Opening act a success for Tom Crean, Bulldogs
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Although it was just an exhibition, Tom Crean couldn’t have asked for more on Thursday night as his team faced UAB.
A raucous home crowd at Bartow Arena made the game seem like the real thing; Georgia's effort and intensity weren’t bad, either. Neither was the final outcome, a 56-54 win over a Blazer team that went 20-13 a season ago.
The second half was the real story of the night.
After committing 13 turnovers in the first half, the Bulldogs found themselves down 27-25. In the second half, the Bulldogs played better, outscoring the Blazers 31-27 and twice denying UAB a basket over the final 18 seconds to hold on for the victory.
“The way we played with more physicality, the more we played with more intent, the way we played with more aggressiveness in the second half, is something we can build toward,” said Crean, who wasn’t sure what to expect from his team this early in the year.
“It’s not about the system and those sorts of things yet, but we look a lot better when the shots are going in,” Crean said. “We don’t understand the cutting yet. I think we got fouled on one cut, we’ve got to learn how to do that. We didn’t do a lot of movement and cutting on the court. We’ll learn that. That’s not natural yet. We’ll shoot better. But there are two things I said: momentum is always up for grabs, and the game is always giving you something. It may not be what you wanted, it may not be what you plan for, it may not be what’s pretty—you’ve got to find it, and our guys figured it out tonight.”
After pulling down just three offensive rebounds in the first half, the Bulldogs registered 11 offensive boards in the second half.
“We had 19 deflections in the second half,” Crean said. “Those things made us better, and we did a good job whether we were in man, whether we were in zone.”
Senior E’Torrion Wilridge came out strong after halftime.
Wilridge didn’t play a single minute in the first half, but started the second, primarily to try and stop talented Blazer sophomore Zack Bryant, who led all scorers with 12 points the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, Bryant finished with just two, due largely to Wilridge.
“We went with him (Wilridge) as the momentum-changer. We were flat-footed. The guys who were guarding him did not accept the challenge, and again, we tried to game plan around No. 1 with his ability on the break. He’s fantastic with his feet, he gets downhill. He’s got a great body and great body balance, which don’t always go together,” Crean said. “We wanted to try something different. E’Torrion has some defensive stop capabilities, he doesn’t play that way every day in practice. This will be a confidence starter for him to bring more of that, and he legitimately changed momentum for us in the second half.”
Turtle Jackson, meanwhile, only scored three points, but like Wilridge played exceptional defense and did not commit a turnover in 20 minutes of play.
“Whatever Coach Crean wants, that’s the thing,” Jackson said. “I just played on defense, and thank God everything went well and we got the win.”
Crean liked what he saw.
“Turtle was really aggressive in the second half. He missed a couple of threes, because his footwork was not where it needed to be. He was too close to the line, and hasn’t grasped that part of it yet, which he will,” Crean said. “What he did do, is he handled the ball and he defended, and that’s we need. They’ll continue to get better and make progress.”
Rayshaun Hammonds led the Bulldogs with 13 points—11 coming in the second half—including a layup with 1:11 to play to make the score 56-53.
With nineteen seconds left, UAB still had a chance to tie or win, but never got off a shot, ultimately losing the ball on a turnover by Bryant at the buzzer, securing the win for the Bulldogs.
JoJo Toppin and Nicolas Claxton added eight points each for the Bulldogs.