Winthrop at Georgia

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Friday, 5 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 2-3; Winthrop 4-2

TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, color analyst); Georgia Bulldog: (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, color analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

As the only program in the country to play four Power Conference programs among its first five games, head coach Mike White knew there’d be a risk.

On one hand, by playing such a schedule, White and his staff would learn rather quickly the Bulldogs’ deficiencies, while competing against programs similar to what Georgia will see during SEC play.

On the other hand, when you play the likes of Oregon, Final Four participant Miami, and Providence, early wins might be hard to come by.

“We talked about our schedule in these past couple of months during the preseason leading into the tip off of the season, ‘We’re going to play a demanding schedule, a pretty unique schedule.’ We told our guys that we wanted to give them an opportunity to play that tough schedule to give them opportunities or postseason potential but also for growth and development,” White said. “Our guys know that we have plenty of more opportunities, but at the same time, there needs to be a level of urgency leading into Friday.”

The Bulldogs (2-3) look to regroup Friday afternoon at 5, when Georgia hosts Winthrop (4-2) at Stegeman Coliseum.

Coach Skip Prosser’s squad won’t be a pushover. The Eagles won 23 games last year en route to capturing the Big South regular season championship, featuring five players in double-figures.

But as much as White respects the challenge Winthrop will bring, Friday’s game is all about the Bulldogs.

“Our focus is on us as much as anything. Our mentality, our eagerness, hopefully, if we’re not eager, then we’re incorrect to get better coming off an 0-2 stint in the Bahamas,” White said. “We want to rebound, figuratively. We want to come back and play really well on the court we’ve practiced on the last couple of days.”

Getting better on the boards is one of those areas that White wants to see his team improve.

Although it’s still early, the Bulldogs rank last among the 14 SEC teams in rebounding, allowing opponents to hold a 43.60 to 35.80 edge in the team’s five games.

“Overall, collectively, we're very average. We’ve been outrebounded a bunch. I like our activity in the last one. There were two teams playing hard. We had chances at some of those 50-50 balls in the paint, but Providence just got more than we did,” White said. “Whether it's lineups, how many guys we have crashing offensively, how aggressive our block outs are defensively, or whether it should be a block-out scenario or a chasing-the-ball-down scenario. We have a lot of things we’re considering as a staff and communicating with our guys, because we obviously have a lot of room for improvement there.”

Offensively, there are areas of growth needed there, too.

Although much can be attributed to the team’s tough early schedule, Georgia’s 69.40 per game average is last in the SEC.

“Offensively, we’ve got to move it better, and sometimes that means that we’ve got to dribble it less, cut more, and space better in order to move it better. We’ve got to be willing to trust each other. As we continue to grow together offensively,” White said. “Offensive and defensive rebounding is a big factor for us. A big topic of conversation the last couple of days. That’s something I think that has got to improve for us to be more competitive in our league this year.”

The Eagles opened the year with a 78-56 setback at Clemson. Last weekend, Winthrop won all three of its outings as part of the Rock Hill Classic.

Skip Prosser is in his third season with the Eagles. In 2021-22, his first season in Rock Hill, Prosser led Winthrop to the Big South regular-season championship and a 23-win campaign that included a perfect 13-0 home mark.

Winthrop sports no less than five double-digit scorers. Kelton Talford paces the Eagles at 14.0 ppg, followed by K.J. Doucet at 11.8 ppg, Nick Johnson at 11.2 ppg, Noah Van Bibber at 11.0 ppg, and Sin’Cere McMahon at 10.0 ppg. Alex Timmerman leads Winthrop at 5.0 RPG.

The Eagles also feature Chase Claxton, the son of former Georgia All-SEC center Charles Claxton and brother of former Bulldog All-SEC forward and current Brooklyn Net Nic Claxton.

Chase Claxton is in his fifth season with the Eagles, starting 55 of 115 games played and helping Winthrop to back-to-back Big South Tournament titles in 2020 and 2021 and an NCAA Tournament bid in 2021.