Georgia vs. Arkansas Expert Pick and Prediction – January 22, 2025

GEORGIA VS. ARKANSAS EXPERT PICK AND PREDICTION – January 22, 2025 — While the Georgia football team has been attracting all the headlines — and deservedly so — the Bulldog basketball squad has a real chance to make it back to the postseason.

Michael White has Georgia up to 14 wins this season, and the Dawgs don’t have a bad loss on the slate. There certainly have been nervous moments (hello, South Carolina State and Grand Canyon), but to date, Georgia doesn’t have a loss to anyone outside the top 20. The Dawgs’ worst loss of the year was a 12-point loss at Mississippi, and there’s not a thing wrong with losing in Oxford this year.

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But this represents both a real trap and a real opportunity at a time when Georgia can least afford the former. The Dawgs have already faced Tennessee and Auburn in their past two games, and they go to Gainesville on Saturday to face Florida. The schedule eases considerably after the trip to Florida, but this is easily Georgia’s toughest stretch of the year.

And no team needs a win more than Arkansas. John Calipari has lost his first five SEC games in Fayetteville, and there’s a real fear now that he can’t do this anymore. The strategies that worked for him in 2011 are clearly not getting things done anymore. Arkansas just took an 18-point beating at the hands of Missouri, and there haven’t been any real steps in the right direction since SEC play began. Other than one win over Michigan on a neutral floor, the Razorbacks’ best win all year has been Lipscomb.

That’s not anywhere near good enough to make a run at the NCAA tournament. If Arkansas doesn’t start to string together some wins, Cal could really feel his seat starting to heat up.

The Odds

Tipoff

When: Wednesday, January 22 at 9 p.m.

Where: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Ark.

TV: SEC Network

Public Bets: Unavailable

Public Money: Unavailable

Georgia vs. Arkansas In-Season Trends

There’s not a lot of helpful information to glean from the past few meetings. Arkansas has won six of eight, but the Razorbacks spent most of that time coached by Eric Musselman. The Bulldogs also didn’t have White, as he’s in his third season since moving over from Florida. The over has cashed in five of the past six meetings, but there’s a note of caution there: Georgia plays a lot slower than it did in years past.

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The Dawgs’ slower pace is on full display in their recent results. Georgia has played to the under in six of its past seven games, and the lone exception was because South Carolina State shot the lights out in the first half and had the Dawgs down 17. The Razorbacks have just one cover in their past eight games, a 30-point rout of Oakland. In SEC play, Arkansas has topped 70 points just once, and that was the one that went over, a 78-74 loss to LSU.

The Difference-Makers

Where Silas Demary gets his points from will determine how effective Georgia is. The Bulldogs excel at getting to the foul line, where Demary shoots 83.5%. He’s not anywhere near as effective from the field, shooting 41% from the floor. The rest of the Dawgs tend to shoot it fairly well from the floor, as Georgia shoots 47.6% as a team. Demary either needs a good shooting night or needs to get himself to the line early and often.

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Adou Thiero is Arkansas’ leading scorer as well as its leader in steals. The Razorbacks’ best hope is to force Georgia into mistakes and convert those into easy buckets by speeding up the Dawgs’ tempo. Thiero is also Arkansas’ best rebounder, so he’s critical in this game.

The Pick

Georgia has to avoid getting caught looking ahead. The Dawgs haven’t been successful enough to really look ahead to anybody, but with rival Florida on tap and the Gators sitting five in the nation, it’s natural for Georgia to have its mind on that game.

Arkansas still doesn’t seem to know which pieces go where. This is not working out for Calipari, and he doesn’t seem to have an answer. Unless the Walton Arena crowd steps up, the prospect of 0-6 in the SEC is very real.