Georgia searching for more wins in its close games

Against Florida, Texas A&M and Kentucky, Georgia led for a combined total of 91 minutes 56 seconds.

Yet the Bulldogs lost all three games.

Georgia held a lead against the Gators for 35:11 and one against the Aggies for 37:10. Texas A&M, in fact, only led for 40 seconds in its comeback win. Tuesday night’s thriller at Kentucky was a bit closer, with Georgia taking a 19:35-18:56 advantage in time holding a lead.

But the fact the Bulldogs have held those kind of leads to come away with losses is concerning for a team that’s sitting on the outside of the bubble at the moment.

"I think our team plays with great determination to win," head coach Mark Fox said. "I think it shouldn’t change no matter who your opponent is or where they’re ranked. We must eliminate a mistake or two and make one or two more plays in those games."

Georgia will look to do a better job over the final stretch of the season in closing out those kind of games its dropped this year. If Georgia records those aforementioned three wins, it’s sitting comfortably in the NCAA Tournament field at the moment.

Instead, the Bulldogs will need to change its fortune with some resume-building wins.

Up first is Saturday’s road trip to South Carolina. The Gamecocks were able to defeat Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum 67-61 a month earlier on Jan. 4.

The Gamecocks have since been on a roll as winners of eight of their past nine games. Georgia has barely missed recording RPI top-20 wins against Kentucky and Florida, with both of those games going to overtime.

The Bulldogs would love to finally record such a win Saturday, which would be a huge boost to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

"Coach says we’re really close to winning," junior forward Yante Maten said. "We just got to stop having so many turnovers here and there and execute a couple of more plays, and we’ll be in a good place. We had a couple of close games but right now we’re focusing on the next one."

It hasn’t been all bad when it comes to Georgia winning close games. It was able to close out against Vanderbilt, with the Commodores putting together a late flurry of 3-pointers, and Texas, which did come down to a final Longhorns’ shot that rimmed in and out.

In its previous games against Kentucky, Florida and South Carolina, Georgia has lost by only a combined 19 points. While South Carolina put Georgia away in the first meeting, the Bulldogs led Kentucky and Florida in the final seconds of regulation before going to overtime.

At some point, if Georgia is to prove it is NCAA Tournament worthy, it will need to be on the winning side of that particular situation.

If Saturday’s game against South Carolina is close in the final seconds, it will be as good of a chance as ever for the Bulldogs to prove they can get the job done.

"We definitely have a sense of urgency," Maten said. "But we can’t think about the past. We can learn from the past but we can’t dwell on it. We’re just trying to make sure we’re eliminating a couple of mistakes so we can get those close wins."

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Georgia searching for more wins in its close games."