Tom Crean admits his Georgia basketball team was not the most confident group heading into Monday night’s game against Western Carolina.
For much of the contest, it showed.
The Southern Conference Catamounts gave the Bulldogs more of a game than most anticipated, before Georgia finished strong to pull out an 85-79 win.
“We’re a little makeshift right now. But to win the game, it’s not important who we’re playing; it’s important that we found a way to win the game,” Crean said. “That’s what we have to do to build some confidence.”
It’s easy to see why Crean felt this way.
After losing Jailyn Ingram to a season-ending ACL, the Bulldogs appeared lost during Saturday’s 80-67 defeat to George Mason.
Monday, a couple of players Crean hoped would step up, did so.
Noah Baumman started in Ingram’s customary four spot and pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds, while junior college transfer Dalen Ridgnal scored a season-high 10 points. He came one rebound short (nine) of having his first double-double as a Bulldog.
When he signed with Georgia out of Cowley Junior College, it was hoped Ridgnal would give the Bulldogs an immediate offensive and rebounding boost. However, injuries he suffered while still at Cowley slowed his progress his Athens. It’s only been recently that the athletic 6-foot-7, 220-pound Ridgnal has begun to feel like his old self.
“He has improved more the last five days than he has in five months,” Crean said. “It’s because of that confidence. The injury really set him back. It set him back mobility-wise, contact-wise, all those things. I think Dalen would have been fine if he'd been fully healthy.”
Ridgnal’s ability as a perimeter threat could also come in handy. On Monday, Ridgnal’s first two field goals were both three-pointers. His 12.9 minutes were also a season high.
“I think I can have a really big impact, rebounding and shooting threes,” Ridgnal said. “I feel I can really be big for us down the stretch against other teams that we play later.”
Fellow newcomers Kario Oqendo, Braelen Bridges, and Aaron Cook also enjoyed big games.
Oquendo led the Bulldogs (5-6) with 21 points, followed by Bridges with 17 and Cook with 13. Cook also dished out a season-high 12 assists.
Western Carolina (6-6) pushed the Bulldogs.
The Catamounts came into the game fourth in the nation in three-point attempts and shot 46 against Georgia. They only converted 12.
“It was pretty crazy. I don’t think in all my years of college basketball I’ve played a team that ran so fast in transition and shot so many threes,” Cook said. “Every time we made a basket, it didn’t matter. They kept attacking.”
After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Catamounts twice came back to gain leads of two points. The final time came with 9:13 left to play before Georgia took back control.
A three-pointer by Cook quickly regained the lead for the Bulldogs, who used a late 9-0 run to take command for good.
“For us, we adjusted,” Crean said. “We had a really good finish to the game with the scoring. They were mixing defenses, and our guys were really active and playing through it. I’m proud we got this one under our belt now, because I didn’t like our confidence at all on Saturday night. I thought our confidence came alive in this game.”
Georgia returns to action on Wednesday when the Bulldogs host East Tennessee State at 7 p.m.
