Another disappointing effort

Following Wednesday night’s latest blowout loss, Georgia basketball coach Tom Crean was asked some direct questions following his team’s 95-77 defeat at the hands of Auburn.

For example, who’s responsibility has the winless SEC slide been?

“I would say the entire thing, that would be the answer,” said Crean, whose Bulldogs were coming off a 30-point loss to Arkansas. “The way you asked the question, the responsibility ultimately falls with me.”

As for the game itself, where to start?

Down by 11 at the half, Georgia (7-4, 0-4) cut the lead to four with a 5-0 run to start the final 20 minutes but quickly fell apart, as Auburn (7-6, 1-4) charged ahead by as many as 23 points before settling for the 18-point win.

There were some other ugly numbers as far as the Bulldogs were concerned.

Although the team shot a decent 41.8 percent (14 of 30 from the field), Georgia was an atrocious 17 of 34 from the free-throw line, while Auburn defenders blocked 14 shots, believed to be the most of any team in the country so far this year.

Crean needs some quick answers, including how to address repeated issues that began to manifest during last Saturday’s game at Arkansas.

“We were making runs, and we’d get a couple of baskets, we’d get a couple of stops and we’d make a mistake,” Crean said. “What I haven’t liked the last couple of games is we’ve lost some confidence that we can win the game. A 12-point deficit, a 13-point deficit, a 15-point deficit, as far as Arkansas shoots it, that’s nothing in college basketball.

"We’ve got to be able to work through that better. I’ve got to look at who I’m playing, I’ve got to look at combinations and I may have to make some tough choices.”

Sophomore guard Sahvir Wheeler was asked if he thought that confidence, or lack thereof, was beginning to become an issue.

“I don’t think that confidence is a problem. We know we’re capable,” Wheeler said. “We went to overtime with LSU on the road, one of the better teams in the SEC. Obviously, the past two games we have not played as great. We have things to work on, the team knows that, but I don’t think confidence is an issue because we know we’re capable.”

Wheeler scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs, but the real bright spot was the play of freshman K.D. Johnson, who scored 21 points in his college debut.

“He showed that we missed him for 10 games, that he brings a different level of energy and competitiveness to the game,” Crean said. “The only player where they didn’t go through our chest and take the ball to the rim against was K.D.”

For a team that was clobbered by 30 points their last game at Arkansas, the Bulldogs did not exactly come out looking like someone anxious to make amends.

Ragged would be a better term.

The Bulldogs started the game just 10 of 28 from the field wound up missing 10 free throws in the first half (4 of 14).

Conversely, Auburn-which led by as many as 16 points-did everything right.

The Tigers shot 57.1 percent (16 of 28) from the field, and unlike Georgia, converted their free throws, hitting 10 of their 12 attempts.

Georgia’s lone bright spot in the first half was Johnson’s appearance after missing the first 10 games due to being a credit short of eligibility. The former Southwest DeKalb standout tied Wheeler for first-half scoring honors with seven points in 13 minutes.

Freshman Shariffe Cooper led six Auburn players in double-figures with 28 points.

Boxscore

Georgia travels to Ole Miss on Saturday. Tip-off is set for noon.