The 2019 SEC Tournament will tip off on Wednesday night in Nashville, with the Missouri Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs set to take the court for the opening round game.
Cuonzo Martin’s squad won two out of its last three regular season games, which included a dominant 64-39 road win over the Bulldogs in the only season meeting between the two teams.
Meanwhile, Tom Crean’s first year in Athens hasn’t necessarily been all that fun since Georgia managed just two conference wins, and back-to-back 20-plus point losses to finish the regular season wasn’t ideal.
Let’s take a look at what to watch for in this one.
Game Details
- No. 12 Missouri (14-16, 5-13) vs. No. 13 Georgia (11-20, 2-16)
- Location: Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
- Game Date: Mar. 13, 2019
- Game Time: 7 p.m. EST
- Watch: SEC Network
Game Preview
- Spread: Missouri -3
- Over/Under: 133
- KenPom Projection: Missouri, 62 percent chance to win
- ESPN BPI Projection: Missouri, 61.4 percent chance to win
As we all know, tournament games are difficult to project due to the neutral court atmosphere and the motivation level of the two teams playing.
That’s especially the case when it involves two teams that aren’t playing for a postseason bid, which makes these types of matchups rather unpredictable.
But if we go back to the game a week ago, the Tigers absolutely dismantled Crean’s group in several different areas.
Missouri held the Bulldogs to just 25.5 percent shooting from the floor and 3 of 20 from beyond the arc. The Tigers also won the rebounding battle by 22, which included 16 offensive boards.
The teams combined to miss all 22 of their 3-point attempts in the first half, so it seems unlikely that this will be a high-scoring affair in an arena where neither have played a game this season.
Missouri enters the game ranked 49th nationally in defensive efficiency, and that’s certainly a positive going up against a Georgia team that has one of the worst turnover rates in the country (334th nationally at 22.6 percent) while shooting just 32.5 percent from long range (268th nationally).
The Tigers aren’t exactly a scoring machine themselves (305th nationally at 66.9 points per game), but their defensive efforts and methodical style of play are hard to combat.
In a game between teams that are both inconsistent, I’ll lean towards Missouri to use its defense to once again prevent Georgia from getting good looks offensively.
Season Predictions Record (straight up): 219-77
Prediction: Missouri 64, Georgia 59
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