NASHVILLE — Georgia exited the SEC Tournament looking forward to bigger things after falling to red-hot Oklahoma on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs are expected to get their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2015 when the 68-team bracket is announced on Sunday night.
“It’s what it’s all about,” third-year Georgia coach Mike White said. “It’s why we all came to Georgia — all of us — to build something.”
Wednesday night at the SEC Tournament, however, belonged to the Sooners. Oklahoma hit 10 3-pointers in the first half and got 29 points from projected first-round pick Jeremiah Fears to eliminate the Bulldogs with an 81-75 first-round win at Bridgestone Arena.
“Unfortunately, we break the four-game win streak that we had,” said White, whose team entered the night with the No. 31 NET ranking in the nation.
“We’re ready to get a little bit of rest and move on to the next thing, get prepared for the next day, and we feel good about the opportunity right around the corner.”
The Bulldogs’ loss, while disappointing for the rowdy Georgia fans who made the trip to the Music City to support the program, doesn’t figure to have a great effect on the team’s prospects for an NCAA tournament run.
“We’d rather take this knock now than in the NCAA Tournament,” said Bulldogs freshman Asa Newell, who scored 21 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds, “so we’ll use this as fuel for the fire and get back to it.”
Georgia was projected as a No. 9 seed in the ESPN Bracketology entering the night and doesn’t figure to drop below a No. 10 seed, perhaps barring a deep Arkansas run in the SEC tourney.
The NCAA selection show will air at 6 p.m. on Sunday on CBS, with White and his players eager to gather for a private showing.
“I think we’re just looking ahead and looking forward to seeing where we’re going to be,” said UGA captain Silas Demary Jr., who paced the Bulldogs’ scoring against Oklahoma with 24 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, “and we’ll just be to be ready to go as far as we can.”
White has no doubt about that.
“It’s my favorite group I’ve ever been around,” said White, who among his NCAA tourney appearances led the 2017 Florida Gators to the Elite Eight.
“I could call practice at midnight tonight, and we’d have a pretty good practice.”
Demary Jr. agreed, making it clear Georgia exited the SEC Tournament with its collective mindset in a good place as the program is primed to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years.
“I think this team’s camaraderie and the way we came together in the back half of this season,” Demary Jr. said.
“I think it was great just to see myself and my team grow over those couple months, and especially these last few weeks, I think we just made a big jump.”
Georgia went 5-4 the second half of the season in an SEC that’s being called by some as the greatest league in college basketball history, as it’s on the verge of getting what would be a record 12 teams in the NCAA tournament.
“We just lost to an NCAA Tournament team who has the potential to beat most teams in the country,” White said of the Sooners, who have heated up with a three-game win streak.
“And analytically, it’s our worst loss, think about that. That’s how good our league is.”
Indeed, Oklahoma, with a No. 47 NET ranking, represents yet another game of the Quad 1 variety, par for the course for a Georgia team that played arguably the most difficult schedule in school history.
“The metrics are terrific, we continued to improve throughout the entire year,” White said. “We’ve got a ton of youth and not much winning experience, and these guys learned how to obtain some of that winning experience.
“I”m ready to get back to work.”
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