Georgia suffers first loss of season to San Diego State

Here are five observations following San Diego State's 75-68 win over Georgia.

Paint production

Georgia found itself in another game that came down to the final minutes. The previous three went Georgia's way. This time, the Bulldogs were unable to come out on the winning side.

With 2:44 left to go, San Diego State's Matt Mitchell shot a 3-pointer from the right side that hit the rim, bounced off the backboard, rolled around the rim and fell through the bottom of the net. This turned brutal for Georgia. Up four from there, San Diego State (5-1) was able to score four more points before Georgia could answer with a Yante Maten bucket.

Georgia (4-1) did see some improvements in this game, which was against a better opponent than the previous four it has faced. Averaging 18 turnovers before Friday's semifinal game in Fullerton, California's Wooden Legacy, the Bulldogs only committed 12. That's not great obviously but at least it is a step in the right direction.

In the end, the difference was how both teams performed in the paint. Georgia sure did appear to have the size advantage. But the Aztecs outscored the Bulldogs 34-18 in the interior. In the second half, San Diego State showed more of a commitment to working the ball through its big men.

Maten finished with 17 points but only made three of his 10 field goal attempts from inside the 3-point line. The Aztecs did a good job of fronting Maten in the post to take away passing lanes. It forced Georgia to attempt more outside shots than it probably would have wanted.

Not fouling late

After freshman guard Teshaun Hightower converted a layup to cut San Diego State's lead to four with 49 seconds left in the game, Georgia head coach Mark Fox went with the decision to let his team play it out.

That's a tough decision in the moment to make. By fouling, you give the Aztecs a chance at two easy points with less than a minute left to play when you're trying to come back. By playing it out, you let precious time roll off the clock and, in the best case scenario, have less than 25 seconds to score twice while still needing to foul on the next defensive possession.

With the Bulldogs declining to foul, Devin Watson was able to run some clock and put the Aztecs up six with 23 seconds left to go. If Georgia would have fouled immediately, San Diego State would have been up six (or five, or even four) with around 45 seconds to go.

Hindsight is obviously 20-20. But the way that particular possession played out, it's tough to ignore the positive of fouling in that situation and lengthening the game.

Missed opportunity to build lead

San Diego State forward Malik Pope picked up his third foul (with his second a common foul and his third a subsequent technical) at the 15:11 mark of the first half, which put the Aztecs at a major disadvantage. Following Maten's two free throws after the common foul, Georgia led 10-2. The Bulldogs would lead by as many as 12 before San Diego State began its comeback.

And it came with Pope, San Diego State's best player, on the bench.

The Aztecs used a 20-5 run to eventually take a three-point first-half lead. Georgia did lead 34-33 at the half but had every opportunity to put some distance between it and San Diego State. That has been a problem in the early part of the season.

In wins over South Carolina-Upstate and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Georgia jumped out to double-digit leads only to see those opponents rally from behind. The same occurred Friday and it happened with a key Aztec on the bench.

Getting to the line

With San Diego State making the effort to get the ball inside, that opened up more opportunities to get to the free-throw line.

And the Aztecs made the Bulldogs pay in this department. San Diego State made 22 of its 27 free-throw attempts. Conversely, Georgia converted 12 of its 17 attempts.

The Bulldogs start three players who are 6-foot-8 and will likely want to use that to their advantage moving forward -- especially considering Maten has only missed one free throw through five games.

Gamble paid off

Following Maten's second foul in the first half, Fox brought his star forward back into the game to let him finish most of the final 3:36 in the period. Picking up a third foul would have been disastrous for Georgia, considering the offense runs through the senior from Pontiac, Michigan.

But Maten was able to avoid a third foul and actually draw three fouls from the San Diego State defense. He converted on all six of the free throw attempts, which came with Georgia trailing 31-28. Being able to get those six points down the final stretch of the first half was big in the moment, considering the Aztecs were beginning to heat up.

Maten's first two fouls, however, were a different story. Maten was assessed a flagrant 1 and a technical on both of his offensive fouls. Getting a technical instead of a flagrant 1 on the second foul was huge as it kept Maten from being ejected from the game.

Bonus five

-Junior guard Turtle Jackson has been off to a hot start to the season. He posted a career-best 17 points against San Diego State, which gives him double-digit scoring in four of Georgia's first five games.

-Georgia is still relying on the 3-ball quite a bit and attempted 24 from behind the arc. But this time, the Bulldogs did make eight. That's an improvement but it was still probably too many long-shot attempts for Fox's liking.

-Going back to turnovers, Georgia could not force San Diego State into many mistakes. The Aztecs only committed five turnovers, with the Bulldogs turning that into two points. Meanwhile, San Diego State turned Georgia's 12 turnovers into 17 points.

-San Diego State was cold from the 3-point line. In a win, the Aztecs only made three of its 19 attempts from behind the arc.

-The ESPN2 television crew mentioned Georgia dealt with a bout of food poisoning entering the game. Mike Edwards was forced to stay back at the team hotel and was unable to play. Georgia did not share any information about anyone else affected by food poisoning. The Bulldogs used 11 players in the game.

Up next is No. 21 Saint Mary's in the Wooden Legacy third-place game, which will take place Sunday at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Georgia suffers first loss of season to San Diego State ."