Imagine if Frazier hadn’t been sick

ATHENS — J.J. Frazier woke up Saturday morning feeling sick. When he met up with an athletic trainer, they thought he had the flu. Georgia’s health center was closed, so he was taken to a local urgent care facility.

Tests for the flu were negative. So Frazier went home to rest. A few hours later, he was on the court to face LSU.

“A lot of times, you play your best game when you’re sick,” head coach Mark Fox said.

The chances are dwindling for people to see one of the more special players in Georgia history. Frazier is going out very loudly, scoring 29 points Saturday night, including the game-winning free throws with 1.6 seconds left. That rescued Georgia from what would have been a devastating loss to woeful LSU, and the 82-80 win kept the Bulldogs’ postseason hopes alive.

Frazier has scored 36, 28 and 29 points in the three games since the team’s other star, Yante Maten, went out with a sprained knee.

Frazier was a lightly regarded, 5-foot-10 recruit from South Georgia four years ago. He has now statistically become one of the better players in school history, ranking eighth all-time in scoring, fifth in assists and in the top 10 in a host of other categories.

“I should’ve saved all the hate mail I got when I signed him,” Fox said. “I think people admire J.J. and have great respect for him. Hopefully he will feel the love from our fans on Wednesday night.”

That would be Senior Night against Auburn, a game that still matters for Georgia’s NCAA hopes.

Thanks to Frazier. He took 11 free throws on Saturday night and made 10 of them. On the one he missed, he sneaked in behind taller players and tipped it back in.

“He did something tonight he’s never done, which is tip in his own free throw miss. That’s hard to do,” Fox said.

The pivotal final play was a source of debate. It wasn’t an obvious foul call. It appeared Frazier was bumped from behind, though not that hard. LSU coach Johnny Jones made clear he didn’t like that call, nor the officials not calling Derek Ogbeide for traveling after he intercepted LSU’s ensuing downcourt heave.

If Georgia did get a break with the call, maybe it was due. The team has felt robbed at several points this season, most notably the clock malfunction fiasco at Texas A&M and in the final few minutes at Florida.

“It all works out, man,” junior Juwan Parker said. “You call it the law of averages. It’s just like with shooting. You’re going to go back to the average. If you have a couple missed calls, you’re going to have a couple good calls.”

Fox pointed out that Frazier “has never had a losing season here.” By clinching a winning year on Saturday, Georgia has four straight winning seasons for the first time since 2004.

Frazier was unavailable to the media afterward, sent to the training room for treatment for his illness.

“On a night where we didn’t think we were playing very well, J.J. just kept scrapping and clawing and carried us to victory,” Fox said. “He’s just such a great competitor. And at the moment of truth, great competitors are usually at their best.

“And J.J. was that late — again.”