Auburn’s starting lineup will take a big hit this afternoon at Georgia.
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Left in the cold: After its first made field goal of the second half, Auburn went on a 0-of-18 stretch. UGA was led by J.J. Frazier with 16 points, followed by Charles Mann and Yante Maten with 12 points each.
J.J. Frazier scored 16 points and Georgia led by 25 points before beating Auburn 65-55 on Saturday night, giving the Tigers their fifth straight loss.
Cinmeon Bowers – normally a forward – will start at the point against the Bulldogs (12-8, 5-4).
Auburn’s leading scorer, Kareem Canty, has been suspended “indefinitely” from the basketball team, the Tigers announced on Saturday prior to Auburn’s road game at Georgia.
Canty, a junior point guard from the Harlem section of New York City, is averaging 18.3 points per game.
A late push by Auburn allowed the Tigers to get to 40 and 50 points, but there were a handful of really long droughts throughout the game.
While commentators enjoyed talking about the 6-foot-7, 250 pound point guard, Bowers had a pretty good game with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
“Kareem has had some strong moments for our team this season”, head coach Bruce Pearl said in the statement, according to Renkel. “And, just like a parent, when they misbehave, you’ve got to punish them”.
“I sat a couple of guys around after shootaround and said ‘If he does not play, I want the right response”, Fox said.
Special guest: Devon Gales, a Southern receiver who was injured when his football team played Georgia this past season, was in attendance for the game. The Bulldogs extended their lead to double digits several times throughout the half before taking a 31-22 advantage into the break.
Fox began pulling his starters with about 5 minutes remaining. Canty had been held under 15 points in three of the last four games before the suspension…. Teams that can successfully shoot from outside have been Georgia’s poison pill, and Auburn brings a team with many long-range shooters to Athens.
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Canty is the only scholarship point guard healthy for Auburn, which means along with Bowers and Brown, Pearl will have to rely on a platoon of walk-ons Zach Allison and Patrick Keim to help run Auburn’s offense against Georgia. I don’t think either team had any rhythm in the first half.
