The madness of March has officially arrived and the countdown to the greatest tournament in all of sports has begun. Each team will continue making their case to qualify and earn a top seed with results carrying some significant weight at this stage of the season. One of the later games to close down a loaded college basketball slate will be between Georgia and Texas.
This is an important matchup for both teams as each is on the NCAA Tournament bubble. A convincing performance and result would be extremely beneficial to either side with the opportunity for these types of results continuing to shrink.
Texas will host this matchup and enters as 5.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook. Georgia holds +190 odds on the Moneyline and the game total is set at 145.5 for this SEC matchup.
Texas Analysis
Texas enters this matchup with a 16-12 overall record, but they’re just 5-10 in conference play. They are 4-9 in Quad 1 matchups this season and also have suffered three Quad 2 losses to UConn, Arkansas, and South Carolina. They enter this game having lost five of their past six games with the brutal SEC schedule taking a toll on the Longhorns.
Tre Johnson headlines the production for Texas. The freshman guard is averaging a conference-leading 20.9 points per game as well as 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Arthur Kaluma and Jordan Pope are the only other two players averaging in double-figures.
As a team, Texas ranks 68th in the country in scoring with 78.4 points per game. They also are 89th in field goal percentage and 78th in three-point percentage as a team. Defensively, the Longhorns have allowed 70.4 points per game which ranks 137th in the country. They are 130th in defensive rating and have allowed as many as 103 points to Alabama this season.
Georgia Analysis
Georgia holds a record of 17-11 on the season and are also 5-10 in SEC play. They have gone just 3-11 against Quad 1 opponents this season but are a perfect 14-0 against Quad 2, 3, and 4 opponents. The Bulldogs will be riding high after producing a signature victory over Florida in their previous game, but they had lost four consecutive games leading into that matchup.
Asa Newell headlines the production for Georgia. The 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 15.4 points and 6.8 rebounds on the season. Silas Demary Jr. adds 12.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists while five other players average over six to eight points per game.
The Bulldogs are a defense-first basketball team. They are holding opponents to 69.2 points per game which ranks 93rd in the country. In addition, they rank 36th in opponent field goal percentage, 16th in opponent three-point percentage, and 93rd in defensive rating. Offensively, they are averaging 75.3 points per game which ranks 141st in the country. Georgia does get to the free-throw line at the 35th-best rate but does not have inspiring metrics on this side of the floor.
The Pick: Georgia +5.5 (-118)
It has been a bloodbath across the SEC all season so expect tonight to be a battle as well. While Texas will have the best player on the floor in Tre Johnson and the home crowd on their side, the Longhorns’ level of play has been inconsistent all year. Georgia’s defense is the unit I have the most confidence in and I expect them to show up in this matchup.
Texas has shown little ability to play together and their recent stretch of games has been concerning. One week ago, they suffered a loss to South Carolina which marks the latter squad’s only SEC victory on the season. They also suffered an overtime loss to Arkansas this week despite a spirited comeback effort in which they outscored the Razorbacks 39-27 in the second half.
In contrast, Georgia enters coming off their biggest win of the season after taking down 3rd-ranked Flordia on Tuesday. They also put up a battle against top-ranked Auburn last Saturday. The Bulldogs are battle-tested and have given a clearer sample size of what they are going to look like on a night-by-night basis. They are trending toward playing their best basketball at the right time, and tonight will be another opportunity to continue building off this. The 5.5-point spread is too high for this matchup for my liking and I think Georgia is a live dog at +190 odds.
