NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jordan Geist scored a career-high 30 points and No. 12 seed Missouri outlasted No. 13 seed Georgia 71-61 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Missouri (15-16) won for the third time in its last four games to advance to a second-round matchup Thursday with No. 22 Auburn (22-9), the fifth seed. Missouri lost 92-58 at Auburn on Jan. 30 in their only regular-season matchup.
Georgia (11-21) finished the first season of Tom Crean's coaching tenure with 12 losses in its last 13 games.
The two teams were meeting exactly one week after Missouri won 64-39 at Georgia, holding the Bulldogs to their lowest point total at home since a 36-30 victory over Georgia Tech during the 1945-46 season.
Georgia nearly matched that output in the first half Wednesday while building a 34-32 lead. The Bulldogs shot just 35.7 percent in the first half but pulled ahead by getting to the bonus early.
Missouri took the lead for good, 45-43, on a Kevin Puryear basket with 12:05 left. Neither team led by more than seven points until the final four minutes of the game.
While Georgia did a great job of drawing fouls, the Bulldogs failed to take full advantage. Georgia shot just 21 of 36 on free-throw attempts, including 9 of 18 in the second half.
Geist shot 9 of 15 overall and 10 of 13 from the foul line to lead Missouri. His previous career high was a 28-point performance against Green Bay on Dec. 9, 2017. Xavier Pinson added 15 points for Missouri.
Jordan Harris scored a career-high 26 points, Derek Ogbeide had 12 and Nicolas Claxton added 11 for Georgia.
Missouri's Javon Pickett returned to the starting lineup after back spasms caused him to miss a 73-68 loss to Mississippi on Saturday. He went scoreless in 22 minutes.
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Bulldogs have a long way to go as Crean attempts to rebuild the program. Before this year, Georgia hadn't lost as many as 21 games in a season since a 3-21 finish in 1955-56.
Missouri: The Tigers won without getting much from Jeremiah Tilmon, their top post player. Tilmon scored four points and shot just 1 of 7 while playing 20 minutes and battling foul trouble. Tilmon has picked up at least four fouls in seven of his last eight games and has fouled out of three of them.
UP NEXT
Georgia will replace three departing senior starters in Claxton, Turtle Jackson and Derek Ogbeide next season. The Bulldogs add incoming freshman Anthony Edwards, rated as the nation's No. 2 overall prospect in his class according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports.
Missouri faces Auburn in a second-round game Thursday.
