Georgia men's basketball news and notes

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – One of the healthier competitions for Georgia basketball coach Mike White has been the daily duels between fives Braelen Bridges and Syracuse transfer Frank Anselem.

At 6-foot-11 and 245 pounds, Bridges was one of the few bright spots for the Bulldogs last year. He just didn’t have any help.

Thus far, the 6-foot-10 Anselem is giving him just the competition he needs.

“It’s definitely a hard competition. Iron sharpens iron. That’s what we say to each other. It’s definitely going to make us better,” Bridges said. “We definitely attack it every day. We’ll be scratched up, blood every day. We’re playing hard.”

That’s just what White likes to see.

Practices have been extremely physical for the Bulldogs under Georgia’s first-year head coach and the White-Anselem battles have apparently been a highlight.

“It’s been healthy. It’s been a good competition. Those guys go at each other every day, and tell each other about it. But they’re close off the court and keep it between the lines and that’s what you want to see. They make each other better,” White said. “Frank has made Braelen better and Braelen has made Frank better. We’ve got to keep these guys healthy.”

Bridges was one of the few bright spots for the Bulldogs last year, starting all 32 games, averaging 12.9 points and 5.6 boards per game.

But as the only true fives, both will need to stay healthy.

“It’s not like we have three or four true fives out there. But we’ve got two fives who we really like. We can play small ball, too, with MA (Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe) or with KyeRon (Lindsey),” White said. “Who knows how some of these other guys progress, but those two fives have a chance to be pretty good for us.”

Terry Roberts fitting in

One of Georgia’s more heralded transfers is point guard Terry Roberts, and already he’s bringing a certain fire to the court.

White just hopes he’s able to keep it under control.

“He’s ultra-competitive,” White said. “He plays with a lot of emotion, but he’s got to channel that. He can be emotional, but he’s got some leadership qualities, too.”

But there’s work to do there, too.

“Folks tend to follow him a little bit, which is good, but he’s got to maintain his composure, whether he’s going through it or whether the opposing team is on a 5-0 run in practice,” White said. “He’s a guy who’s learning how to lead at this level, and also produce at this level. He’s got a lot of responsibility.”

He can certainly play.

At 6-3, Roberts started all 31 games for Bradley and led the Braves by averaging 14.5 points, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals while logging 28.8 minutes per game.

“He can play a couple of positions for us, obviously he is a point guard by nature. He’s a really good on-ball defender, learning off the ball and growing in that department,” White said. “Offensively, he’s probably our best passer, along with Justin Hill. He’s a guy who can score a little bit, too.”

Injury update

White said his team is “as healthy as it’s been.”

That includes freshman KyeRon Lindsey who has battled various nagging injuries, but according to White, practiced full court on Tuesday.

“It was good to have him back,” White said. “He provides a lot of energy. He’s probably as good of a communicator as we’ve got, especially in terms of a new system.”

When healthy, White said Lindsey can be an important contributor.

“I don't know what his greatest strength is, but he's good at a lot,” White said. “And he's one of these guys, at the end of a practice, he may have 18 points and 10 rebounds and a couple of blocks. He's done a good job staying in front of the basketball, defending. He's just good at a lot. He's a very good basketball player that has a chance to be a very good basketball player at this level in time."

Meanwhile, Justin Hill has been dealing with a hamstring, while Jailyn Ingram (ACL) is just now starting to have some contact.

“It’s going to take time,” White said of Ingram. “But he’s worked really hard, and obviously I want it for him as much as the team.”

In other news:

…White confirmed that walk-on Jaxon Etter is not on scholarship right now. "No. No, he is not, but he's doing a really good job for us,” White said. “He's a leader. He's as consistent as we've got in a lot of areas. He's a joy to coach every day."

… White shrugged off Georgia being picked 13th in the SEC preseason poll announced Wednesday. “Yeah, I'm not into that. I'm into the opposite of it, for us to preach as a staff every day about negating external noise and the poison and so on and so forth, running our own race, not worrying about what other people think,” White said. “That goes both positively and negatively, whether we're picked in the top 2 or 3, whether we're picked in the bottom 2 or 3. For us, it doesn't matter. It's about growth. It's about getting better. It's about becoming the best version of a team, individually, as well, and let the chips fall where they may.”

… White confident Stegeman will be “rocking.” “I just think that it's prime to happen. I just think that there's a lot of excitement throughout the state, again, whether you're talking about Bulldogs or you're talking about just your average basketball fan for Georgia to get going, for Stegeman to get rocking, as it was a few times here this past season,” he said. “Georgia had a tough year, of course, but the one game that sticks out in my mind is Auburn at home when it was absolutely electric, which showed the promise of a place that really wants to see it happen. We expect Stegeman to be a great environment and home-court advantage for us.”