STARKVILLE — J.J. Frazier called it the game of his life.
I.J. Ready couldn’t hide his disappointment.
That was the aftermath of one of the greatest shooting performances in the history of Humphrey Coliseum, a showing that propelled the Georgia men’s basketball team to a 72-66 victory against Mississippi State.
Frazier, Georgia’s starting point guard, scored a career-high 37 points, including a 12-of-14 showing from the field (7 of 7 from 3-point range) to help overcome a spirited effort by MSU.
“We scouted him and knew he was a shooter, and that’s just what he did,” said Ready, MSU’s sophomore starting point guard. “We didn’t start face-guarding him until the last four or five minutes. He was the only one scoring. Guys get hot, and he did.”
Frazier had 23 points in the second half to help Georgia (13-6, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) win its fourth league game in a row.
“That’s the best game of my career,” Frazier said. “I shot the first one and it felt good, and shots just kept coming to me. There were a couple of times I had to shoot a long one, but mostly I got good looks.”
Frazier’s hot streak helped end MSU’s two-game SEC winning streak. After a home win against Vanderbilt and a road win at Auburn on Wednesday night, MSU (9-10, 2-4) led Georgia (13-6, 4-2) by as many as eight points in the first half.
But Frazier scored seven-straight points in the final two minutes of the half to give Georgia a 36-31 halftime lead. He then helped the visitors open the second half on another 7-0 run to push the lead to 12 with 18 minutes, 49 seconds remaining.
“I think this game boiled down to two things,” MSU coach Rick Ray said. “Number one was our inability to finish at the rim. There were multiple times where we drove to the basket and got good shots but couldn’t finish.
“The second thing was our missed assignments defensively. We let Frazier get loose too many times. We just didn’t carry out our defensive assignments.”
Frazier’s effort spoiled a gem from MSU senior forward Roquez Johnson, who scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Johnson was 10 of 18 from the floor. He and fellow post player Gavin Ware, a junior from Starkville High School, outplayed the Georgia front line that included 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward Marcus Thornton. Entering the game averaging 14 points and seven rebounds, Thornton was held to three points and seven rebounds.
“Before the game, coach was emphasizing how physical Georgia is,” said Johnson, MSU’s leading scorer on the year at 11 points per game. “I took that as a challenge. I believe I am a physical player, and Gavin is, too. We took it to them down low, but too many missed layups cost us the game.”
MSU, which outrebounded Georgia 42-32 and held all players other than Frazier to 11-for-33 shooting from the field, shot 33.8 percent (22 of 65) from the field. That included a 2-for-9 showing by Ware, a 2-for-12 effort by junior guard Craig Sword, and a 4-for-10 performance from Ready. Of MSU’s 10 players who played, only Johnson hit more than 50 percent of his shots.
“We just couldn’t make shots at the rim,” Ray said. “That hurt us.”
But Frazier hurt MSU more, as the Glenville, Georgia, native drilled big shot after big shot. Many of them ended potential MSU runs. He was 8 of 9 from the field in the second half, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range.
“I thought coming into the game that Mississippi State was really playing well as a team,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “I think they outplayed us in some areas, certainly on the glass. But J.J.’s performance was a huge part of this game.”
Despite Frazier’s fireworks, MSU cut it to three on multiple occasions in the second half, but it failed to score each time. The first sequence saw MSU cut the led to 49-46 with a little more than 12 minutes remaining, but guard Fred Thomas missed all three free throws after being fouled from 3-point range. Those misses allowed Georgia to go on a 5-0 run that pushed the lead back to eight. The stretch included another 3-pointer from Frazier.
The final such play occurred on MSU’s last full possession, when Sword missed a runner in the lane, Johnson missed the putback, and Ware clanked a follow-up dunk off the back of the rim.
MSU still had an opportunity to stay in the game when Frazier missed the front end of a one-and-one with 25 seconds left.
But MSU failed to block Frazier out on the rebound, and the 5-foot-11 guard grabbed the rebound. He went back to the line where he sank two free throws.
“If we get that rebound, do we win the game?” Ray said. “We don’t know. But if you get the rebound at least you have a chance. By not getting it, we never had a chance.”
Of his game-sealing rebound, Frazier said, “When I let it go, I knew that it was going to be long. I knew where it was going, so I ran to the spot and grabbed it. My coach doesn’t want me doing that, but my instincts took over.”
The loss continued a stretch of competitive basketball for MSU that started with a 74-70 loss at Texas A&M. After watching his team fall to a Georgia team he called “the second best team in the SEC,” Ray remained pleased with his team’s effort.
“I don’t think there’s anybody watching that wouldn’t agree we are an improved basketball team,” Ray said. “I think anybody can see we are playing our best basketball.”
The loss came before a season-best crowd of 7,549, and Ray said, “Anybody playing college basketball wants a good home environment, and our fans did a great job of providing that today. They were into the game, and loud, and I think we gave them a good showing today.”
Johnson agreed.
“When we were down 13 or 14 points, the crowd helped us get back into the game,” Johnson said. “We still have to figure it out. We missed too many shots, cost us the game.”
Sword (13 points) and Ready (12) also scored in double figures.
Charles Mann (10) was the only other Georgia player in double figures.
MSU will play Wednesday night at Ole Miss.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
