UGA BASKETBALL MISSISSIPPI STATE DEALS DOGS 72-57 ROAD DEFEAT

Georgia followed up a great win against Florida on Tuesday with an absolute dud of a performance at Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs trailed by double digits from pretty much the beginning of the game and never made it a competitive outing. The offense struggled once again, as Yante Maten didn’t make a shot in the first half and Mississippi State won 72-57.

At halftime, Georgia was behind 37-21. The lone bright spot was that Pape Diatta came off the bench to score 12 points. He hadn’t scored all season coming into the game.

Georgia was without guard Jordan Harris, who was suspended indefinitely by the team before the start of the game.

No details on the suspension were immediately available. This is the second time Harris has been suspended this season.

With the loss, Georgia moves to 13-9 and 4-6 in SEC play, while Mississippi State is 17-6 and 5-5 in conference.

3 who mattered

■ Lamar Peters: The Mississippi State guard finished with a season-high 20 points and four steals in the game.

■ The Weatherspoon brothers: Nick and Quinndary Weatherspoon had great games for Mississippi State as the brothers combined for 28 points.

■ Tyree Crump: Maten had just two points in the first half and only 13 for the game. Crump meanwhile had his first start of the season

and finished with 13 points. Crump certainly wasn’t to blame for Georgia’s sluggish performance.

Turning point

To be blunt, the turning point was the opening tip. Mississippi State dominated the game from beginning to end.

Observations

■ The defense was poor, too: Georgia was once again held to less than 70 points, but another problem was that Georgia was just not able to get stops, especially in the second half. Any time Georgia was able to string together some baskets, Mississippi State was rather easily able to score points. Mississippi State shot 50 percent for the game, while Georgia made 40 percent.

■ The older guards didn’t show up: While Crump was making his first start of the season, Turtle Jackson and Juwan Parker were still in the starting lineup. But neither of them made an impact in the game. The pair scored just 8 points and finished 3 of 15 from the floor.

■ Dominated on the glass: With Maten and a number of competent frontcourt players, Georgia is normally a good rebounding team. That wasn’t the case against Mississippi State. The Mississippi State Bulldogs controlled the glass, out-rebounding Georgia 37-20.