TAMPA — There will be no repeat of the Georgia miracle this year, no repeat of that unlikely four-day run that saw the team least likely put together four straight wins to capture the the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship. This year it’s one and done for the Bulldogs, who offered little fight for Mississippi State Thursday afternoon’s first round at the St. Pete Times Forum.
A season to forget ended for Georgia by a 79-60 tune that could have been a whole lot worse. Mississippi State went on cruise control early on and played everybody in shorts and sneakers on the bench to advance to a second round encounter with South Carolina Friday. Georgia finished the year 12-20 and will begin a wholesale search for a new coach to replace Dennis Felton, replaced unceremoniously after a loss to Florida earlier in the season.
Mississippi State reached the 20-win plateau but that 20-12 record won’t be enough to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to take two more wins for the Bulldogs to avoid the NIT but with every win from here on out, Rick Stansbury will be adding to his own record as the winningest coach in Mississippi State history. Stansbury, 228-127 all-time in Starkville, surpassed Richard Williams as the top winner in MSU history by handling Georgia.
“That means I’ve had some good players, good assistant coaches and my AD hasn’t run me out of town yet,” quipped Stansbury in his post game remarks. “That’s what that means. It’s pretty simple.”.
There was a pretty simple formula for winning this one. Mississippi State let SEC Defensive Player of the Year Jarvis Varnado dictate the tempo of the entire game with his presence on the inside. Varnado scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. He only blocked three shots but he altered a half dozen others and scared Georgia shooters into looking for someone to pass to rather than jack one up in the lane.
“Jarvis got every rebound that came off the board early in the game,” said Stansbury.
It was close only for awhile. A Varnado tip-in with 9:33 remaining in the first half stretched Mississippi State’s lead to 22-17. Four minutes later it was 30-17 and Georga was pretty much out of it for the rest of the half. Georgia got as close as nine (32-23) with 3:16 left in the half but Mississippi State cosed on an 8-3 run, getting a dunk by Brian Johnson with one second left to put the finishing touches on a 40-26 opening stanza.
Georgia did get back to within six (45-39) in the first five minutes of the second half, but Mississippi State went on a 15-5 spurt to put the game on ice.
Mississippi State was led in scoring by Kodi Augustus, who scored 19 points off the bench, part of a 33-point effort by the reserves. Ravern Johnson added 12 for the Bulldogs, who shot 50.9 percent (28-55) for the game.
Georgia was led by Terrence Woodbury, who scored 14, and freshman Howard Thompkins, who added 12.