Georgia spoils Michael Porter Jr.'s return, earns SEC quarterfinal matchup vs. Kentucky
We won’t get to see Michael Porter Jr. vs. Kentucky after all.
Despite the fact that the 5-star freshman played in his first game since his collegiate debut, it still wasn’t enough to fuel Mizzou past Georgia.
The Bulldogs spoiled Porter’s return and earned a 62-60 victory against the hometown Tigers in St. Louis. Georgia did so thanks to 21 points by SEC Player of the Year Yante Maten, who paced Georgia with 21 points.
That means it’ll be Georgia who gets to take on fourth-seeded Kentucky on Friday in the quarterfinals. The 12th-seeded Dawgs will battle Kentucky at 3 p.m. ET on Friday.
Porter finished with 12 points while his brother, Jontay Porter, was the driving force behind Mizzou’s offense with 20 points.
Mizzou came into Thursday as a No. 8 seed in ESPN’s bracketology, and they likely had their NCAA Tournament berth locked in despite the loss.
Huh, MPJ was just off. He probably should have played a few minutes in the last couple of games, but the kids got some great hands…
Kudos to UGA. They responded after every run Mizzou made.
It was a good game. I was nervous throughout the 2nd half.
“Georgia did so thanks to 21 points by SEC Player of the Year Yante Maten, who paced Georgia with 21 points”.
Thanks for the redundancy.
Big surprise win over a very good Mizzou team. Way to go Dawgs! Keep on keepin’ on! Now, Big Blue!
The mountain keeps getting higher to climb.
Great game UGA, they shut down Robertson and Barnett as good as we have seen all year. MPJ definitely needs some time to adjust, he looked better in the final ten minutes so hopefully by tournament time his timing and feel is back.