The warm and fuzzy feeling that surrounded this Georgia basketball team when it walked off the court victorious against South Carolina in mid-January in Columbia has faded away.

The Bulldogs met the Gamecocks again Saturday in Stegeman Coliseum and were dealt yet another loss to a team that looks NCAA tournament worthy.

South Carolina blew by Georgia in the second half to post a 72-62 win before an announced sell-out crowd.

Georgia, the last two weeks have shown, can hang with quality opponents but looks destined for the NIT at best, not the March Madness party it has been seeking. The Bulldogs last postseason tournament was in 2017 when it played in the NIT.

"I thought late game today, just like late game Tennessee, late game Bama, we looked like the weight of the world is on our shoulders," coach Mike White said referring to the other two-home losses this season. "We don't look the same. I've got to figure that out. I've got to help these guys."

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The Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5 SEC) began the day given just a 4.7 percent chance to make the NCAA tournament, according to barttorvik.com.

Georgia is on a three-game losing skid for the first time since it dropped six in a row to end last season.

The Bulldogs are also under .500 in the SEC for the first time this season.

There’s still plenty of season left but Georgia needs to reverse course soon with nine more SEC games before the SEC tournament to even get in the bubble conversation again.

South Carolina (19-3, 7-2) rolled to its fifth straight win and held Georgia to its season-low point total.

Georgia is on the road for four of the next six games starting Wednesday at Mississippi State.

"Respond," guard Noah Thomasson said of the team's mindset. "That's all you can do. Just respond and work on the things we need to get better at."

Second-half fadeaway once again for Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia blew a 16-point lead against Alabama on Wednesday, its largest lead in a loss in White’s two seasons.

This time the Bulldogs led 29-19 with 8:05 to go in the first half, but the Gamecocks whittled that lead down and took their first lead at 49-47 on a driving layup by Zachary Davis less than five minutes into the second half.

Georgia missed six straight shots as the Gamecocks took the lead and then had a shot clock violation after South Carolina went back on top 52-51. That was part of an 8-0 Gamecocks run that extended the lead to 57-51.

Georgia had four turnovers during the stretch—including two from RJ Melendez.

The Bulldogs were outscored 34-22 in the second half when they shot just 7 of 24 from the floor and 1 of 10 on 3s.

White said Georgia's confidence and swagger was missing based on players' body language and poor shooting with the game on the line.

South Carolina went to a zone defense, something it had only done a few possessions this season, White said, crediting Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris.

"We got some good looks...they just didn't fall," said guard Noah Thomasson who was 4 of 12 for 10 points.

Georgia was flummoxed against a 1-3-1 zone that guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim said made the Bulldogs "a little uncomfortable and we just didn't knock down shots. It happens like that sometimes. We tried to do our best and keep shooting them, but they were contesting every shot and made it really tough for us."

Gamecocks paint points a handful for Georgia Bulldogs

South Carolina dominated the paint, outscoring Georgia 40-24.

The Gamecocks did their damage inside where the Bulldogs had few answers.

The Gamecocks had 14 layups and six dunks and shot 52 percent from the field.

South Carolina kept lobbing the ball to the low post in the first half to six-foot-7, 231-pound Collin Murray-Boyles (16 points, 7 of 9 shooting) and 7-foot, 265-pound Josh Gray (15 points, 8 rebounds, 7 of 9 shooting).

"We've just to be more physical," Abdur-Rahim said. "They punched us in the mouth, especially in the paint."

The Gamecocks had 16 first-half field goals and assists.

"They passed it really well to one another," White said. "We probably exerted ourselves a little bit too much with press and trapping of the post. ...They've got big, physical guys that get wide and demand the basketball, catch it cleanly."

Top Georgia Bulldog scorer Jabri Abdur-Rahim snaps out of funk

Since scoring a career-high 34 points at Kentucky including a career-high 7 3 pointers, Abdur-Rahim was in a rut. The senior made just 6 of his last 24 shots the last 3 games including 3 of 16 on 3 pointers and was stuck in single digit scoring the last three games.

The Bulldogs’ leading scorer this season scored 8 points in the first 4:10 including starting 3 of 3 on 3s. He finished with 20 points on 6 of 15 shooting and 4 of 12 on 3s.

"It wasn't enough," he said. "We didn't get the job done. That's all that matters."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia basketball fades away in second half against South Carolina