Latest on Georgia's tournament hopes: Bulldogs enter must-win territory

Through 20 games, Georgia's offensive statistics are not pretty.

• Scoring offense: 69.3 points per game, 282nd nationally.
• Assist to turnover ratio: 0.94, 242nd nationally.
• Turnovers per game: 13.6, tie for 199th nationally.
• Field goal percentage: 43 percent, 265th nationally.
• 3-point field goal percentage: 31.6 percent, 317th nationally.

It is easy to see, from these numbers, why Georgia has dropped five of its past six games. Despite playing sound half-court defense against most opponents (outside of the second half against Auburn), the Bulldogs are struggling incredibly on the offensive end.

But even on defense, the Bulldogs are not turning teams over to score transition points.

• Forced turnovers per game: 9.9, 349th nationally.

Georgia has found itself in the same kind of predicament it has been in over the past few years. It is on the wrong side of the bubble and in need of late-season wins to get back in the tournament picture. Georgia did enough in the 2014-15 season to get in the NCAA Tournament. The last two seasons it was unable to do that.

The Bulldogs have 10 games remaining and none will be easy — including Vanderbilt, the SEC bottom-feeder that just beat TCU this past weekend.

Georgia must figure out a way to snap out of the funk it is in or else it will once again be left out of the big dance.

Key rankings RPI: 60

KPI: 45

KenPom: 69

Sagarin: 64 Key numbers Team record: 12-8 overall, 3-5 SEC

Non-conference strength of schedule: 156

Overall strength of schedule: 48

Record vs. RPI 1-50: 4-4

Record vs. RPI 51-100: 2-2

Record vs. RPI 101-351: 6-2

CBSSports.com conference RPI rankings: 1. Big 12, 2. ACC, 3. SEC, 4. Big East, 5. Pac-12, 6. Big Ten, 7. American Athletic, 8. Missouri Valley, 9. Mountain West, 10. Atlantic 10 Bracketology ESPN's Joe Lunardi: Georgia is clinging to a bubble spot in Lunardi's latest bracket. The Bulldogs are the fourth team on his Next Four Out list. The strength of the SEC appears to be what's saving the Bulldogs for the time being. While Georgia is out of Lunardi's bracket. he does have seven SEC teams in. Those would be 2-seed Auburn, 4-seed Tennessee, 5-seed Florida, 5-seed Kentucky, 9-seed Alabama, 9-seed Arkansas and 11-seed Texas A&M. Missouri is among Lunardi's First Four Out and South Carolina is one spot higher than Georgia in his Next Four Out.

CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm: With Georgia dropping both games last week, Palm no longer has the Bulldogs in his field of 68. Georgia is not in his First Four Out either. With Georgia out of the picture, Palm has 2-seed Auburn, 3-seed Tennessee, 4-seed Kentucky, 4-seed Florida, 8-seed Arkansas and 9-seed Alabama in. While Palm is down to six SEC teams in his bracket, Missouri, Texas A&M and South Carolina are the top three of his First Four Out category.

USA Today/BracketWAG.com's Shelby Mast: Georgia has moved off of Mast's immediate bubble and into his "others considered for at-large bids" category. Mast, unlike Lunardi and Palm, is still very bullish on the SEC. He's giving the conference nine bids at the moment. Conference teams in his field are 2-seed Auburn, 3-seed Tennessee, 4-seed Kentucky, 5-seed Florida, 7-seed Alabama, 8-seed Arkansas, 10-seed Texas A&M, 11-seed South Carolina and 11-seed Missouri. Current state of affairs Last 10 games: 4-6

Wins that help: Georgia still holds top-50 wins over Alabama, Saint Mary's, Temple and Marquette. Those are four strong wins that could easily help the Bulldogs in the event they are able to turn around this recent slump.

Losses that hurt: The Massachusetts (RPI No. 201) and San Diego State (RPI No. 121) defeats are stains for Georgia. But in reality, Georgia could still be in the NCAA Tournament picture with a couple of recent wins instead of losses. The Bulldogs came up short against Arkansas (RPI No. 21) and Kansas State (RPI No. 56) last week by a combined eight points. Winning those games would have gone a long way.

A look around the SEC: The conference won its first-ever Big 12/SEC Challenge by taking six games. And Auburn didn't play in it. The Tigers are still the best team in the SEC as the nation's No. 6 team in the RPI. Kentucky (No. 12), Tennessee (No. 13), Arkansas (No. 21), Alabama (No. 29), Florida (No. 36), Texas A&M (No. 37) and Missouri (No. 46) are all ranked in the top-50.

Looking ahead

What Georgia needs to do this week: Georgia has entered must-win territory. While it is unlikely for the Bulldogs to go undefeated over the final 10 games, they can't afford a loss this week. In fact, Georgia probably needs two weeks worth of wins — four games — to feel good about its standing again. Therefore, Georgia must hold serve at home against Florida on Tuesday and take care of business on the road at Mississippi State on Saturday.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Latest on Georgia's tournament hopes: Bulldogs enter must-win territory."