Georgia Bulldogs

No. 17 Auburn seeks to regain 'edge' vs. Georgia (Jan 20, 2018)

Published Jan. 19, 2018 10:30 p.m. ET

No. 17 Auburn will be looking to rebound from its first loss in the SEC when it hosts a Georgia team that is fortunate it won't enter with a three-game losing streak Saturday at Auburn, Ala.

The Tigers' nation-long 14-game winning streak was snapped by Alabama 76-71 on Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. It was the first loss for Auburn (16-2, 4-1 SEC) to its in-state rival since 2015-16 despite the absence of high-profile Crimson Tide guard Collin Sexton.

"A missed opportunity for us," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "Obviously, you don't like losing your rivalry game. It means more and we didn't take advantage of the opportunity.

"It's probably the most talented team that we've played. Their length, particularly in the guard spots, bothered us. ... We didn't take advantage of the fact that Sexton wasn't available to them," Pearl said. "I think that was one that, at least at this time, we look at we could have gotten that one if we'd have played better, we just didn't. Give Alabama credit."

Georgia (12-5, 3-3) survived at LSU on Wednesday with a 61-60 victory after losing at Missouri and at home against South Carolina. Yante Maten, who scored 21 points after being held scoreless for the first 17 minutes, made a shot in the lane with five seconds left to give the Bulldogs the victory.

They earned the first SEC road win after losing at Kentucky and Missouri.

"You're going to have some knockdown drag-outs in college basketball," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "This a big road win for us, and we just keep fighting forward. That's what you have to do in a league that's as tough and as deep as this. You're going to have bumps in the road, you have to keep battling."

Auburn is viewing its setback at Alabama as a learning experience, comparing its mindset to how it evaluated its only other loss -- an 88-74 defeat to Temple -- in the second game of the season in the Charleston (S.C.) Classic.

"We still know the things that we have to do to be able to win," said Tigers point guard Jared Harper, who averages 12.4 points and has 93 assists with only 34 turnovers.

"We still know the things that we have to do to be able to win. We still have to carry out every game and do those things. We didn't do that last night. We didn't do that against Temple. I think it's been a great learning experience, just losing that game. When we control what we can control and do what we can do, we can win game."

Pearl said he is most concerned about his team keeping its "edge" after a loss in which the Tigers were soft on defense, allowing Alabama to shoot 57 percent in the second half.

"I left them alone (Wednesday night after the loss) and talked to them a little bit on the bus (Thursday) morning about our edge and continuing to have that edge and they got it, they understand," Pearl said.