Mizzou hoops out for revenge against Georgia

Mizzou basketball tries to clinch its sixth straight 20-win season on Tuesday, when the Tigers will face the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens. Missouri is coming off a surprising loss to Alabama, allowing Levi Randolph to score a career-high 33 points.

“We have to play harder,” said Missouri coach Frank Haith. “We didn’t defend. We didn’t do the things we coached them to do. But maybe we need to coach them harder.”

The Tigers allowed the Tide to shoot better than 57 percent from the field, while only forcing 8 turnovers.

Last time out, Georgia beat Missouri 70-64 in overtime at Mizzou Arena. Charles Mann had 18 points while Nemanja Djurisic scored 16.

“We still think about that,” senior guard Earnest Ross said. “Just going down there and getting a road win is what’s important and what is next on the schedule.’

Missouri will have to keep an eye on Georgia guard Kenny Gaines. The sophomore scored a career-high 27 points against South Carolina over the weekend.

“I think Gaines has stepped up a bit,” Haith said. “He has become a real threat for them on the perimeter.”

Georgia is third in the SEC standings, right below Kentucky and Florida. Despite their overall 15-11 record, the Bulldogs are 9-5 in the conference and have won five of their last six contests.

“Everything is pretty status quo with their team and that is why they have been pretty good,” Haith said when talking about Georgia (15-11 overall, 9-5 in SEC play).

Missouri sits fourth in the SEC standings, with a 7-7 conference record. The Tigers hope to get their fourth road win of the year and their third road win over a Top 100 RPI opponent.

“We could have done better,” Ross said when asked if the 7-7 record was a fair representation of what the team has accomplished. “Games are over, games need to be played. We just have to continue to move on and progress and just continue to win games.”