Georgia at Arkansas

WHERE: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Arkansas

WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 14-9, 4-6; Arkansas 11-11, 2-7

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Mike Morgon, Joe Klein); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie.

With his team losers of four straight entering Saturday night’s game at Arkansas (6 p.m., SEC Network), head coach Mike White was asked if it was negatively affecting his Bulldog program.

“We’ve got games to go. We had a great practice today and are really focused on our opportunity tomorrow at Arkansas,” White said after practice on Friday. “We’ve got a bunch of opportunities in front of us; I’m coaching good guys every day.

"We had good recruiting year last year and are on our way to another really good class. But that said, we’re focused on these guys and the opportunities that lie here in front of us.”

Once in the conversation for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, White’s only concern right now is breaking his team out of its current skid.

After beating LSU, the Bulldogs have dropped four straight (Florida, Alabama, South Carolina Mississippi State) to programs White expects will be in the postseason next month.

“We’ve been competitive against some of the best teams in the country. We’ve just got to keep focusing on this team and the opportunities of maxing out, because I just feel we can get over the hump,” White said. “But the league right now--were we favored by 15 and the wheels are falling off? No, it’s not that. It’s not that scenario. We’ve lost to some very good teams whom we had chances to beat. So, there are some positives. Do I like the fact that we lost four in a row? Obviously not.”

The Bulldogs would love a repeat of their early game against the Razorbacks.

Georgia toppled Arkansas 76-66 on January 10 in Athens, and the Razorbacks have continued to struggle, entering play with a record of 11-11, 2-7 in conference action.

“If we sit here and sulk, we’ve got no shot at Arkansas,” White said. “But I loved our fight in Starkville. We got open looks early against one of the stingiest defenses in the league. I liked that response, because we kept fighting and did some good things and all of a sudden, we find ourselves down three with five minutes left where, with a lot of teams in our league, that may not have been the case.”

Still, White acknowledges there are problems and addressed them with beat writers during Friday’s Zoom.

“There are empty possessions, a couple of ill-advised decisions. There’s some inexperience mistakes here and there. We’ve got a couple of freshmen playing a lot of minutes whom I think are really good, and I think are going to be really, really good players,” White said. “Overall, I would say our inefficiently from two, both offensively and defensively, has been our biggest crutch. The fact that we struggled to score it on the interior, really struggled to score in comparison to the rest of our league. It’s the thing with our two-point percentage defense, with our rim protection. We’ve struggled in those areas, and our margin for error defensively is pretty small. But these guys are going to keep fighting and competing.”

• Georgia entered this weekend No. 17 nationally in bench points, with UGA’s reserves contributing 29.8 points per game. The Bulldogs have won the bench point battle in 20 of 23 games and sport a scoring margin of +304 (+13.2 points per game).

• The Bulldogs are one of three teams with a higher-scoring offense in SEC games than in non-conference play. The Bulldogs put up 75.4 points per game in 13 non-league games before averaging 76.6 in SEC outings (+1.2 points per game).

• The four-game losing streak has featured a quartet of competitive and somewhat dramatic setbacks. The Bulldogs rallied from 21 points down to force overtime at Florida before falling 102-98. Georgia then owned double-digit leads over both No. 24/22 Alabama and South Carolina before the Tide and Gamecocks rallied. The Bulldogs led for a combined 56:55 of those contests – 33:49 against Alabama and 23:06 versus South Carolina. Georgia trimmed a 13-point deficit to three in Starkville before State surged to victory.

Arkansas is 11-11 overall and 2-7 in the SEC this season and is coming off an open midweek date. The Razorbacks were 9-4 in non-conference play and climbed as high as No. 14 in the AP and coaches polls earlier this season.

Tramon Mark leads the Razorbacks offensively, averaging 17.8 points per game. Khalif Battle sports a second double-digit scoring output at 10.7 points per game. Trevon Brazile is Arkansas’ top rebounder, collecting 6.5 rebounds per game.