Georgia @ Mississippi preview

Georgia at Mississippi

Last Meeting ( Mar 11, 2020 ) Georgia 81, Mississippi 63

Ole Miss and Georgia look to end losing skids that could go a long way toward ruining their seasons on Saturday afternoon when they meet in a Southeastern Conference game in Oxford, Miss.

The Rebels (6-5, 1-3 SEC) have lost four of their past five games after opening the season with five wins in six contests.

Georgia (7-4, 0-4) has lost all four of its SEC games after going 7-0 in nonleague play. The Bulldogs were off to their best start since the 1982-83 season, the only time they reached the Final Four.

Georgia is 7-33 in regular-season SEC play under coach Tom Crean, who arrived before the 2018-19 season. The Bulldogs have lost 10 of their past 11 SEC road games.

The Rebels are coming off a 72-63 loss at Florida on Tuesday. They were dominated by Gators forward Colin Castleton, who nearly had a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks.

Ole Miss led 63-58 with 4:32 remaining, but Florida closed the game on a 14-0 run during which the Rebels missed their final eight shots from the field.

Devontae Shuler led Ole Miss with 19 points and three assists. Romello White added 10 points, Jarkel Joiner had nine and KJ Buffen posted eight points and a team-high five rebounds.

"I kind of think this just goes with us finishing practices out," Shuler told The Clarion Ledger. "I feel like sometimes at the end of practices guys are just lackadaisical and don't want to finish practice. Now it follows over to the games. It's cost us a couple times, actually."

Shuler (13.2) and White (11.7) are the only Rebels averaging double figures in scoring this season, although Buffen is close behind at 9.9 points per game.

Georgia has been pummeled in its past two games. After losing to Arkansas by 30 on Saturday, the Bulldogs got smacked at home by Auburn, 95-77, on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs couldn't stop freshman guard Sharife Cooper, who posted game highs with 28 points and 12 assists in the rout.

Georgia was led by freshman K.D. Johnson, who had 21 points, seven rebounds and five steals in his debut after being declared eligible by the NCAA earlier this week.

Sahvir Wheeler added 19 points and five assists, and Toumani Camara contributed 12 points and four rebounds.

The Bulldogs made just 17 of 34 attempts from the free-throw line and committed 18 turnovers, which basically is their season average (18.1).

"I guess I am responsible for the fact that our talk is not remotely close tonight to what it is in practice when it comes to how we get back in transition defense," Crean said. "It's got to get better in a hurry. I've got to coach better."

--Field Level Media