With 10 newcomers, it should come as little surprise that one of Tom Crean’s bigger challenges for his team is developing the kind of on-court chemistry it’ll need once the regular season gets underway next week.
Hopefully, the Bulldogs will find a rhythm fast.
The Bulldogs defeated Division II Morehouse Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum 64-49, but despite the win, Crean admits that chemistry on the court still has a ways to go.
“No, we don’t have that yet. Our kids are really good guys. I love going to work with these guys and it’s an extremely mature group,” Crean said. “When you’ve got 10 new players and the leading returning guy is Jaxon Etter now that PJ’s (Horne) gone, it make everything that much more of a challenge.”
However, Crean believes progress is being made, despite the fact some of the numbers did not necessarily bear that out.
The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Division II Maroon Tigers 53-33, but from the field, struggled shooting the ball, shooting 37 percent (29 of 64), including 26.9 percent (7 of 26) from three-point range.
Georgia finished 9 of 18 from the free throw line.
“We didn’t cut well tonight. When the ball is moving, we’re a good team. When the ball isn’t moving and that next pass isn’t made, we’re not a good team,” Crean said. “Shooting, we’re missing threes that we make, and we’re missing free throws that we make, but I’m not concerned about that, we’ll get that. We’ve just got to find rotations of guys, but this was two good games for us to find out where we need to go, going into the regular season.”
The Bulldogs don’t have long to figure it out.
Georgia’s regular season tips off Tuesday when Florida International comes to Athens (7 p.m.).
Of Georgia’s 10 newcomers making their debut, three stood out.
Atlanta center Braelen Bridges tied fellow newcomer Kario Oquendo with a team-high 12 points, while Gonzaga transfer guard Aaron Cook chipped in with 10.
Bridges completed his double-double with 10 rebounds, one behind team-leader Jailyn Ingram who had 11.
“I’m going to be rebounding, protecting the rim without fouling, and I’m going to bring an inside scoring presence,” said Bridges, Georgia’s biggest player at 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds. “I want my teammates to feel they’ve got help whenever they might get beat.”
Georgia led 32-18 at the half despite getting off to a slow start
The Bulldogs only held a 14-10 lead almost nine minutes in, before the team finally started finding its offensive rhythm the final 11 minutes of the half.
Southern Cal transfer Noah Baumann tallied one of Georgia’s four first-half threes, sparking an 8-4 spurt before the Bulldogs closed the first half on a 10-1 run to account for their 14-point halftime lead.
In the second half, Morehouse closed within two points at 41-39 with 9:10 left but would get no closer. Georgia scored the final 10 points of the game to ice the victory.
“You don’t want to walk out of these games with an unrealistic view of what you’ve got to get better at, and I thought Morehouse came out with an aggressive, we’re going to get after you mindset,” Crean said. “That was absolutely perfect for us, because we’ve got to see that. We’ve got to understand that everybody who comes in here has read the press clippings, and they’re going to want to get that win.”
