Georgia basketball’s comeback bid vs. Michigan State comes up short, but not without a late fight in Maui
The Georgia basketball team fell 93-85 to Michigan State in Maui Tuesday, but defeat wasn’t even the biggest storyline.
Sure, the Dawgs got blown out of the gym on Monday by an experienced Dayton squad 80-61, but what happened on Tuesday was far different.
Georgia entered the half trailing 52-31 against the Spartans and looked to be well on its way to another dud in paradise. However, highly talented freshman shooting guard Anthony Edwards put on a show out of the locker room, going for 33 points in the second half alone against Michigan State.
In the end, the Bulldogs were unable to grab a victory over the highly respected Spartans, but they did cut what was once a 28-point deficit down to 2 points, before bowing out in the waining moments.
It was an incredible fight, from what seemed like a lifeless team through a game and a half of basketball in Maui, that gave fans extensive hope for the future of the program. Sure, Georgia may not be able to earn any hardware on the islands, but it can return home to the Peach State at 4-2, after a nice win over Chaminade on Wednesday.
Chaminade plays UCLA Tuesday, with the loser set to face Georgia Wednesday, but we’ll go ahead and project the D2 host team matches up with the Dawgs.
So, that leaves Georgia with an easy formula to get to conference play feeling good. You already have a win over your in-state rival and a couple of feel-good momentum building victories at home, to go along with a strong second half against Michigan State. The Bulldogs outscored the Spartans 54-41 in the second period, after getting tossed around like a high school squad 52-31 before the break. Now, it’s time to put away Chaminade and take care of NC Central, SMU and others at home in the Steg.
Do that and you’re in great position to create postseason conversation going into January.
This was a disappointing game for about 30 minutes, but quickly turned into a glance at what the future could be at Georgia. Edwards will make this team a contender in games all season and his counterparts are only going to get better as well.
Sahvir Wheeler creates shots for the Dawgs like no other and Rayshaun Hammonds has proven to be a lethal scoring threat at times when managing foul trouble. The box scores may not be what you want them to be in this tournament, but this team is just getting started. I encourage everyone to keep the faith and have patience with Georgia, as they have shown to us they are still a work in progress.
With that being said, have you ever seen as exciting a half of Bulldogs basketball as you saw today? My goodness, that was fun.
Hang in there, this season is just getting started, folks.
If you’re interested in buying tickets to a game, check out GeorgiaDogs.com here.
