With the Georgia Bulldogs taking down the Missouri Tigers in the opening round of the SEC Tournament they will advance to take on the Florida Gators on March 14th.
Since the Gators came in 6th place in the SEC they got a first round bye and got to watch the Bulldogs and Tigers face off, awaiting the team they would end up playing. For much of the game it was looking like the Tigers, who went winless in SEC play and haven’t won a game in 2024, might come away on top. They led for much of this game, but in the final minutes the Bulldogs hit some key jumpers that gave them the lead and ultimately the 64-59 win.
This will be the third meeting of the season between the Gators and Bulldogs with Florida winning the first two games with one coming at home (102-98 in overtime) and one coming on the road (88-82). Both of these games were extremely close and arguably some of Georgia’s best performances of the season came against the Gators even though they ended in losses. These were some of the Bulldog’s best offensive outputs out the season, and ultimately a few bounces were what kept them from handing the Gators a frustrating loss.
Georgia didn’t exactly end the season on a positive note losing 10 of their last 12 games. They were favored to beat the Tigers by multiple possessions and while it was ultimately a five-point win they trailed for much of the contest. Offense has been an issue for the Bulldogs all season, and remarkably they were only able to muster 64 points in a game in which they 12-29 (41%) from three.
When they had some success offensively against the Gators it was largely due to playing through 7’0”, 275 pound Russel Tchewa who had 15 points in each of the games against Florida. In the first game he was 7-8 from the field and in the second he was 5-6, which shows just how efficiently he was able to score on the low block. Word has gone around the league that the Gators aren’t particularly muscular at the center position and different teams have started to attack the Gators on the block and Georgia is equipped to do so with Tchewa. While he was able to get some of his own offense the Gators did have success sending double teams and forcing turnovers and it’s likely they’ll employ that strategy again if the Bulldogs try to get Tchewa posting up again.
Since these two teams last played the Bulldogs have changed the complexion of their starting lineup. With only two wins since the end of January there hasn’t been a lot going right for Georgia and their coaching staff chose to blend up their rotation in the SEC Tournament hoping to catch some magic in a bottle. Two freshmen have entered the starting group–forward Dylan James, and guard Blue Cain. James hasn’t played much of a factor that season but plays with energy at 6’9”, and he certainly jumped out for both good and bad reasons. He had three nice assists handling pressure from the Tigers but he also had three chaotic assists, showing both the natural talent he has as well as his lack of experience as a freshman who hasn’t played much this season yet was asked to start an SEC Tournament game.
Blue Cain, however, played an excellent game against the Tigers finishing with a team high 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals to stuff the stat sheet. The 6’5” Cain had been used as a scorer off the bench and as one of the most offensively talented players on the roster his scoring touch was a nice addition to the starting group. He also was impactful defensively with 4 steals, something the Bulldogs desperately needed to kickstart transition opportunities for easy buckets.
With the first round bye the Gators will have a rest advantage over the Bulldogs who had to play a physical 40-minute game against Missouri. It’s worth noting that with the late tip this game ended with the final buzzer around 10:40 PM local time, so it will certainly be a late night for the Bulldogs before having to get up for another game day.
If there is an advantage for Georgia it’s that they were able to shake off any rust from the time off after SEC regular season play, and it looked like they didn’t have any issues with the new sightlines at the neutral site in Nashville as they shot 41% from three.
We saw the Gators play one of their best games of the season against Auburn when they had the week off in February, so perhaps with another multi-day break they’ll come out with that same level of energy and the same ability to execute.
From an NCAA Tournament resume standpoint it’s worth noting that as of March 13th before the game against MIssouri the Bulldogs were 101st in the NET which is a very important number. That’s because the cutoff between a quad-2 and a quad-3 game is 100, so if Georgia remains at 101st or drops after the game with Missouri it will be a quad-3 game for the Gators but if they improve at all to 100th or better it will be a quad-2 for them. It’s likely by the time you’re reading this (this is currently being written late after the Georgia-Missouri game) the NET will be updated and it’s likely the Bulldogs will have improved which is all the Gators can ask for.
The winner of Georgia and Missouri will go on to face Alabama who received a double-bye and will be fully rested.
Florida and Georgia will face off on March 14th but the tip time is a little bit loose–the previous game (Ole Miss and Texas A&M) will tip off at 7 PM ET, and the Gators and Bulldogs will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of that game. To make a semi-educated guess Florida’s game will probably tip around 9:35 ET, but you’ll have to keep out. It will be televised on SEC Network.