Kennesaw State at Georgia
WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 3-3; Kennesaw State 1-6
TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, Marcus Thornton); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Tony Schiavone). XM: 383
The plane ride from the Cayman Islands back to Georgia wasn’t quite the happy journey that Derek Ogbeide thought it would be.
Georgia’s 91-67 defeat at the hands of Georgia State was still very much on everyone’s mind.
“It was one we have to bounce back from. We have to bounce back from it quick,” Ogbeide said. “We need to take it, learn, flush it, move on—just treat it like any other game.”
Tuesday night against visiting Kennesaw State (1-6), the Bulldogs will attempt to do just that.
According to assistant coach Joe Scott, lessons were definitely learned. But it’s not just the mistakes made in the loss to the Panthers that will be the focus.
“I think the main thing is, it’s not the lesson of the Georgia State game, but the lesson of the first six games of the year,” said Scott, who spoke to the media Monday. “Six games in 12 days. Those first six games in 12 days, you can kind of look at that like a mini season within the real season. What have we learned so far? Where can we go from here, as we get ready for the next part of our second season? Because it's going to be a little different.”
As far as what the Bulldogs (3-3) specifically need to do, Scott said there’s a lot.
“As we move forward, I think the main takeaways are how are we going to play offensively, and how are we going to play defensively,” he said. “How are we going to get better at both sides of the ball there? Which guys are going to stick their heads out and be the ones who are going to make us get better?”
According to guard Tyree Crump, some good did come out of the trip, which saw the Bulldogs drop two of three games.
“It brought us closer,” he said. “I think it brought us even closer together.”
Scott agrees, adding that sometimes it takes a little adversity to bring a team closer together and to be able to see for themselves what ultimately needs to be done.
“When you go through back-to-back games, and don’t have time to prepare—those are the kinds of things that bring a team together,” Scott said. “In the end, we’re going to prepare. We’re going to get better and, no matter what it’s going to be, those guys on the court are learning together what we have to do together to get better.”
Ultimately, Scott believes togetherness will serve the team well.
“A lot of times, you can get hung up with this X and that O thing. What it comes down to is that understanding, that togetherness, knowing what we have to do,” he said. “It’s not always going to be pretty, but it’s all of us knowing exactly what we’re doing and staying the course with it.”
