As of early Tuesday night, most betting shops had Georgia (20-11 straight up, 17-14 against the spread) installed as a three-point favorite vs. Oklahoma in Wednesday’s first round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The total was 148.5 points, while the Sooners were +136 on the money line. This is the second game of the evening session that’ll start 30 minutes after the conclusion of Mississippi St. vs. LSU, which is scheduled to tip at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
When these teams met in Athens on Jan. 11, Georgia shook off a three-point halftime deficit and captured a 72-62 win as a 7.5-point home favorite. The 134 combined points dropped ‘under’ the 147.5-point total.
Georgia star freshman Asa Newell led the way with 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Dakota Leffew added 15 points in 21 minutes of action from off the bench, making 5-of-8 field-goal attempts. Silas Demary finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, three steals and four assists compared to only one turnover.
In the losing effort, Jalon Moore scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds before fouling out. OU’s Kobe Elvis produced 14 points and five assists without committing a turnover, and Duke Miles finished with 14 points, five boards, three assists and a pair of steals.
Jeremiah Fears, the Sooners’ star freshman guard, had scored in double figures in the first 15 games of his career prior to playing at UGA. However, Stegeman Coliseum wasn’t kind to him.
Fears played only 22 minutes, scoring merely two points on 1-of-11 FGAs and 0/4 marksmanship from downtown. He had three rebounds, one blocked shot and five assists, but he also coughed up four turnovers.
UGA has caught fired at the perfect time. Mike White’s team has won four games in a row and has covered the number in five consecutive contests.
This run started at Auburn three Saturdays ago when UGA trailed by only five points with less than two minutes left in an 82-70 loss as a 14.5-point road underdog.
Next, the Bulldogs beat Florida (which is currently on a 9-1 run both SU and ATS) 88-83 as 6.5-point home ‘dogs. Then they went to Austin and captured an 83-67 win as 5.5-point road ‘dogs.
UGA then went to South Carolina, where the Gamecocks were on a 6-0-1 ATS run in their seven previous home games and had won back-to-back home outings over Texas and Arkansas by 34 combined points. Nevertheless, White’s bunch led by 11 points at halftime en route to a 73-64 win.
Finally, in this past Saturday’s regular-season finale in Athens, UGA won a 79-68 decision over Vanderbilt.
Oklahoma (19-12 SU, 16-15 ATS) is also playing quality basketball in recent weeks, winning three of their last five games while going 5-0 ATS. Fears will certainly be looking to make amends for his dreadful performance in Athens. He scored 31 points in a 96-84 home win over Missouri last week.
OU forward Sam Godwin is ‘out’ again vs. UGA after missing Saturday’s 76-72 win at Texas due to a knee injury sustained vs. Missouri last week. Godwin averages 6.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
PREDICTION: Both teams are playing well, but that’s why we’re getting UGA at a reasonable number here. Let’s risk 1.65 units to win 1.5 units on UGA -3.