WHAT: Delaware State at Georgia

WHEN: Friday, 7 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 2-0; Delaware State 0-2

TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, Mark Slonaker); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Tony Schiavone).

When Georgia hosts Delaware State Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum, there are a couple of key areas of his team’s play that Tom Crean wants to see improve.

If you were there to witness the Bulldogs’ 95-86 win over The Citadel, you know where the Bulldogs’ head coach is going.

“One thing you cannot fake is urgency defensively, and urgency in rebounding. You can't fake that,” Crean said Thursday. “There are a lot of things you can get away with in sports. There are things you can get away with in basketball, but if your urgency is not right defensively, and if the urgency is not right on the glass, it shows up quick.”

Against the Citadel, it certainly did.

The Bulldogs were out-rebounded 43-36 by the Southern Conference Bulldogs, who took 33 three-point attempts, which was more than half of their 63 shots for the game.

With so many long rebounds as a result, Crean isn’t necessarily bothered that his team didn’t finish with more boards than the visitors from Charleston, S.C. He was bothered by the lack of defensive hustle.

“It wasn't a classic, let's-get-into-each-other type of game, but our hustle wasn't as good,” Crean said. “We got a little stagnant inside of the game and we were open. We missed open shots. We didn't have to work extremely hard to get shots, but that's on us. We’ve got to work harder to get in the paint, get the ball reverse, get the cut, and get the movement, things of that nature.”

Junior Rayshaun Hammonds acknowledged that better effort and better rebounding have been his main message this week.

“He emphasized that the most. Rebound, rebound, rebound,” Hammonds said. “That’s what he wants. If we can’t get a board, then we can’t get the ball. That’s what he wants us to do the most.”

Freshman Christian Brown agreed.

“I mean, the mindset is just go in the paint and get that ball. That’s the main focus,” he said. “If you want to shoot the ball, you have to get the ball. So that’s the main focus is to get rebounds.”

The news wasn’t all bad.

Crean said he was pleased with the 47 deflections his team accrued against The Citadel, but overall felt his team’s youth was exposed.

“One of the hardest things for young players to understand is. you're not just playing to play,” Crean said. “You are playing to compete, you are competing to a commitment of a standard—that standard has to lead you to winning, and that's what we've got to continue to understand.”

There’s more.

“We’ve got to do a way better job of communicating, a way better job of getting the ball stopped—getting back,” Crean said. “We're still doing some very, very sloppy things of reaching for the ball in the back court or trying to make a steal in the back court rather than sprint back. I'm not talking about the guy that's on the ball; I'm talking about making a stab at the ball, and that that's what you want to eliminate. You want them to understand—any team to understand—their history in real hustle and fake hustle.”