ATHENS — Georgia found the culprit, and he’s been banned.

Between in-house cameras and good old gumshoe detective work, the Bulldogs were able to identify the person who threw the toy bulldog onto the court at Stegeman Coliseum at a most inopportune time Wednesday. UGA refused the share the identity of the offending party, saying only that he had been banned from the premises for the rest of the season and his ticket-buying privileges revoked for an unspecified amount of time.

Ultimately, the fan’s actions cost the Bulldogs the game. The stuffed animal landed several feet away from Mississippi State’s Quinndary Weatherspoon after he missed the first of two free throws with the game tied with 0.5 seconds to play. Because an object was hurled onto the floor in the direction of an opposing player, the Bulldogs were assessed a technical foul. Weatherspoon was awarded two more free throws, making the first and deliberately missing the second to give the visitors a 68-67 victory.

Georgia coach Tom Crean was angered by the whole incident for several reasons, not the least of which was he felt a warning should have been issued by the officials before assessing a technical. Crean actually grabbed the public address microphone to tell fans not to throw anything else and thought that’d be it.

According to an SEC spokesman, whether or not to call a technical is at the discretion of the on-floor officials.

“Anytime an object or debris is thrown onto the court there is a potential for a technical foul to be assessed,” the SEC’s Craig Pinkerton told the Athens Banner-Herald. “Issuing a warning after an object is thrown on the playing surface is not required per NCAA Rule 10-2.8, but may be issued at the discretion of the game officials. The game officials are charged with responsibility for determining which team’s follower threw the object on the court. In last night’s game it was the judgment of the officials that the act was committed by a follower of the home team, resulting in a technical foul assessed to the home team.”

It’s too bad a review of the foul that preceded the incident could not be reviewed. The call on Georgia’s Jordan Harris was questionable.

None of it matters at this point. The Bulldogs (10-16, 1-12 SEC) lost their 11th SEC game in a row. They play on the road at Mississippi on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (TV: SEC Network; radio: WSB 750-AM & 95.5 FM).