Debacle in Fayetteville
Tom Crean was asked if he would be burning the film from Georgia’s game Saturday afternoon at Arkansas.
Although his answer was no, once he does turn it on, what transpired at Bud Walton Arena during his team’s 99-69 drubbing at the hands of the Razorbacks is going to be difficult to watch.
For a team that during non-conference play looked every bit of a program ready to take the next step, Saturday’s effort was two giant ones back.
“That’s effort. It was effort, it was effort tonight. Communication falls under effort. Hustle back and transition falls under effort. Guarding the first dribble falls under effort. Giving up drives—that’s all effort related,” Crean said. “I would love to put it, ‘Hey, we just didn’t call this out or we didn’t call that out.’ That’s part of it, but our effort was not nearly good enough on guarding the ball.”
That was especially true in the second half.
The Bulldogs (7-3, 0-3) only trailed by a modest six points going into the half. But in the second, Arkansas outscored Georgia 56-32.
“They punched us early in the second half, and we didn’t respond to it. We had nobody respond to it, and no one took the bull by the horns—so to speak—to rally the team. Again, we just didn’t get back defensively as well,” Crean said. “We started trying to take things into our own hands, offensively. We have to make some adjustments. We have to do things a little bit different. Today was the first time that somebody absolutely came at us that way, in that second half. In the first half we were doing a lot good things.”
The lead changed seven times over the first 10 minutes of the game, until a 7-0 run by the Razorbacks pushed the Arkansas ahead 32-24 with 5:43 on the clock.
But back came the Bulldogs.
After going 4:25 without a field goal, Georgia responded with a 6-0 run, capped by an alley-oop dunk by Camara to bring the Bulldog back within two.
However, Arkansas used a pair of three-pointers to push the lead back to nine at 41-32, before five straight points by Andrew Garcia drew Georgia within four.
“We were giving up some points, but we were scoring points. We were right there. We didn’t come out with the same fervor as they did and they turned it up,” Crean said. “We did not respond, even when it was 12, 14, 15, 16, in that area when it is still such a winnable ball game. I think it was 18-20, with 12 minutes to go—that’s a lifetime of basketball.
“But today when they were looking back at me, they weren’t believing me. Right? There was too much quietness, too much into our own feelings, too much pouting—whatever it is, it didn’t manifest itself in being together enough. Our youth, our newness, whatever it is, those things came out because no one really responded and tried to lead the team through it. That hurt us, no doubt about it.”
Andrew Garcia and Toumani Camara led Georgia with 15 points each, with Sahvir Wheeler adding 14.
Freshman Moses Moody scored 25 to lead Arkansas, which dominated the Bulldogs on the glass 40-30.
"Yeah, we did not do enough. Toumani Camara had 16 boards the other night, and he had zero tonight. We did not come out for a 40-minute battle. When you come out for a 40-minute battle rebounds are a huge part of that,” Crean said. “I think the rebounding was four or five at the half. But no, we were not nearly as active as we needed to be.”
The Bulldogs fell to 8-33 under Crean in SEC games, which include a 1-1 showing in the SEC Tournament. Georgia returns to action Wednesday night against Auburn at Stegeman Coliseum.
"I can't go to the big picture, I really can't because the season just started. We would have played our tenth game on December 22 last year, after we got back from Arizona State,” Crean said. “I mean the second half was tough. The first half we were right where we needed to be, but in the second half the wheels came off of this thing and we had nobody that wanted to get greasy and put the wheels back on, on the floor. I am just more concerned right now that we bounce back from this and that we get ready for Auburn."
