The University of Georgia Men’s Basketball team lost on Wednesday night to the LSU Tigers 84-65 in a blowout in Baton Rouge.
Tari Eason had a monster first half for the Tigers, scoring 17 points on 7-10 shooting and grabbing 6 rebounds. The sophomore finished with 21. Darius Days also pitched in a double-double for LSU, putting up 15 points and 12 rebounds. After being held to just 5 points in the first half, Kario Oquendo found some offensive success in the second half and ended the game as the only Bulldog to score in double figures with 26 points to lead all scorers.
LSU entered Wednesday’s matchup leading the nation in steals per game (11.1) and proved why throughout the entire game as their defensive intensity and zone press gave Georgia fits all night. The Dawgs recorded 26 turnovers, topping their previous season-high of 19. Around the 16-minute mark in the second half, LSU had forced twice as many turnovers (16) than they had allowed made field goals (8). Although the Tigers have dominated on the defensive end throughout conference play, ranking first in scoring defense (61.1 PPG), field goal percentage defense (37.4%), and 3-Point field goal percentage defense (27.9%), Wednesday night’s outing was perhaps their most impressive performance yet.
The first 13 minutes of the first half implied that viewers were in for a hard-fought showdown, as the two teams battled while neither side was able to build more than a 5-point advantage. Following a pair of free-throws from Braelen Bridges, Georgia led 20-19 with 6:44 remaining in the half before the LSU defensive pressure began to take its toll as the Tigers closed the half on a 19-2 run, with the only two Bulldog points coming from the free-throw line. Georgia recorded 8 of its 15 first-half turnovers over the last 5 minutes of play. LSU dominated inside in the first half, outscoring Georgia 26-2 in the paint and turning its 8 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points. The Dawgs relied heavily on perimeter shooting to generate offense, as 14 of their 21 field goal attempts and 4 of its 5 makes came from beyond the arc.
After struggling from long range in the first half in going just 2-13, LSU collectively got hot in the second half, going 5-10 from 3-Point territory as 4 different Tigers connected on a triple. The turnover woes for Georgia continued into the second half, as the Dawgs turned it over 5 times in a 3:07 span as LSU capitalized with a 10-0 scoring run, which helped them to eventually boost their lead to 30 points at a score of 72-42 with 6:28 left in the game.
The main bright spot for the Dawgs was the relentless effort from Kario Oquendo, who refused to give up down the stretch even when the game was out of reach. After the differential reached 30 points, the sophomore scored 13 of the next 18 Georgia points as he attacked the basket aggressively and demonstrated his shooting ability by knocking in a pair of 3-Pointers. Oquendo’s recent production has been tremendous as he has led the Dawgs in scoring with at least 17 points in each of the last 5 games. His explosiveness and physicality have earned him the reputation as one of the conference’s toughest matchups, and his potential wearing the red and black should be encouraging for all Dawg fans.
The Bulldogs now prepare to host Ole Miss on Saturday, February 19th at 1:00 P.M. in Athens.