Game Info:

Where: Lahaina Civic Center, Maui, HI

When: 2:30pm (ET), November 26, 2019

TV/Radio: ESPN 2

Georgia 4-1 : #70 (Kenpom)

Depth Chart:

1 - Crump (6’1” sr), Wheeler (5’10” fr)
2 - Gresham (6’3” sr), Fagan (6’3” so)
3 - Edwards (6’5” fr)
4 - Ngumezi (6’9” so), Camara (6’8” fr), Brown (6’6” fr)
5 - Hammonds (6’9” jr), Howard (6’11” fr), Peake (6’8” fr)

Scout:

Georgia played TERRIBLY yesterday against a very good Dayton team - Hammonds was in foul trouble all game, Edwards played terribly, they turned it over even more than MSU did, and they missed tons of shots. Expect them to play much better today, especially Edwards who will want to show out against elite competition in front of the NBA scouts.

Edwards, Crump, Gresham, and Wheeler will try to get into the paint and create or finish, but expect a much less complicated offense (look at all those freshmen!), and a much less feisty defense.

Game-plan:

Major gut-check time here. Va Tech was a good team, MSU laid a dud and still had it close at the end. Georgia is not a very good team, and if MSU lays another dud, then we are verging on kissing a #1 seed good-bye (barring a nearly-unscathed run through the conference). Biggest keys for the game are Winston not picking up stupid touch fouls, Tillman finding a way to hold onto the ball and to finish at the rim while not passing it to the other team, and locating some solid bench production from non-Gabe Brown players.

I do not expect to see any line-up changes, but I am increasingly hopeful that Izzo will move Kithier and Watts to the bench in favor of Brown and Hall - it will not happen today, and likely will not happen this year (regardless of the circumstances) because Izzo is stubborn - but it would make the starting group more dangerous, give Watts a reduced role, and give Brown more opportunities.

Getting a win is vital, playing well is almost more important - this team has not played well for 40 minutes against a Kenpom top-100 team yet this season, and it would be encouraging to see it happen.

I called Henry as the guy to watch this tournament, and he produced in a big way in the first game (the only guy to really get off the bus if we are being honest). He has another major match-up against Edwards today, and can really put his name onto NBA radars with a redux of his performance yesterday (do NOT get handsy on defense Aaron).

PPTPW

Prediction:

MSU 74 Georgia 70

Make Gamethread go now!!!

GO GREEN!!!