ga., on Saturday.
Braelen Bridges, who averages 12.6 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game, finished with 17 points, five assists and three rebounds, while Kario Oquendo, who averages a team-high 14.4 points per game, finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists against the Rebels. Jabri Abdur-Rahim added 11 points and was the only other Bulldog who finished in double figures in scoring.
“Well, we didn’t win, so that was — it wasn’t from lack of work, attention to detail, preparation or anything like that,” Georgia coach Tom Crean said. “We just didn’t play very well today, especially defensively in the second half. And upon that, we’ve been missing some shots, missing some close shots. That hurt us, and unfortunately, we did not defend the way that we needed to defend.”
–Field Level Media