Georgia Basketball: How Bulldogs were able to upset No. 20 Missouri Tigers
By Matt Melton
Georgia Basketball badly needed a win, and a slumping Missouri Tigers team was coming to town. Could Missouri get back on track after losing their last two to Ole Miss and Arkansas? As you’ve guessed by now, things didn’t go as planned for Missouri, who may see themselves fall out of the AP Top 25 because of it.
The Bulldogs picked up a much-needed win as they defeated Missouri 80-70 on Tuesday night. The Tigers out-played Georgia for most of this game but failed to finish the job as Missouri dropped their third consecutive game.
Missouri was without star forward Jeremiah Tilmon for this contest, but still has one of the most experienced teams in the SEC. The Tigers got a career-high 21 points from Kobe Brown to lead all scorers, as well as 11 each from Xavier Pinson and Mark Smith. The Tigers didn’t play terribly, but they did not make their 3-point shots and did not look like the same Missouri team in the second half that we saw in the first half.
Georgia on the other hand played arguably one of their best games of the season. Aside from the first five-to-six minutes to start the second half, the Bulldogs kept it close throughout and were able to ultimately mount a huge comeback. The Bulldogs were treated to excellent performances from Justin Kier, Toumani Camara, Sahvir Wheeler, and KD Johnson, as well as getting notable contributions from a few others.
As the Tom Crean era in Athens hasn’t necessarily shown the best results, this was a win that the Bulldogs can hopefully build off of the finish off the SEC regular season, even though it may be too late to have a shot to go dancing. Let’s take a look at three reasons how the Bulldogs were able to pull off this massive come from behind upset win, and how Georgia can do it again.