Alabama @ Georgia preview
Stegeman Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Mar 6, 2021 ) Alabama 89, Georgia 79
Alabama will look to extend its winning streak to three games when it visits slumping Georgia in a Southeastern Conference game on Tuesday in Athens, Ga.
The Crimson Tide (13-6, 4-3 SEC) followed a 70-67 win over then-No.13 LSU on Wednesday with an 86-76 victory over Missouri three days later.
Those two home wins last week gave the Crimson Tide some much-needed momentum after they lost three straight games by an average of four points, including a 92-86 loss at Missouri on Jan. 8.
But in the teams' rematch, the Crimson Tide ended the game on a 30-9 run to rally for the win.
Jaden Shackelford, who averages a team-high 16.9 points per game, scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds. JD Davison added 17 points, while Jahvon Quinerly, who averages 14.8 points and a team-high 4.3 assists, chipped in 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds off the bench.
"As much as I hate to say it, I feel like when our back is against the wall, that's when we're at our best," Quinerly said. "Obviously we didn't start the game out how we wanted to, but like I said, when it's winning time, that's kind of when we're at our best, so I'm not really surprised at how we ended the game. We just got to be better at starting the game."
Georgia (5-14, 0-6) is headed in the completely opposite direction. The Bulldogs are coming off an 83-66 throttling at South Carolina on Saturday. It was the Bulldogs' eighth straight loss and their ninth in their past 10 contests. They are the SEC's lone team without a league win.
The Gamecocks used a 24-0 run to turn a seven-point deficit deficit with 10:39 left into a 77-60 lead with a little less than four minutes remaining.
Braelen Bridges, who averages 12.5 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game, posted 20 points and five rebounds against South Carolina, while Noah Baumann added 14 points. Kario Oquendo, who averages a team-high 12.6 points per game, was held scoreless against the Gamecocks in 15 minutes of playing time.
"We got away from what was working," Georgia coach Tom Crean said. "We gave up some open 3s. There were a couple of turnovers, and obviously that's going to happen. When it gets tough is when you have to get tougher. We have to stay true to the fundamentals. We let our fundamentals of getting to our man quick enough, not having two on the ball in the zone, getting our hands extended, we let that cost us."
--Field Level Media