Georgia compounds Missouri's problems in SEC

~The Bulldogs posted a 71-56 win to drop Mizzou to 7-8 in conference play

ATHENS, Ga. -- Charles Mann scored 19 points, Marcus Thornton added 15 and Georgia won its second straight game with a 71-56 victory over Missouri on Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs (16-11, 10-5 Southeastern Conference) have won six of seven.

Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson each finished with 17 points for Missouri (19-9, 7-8 SEC).

The Tigers, coming off Saturday's dispirited loss at Alabama, might have hurt their chance of making a sixth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Georgia forward Brandon Morris is pressured under the basket by Missouri Tigers forward Keanau Post (45) and Missouri Tigers guard Earnest Ross during the first half of their game Tuesday in Athens, Ga. (Richard Hamm ~ Associated Press)

Georgia, which went just 6-6 in nonconference play, began the SEC schedule by snapping Missouri's 26-game home winning streak on Jan. 8, is alone in third place in the SEC behind No. 1 Florida and No. 17 Kentucky.

Missouri dropped into a two-way tie for 10th place with Vanderbilt.

The Tigers' last lead came on Brown's layup midway through the first half. Missouri was outscored 16-6 over the final 9:12 before intermission.

Mann opened up the second half with a straightaway 3, and Juwan Parker's three-point play a couple of minutes later gave Georgia its first double-digit lead at 37-26.

Despite outrebounding the Bulldogs, Missouri struggled in nearly every other facet of the game, missing 15 of its first 16 attempts beyond the arc, getting outscored 38-18 in the paint and 11-2 on fast breaks.

Georgia's Kenny Gaines, coming off a career-high 27 points at South Carolina, finished with 10 points.

The Tigers dropped to 2-6 in SEC road games. They finished 2-7 on the road in their first SEC season last year.

Missouri's defense has really struggled in the last two games. Georgia, which began the night with the SEC's worst field-goal shooting percentage in league games, shot 52.1 percent from the field.

The Tigers let Alabama shoot 54.7 percent last weekend -- the Crimson Tide's highest percentage against a Division I team in five years.