The only aspect that didn’t go wrong for Georgia in Sunday’s game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi was the final score.
Mark Fox’s squad was victorious, 68-65. Otherwise, the word "brutal" comes to mind, as the Bulldogs committed 24 turnovers against a team that beat NAIA's Our Lady of the Lake by just one point in its season-opener.
Fox didn’t deny the obvious after the game, one which Georgia (3-0) led by as many as 19 points only to see the Islanders come back three times to tie the score before Jordan Harris helped secure the win with a pair of free throws in the final seven seconds.
“I didn’t think we leave here pleased with anything. Certainly, we found a way to win but I was disappointed in all of us, our staff, myself, the team … we just didn’t play well,” Fox said. “I don’t take anything away from the other team but when you get a lead, and that’s two games in a row, we didn’t handle that with much maturity. We’re going to have to make sure we address that.”
Making the turnovers even more unsettling was the fact many of them came from unlikely sources. Yante Maten led the Bulldogs with 19 points and 13 boards but committed seven of Georgia’s 24 turnovers, followed by Derek Ogbeide and Turtle Jackson with three each.
Fifteen of Georgia’s turnovers came in the first half.
“Yante had seven of them and Derek had three in the first half alone. Those guys are upperclassmen, so I was very disappointed in their play today up front. I didn’t think Turtle played very well at all in the game,” Fox said. “Even late, out of a timeout when they score, we know they’re going to press us, we’re supposed to organize our press breaker and we have upperclassmen who made errors there. That’s mental attachment, that’s being disciplined, and especially after a timeout, I was very disappointed in that. But it’s like I told them, at the end of it, it’s a really good experience for us. We certainly have to take better care of the ball.”
Maten didn’t deny responsibility.
“I know I had too many myself, so I just need to address that as a leader, make sure I’m taking care of the ball and setting an example,” Maten said. “I put most of that on me.”
Georgia perimeter shooting left much to be desired for the second straight game. After connecting on just five of 22 three-point attempts against USC-Upstate on Tuesday, the Bulldogs converted just 5 of 21 against TAMU-CC.
“I thought we played very impatient offensively, and a little bit soft offensively,” said Fox, who hopes to find an answer soon for his team’s lack of killer instinct after jumping out to a big lead.
“The killer instinct of our team was J.J. Frazier and he’s not walking back through the door and putting on a uniform. We have to develop that without his personality and I think his court leadership was really missed today,” Fox said. “We have a lot of guys who are making progress, but we’ve got some ways to go, obviously.”
Freshman Rayshawn Harris was the only other Bulldog in double figures, finishing with 15 points. Joseph Kilgore led the Islanders (1-3) with 22.
NOTES: Harris played for the first time after being held out by Fox in Georgia’s first two contests. He finished with seven points. Fox was relatively pleased with what he saw. “He never looked at me cross-eyed when I didn’t play him,” Fox said. “So, maybe he’s starting to grow up and he made a couple of big plays. He made a couple of free throws, but he’s another guy who made a mistake at the end on the press attack. But it was good to have him back and he made a couple of plays for us.”
