Georgia South Carolina

WHERE: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, S.C.

WHEN: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 14-13, 4-10; South Carolina 16-11; 8-6

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Roy Philpott, Mark Wise); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie); XM/Internet (380/970)

Tom Crean was asked Monday how much improvement his team has made in the past week, considering his Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back SEC victories for the first time this year.

“We’ll find out. We’re going to find out,” quipped Crean, whose Georgia squad travels to South Carolina Wednesday night.

It’s easy to see why Crean responded in the manner in which he did.

When the two teams last met a couple of weeks ago in Athens, South Carolina embarrassed Georgia on its home court, outplaying the Bulldogs in every facet possible.

Not only did Georgia convert just 18 of 52 shots from the field, but the Dawgs were just 3 of 24 from three-point range, were buried on the boards 45-33 and committed 19 turnovers.

“Our inconsistencies have been abundant this year; that’s pretty obvious,” Crean said. “We didn’t play hard enough; we didn’t play tough enough, and we didn’t play physical enough. I always think we play hard, but hard and physical and hard and tough are two different things. We have to continue to learn and understand that.”

At least the Bulldogs (14-13, 4-10) come into Wednesday night’s game in a better frame of mind than they did in the first meeting against South Carolina.

Back-to-back victories over Auburn and Vanderbilt (on a last-second shot by Tyree Crump) has injected some needed energy into a program that had previously dropped eight of its nine games.

"There's got to be a level of individual determination in this game. There's really nobody that played well against South Carolina the first time, in the sense of getting into the fight and being in the mix,” Crean said. “They took advantage of it. We did not respond to the physicality of the game. We didn't cut, we didn't move the ball the way we needed to, and we lost our way a little bit in that game when it came to fighting back.”

At least now the Bulldogs know what they need to be ready for.

“That's what it is more than anything else. We have to go in there—home, road, doesn't make a difference—you have to go in there and know you have to have some toughness,” Crean said. “You're going to have to match their energy. We're going to have to be ready for the physicality. We've got to play. It's really more about a mindset than anything about Xs and Os.”

Crean continues to be proud of freshman Anthony Edwards for the way he’s handled the constant attention that’s followed him this year.

“When you come in with this expectation level, when you come in with the ranking he has, there is nowhere to go but down from that. It wasn’t like he was going up from that,” Crean said. “He’s the only one, maybe James Wiseman, would have been the other, and then James Wiseman didn’t play. They’re the only two in the country that could have that said about them, that I could remember when it comes to college freshmen coming in.”

Statistically, Edwards continues to impress, capturing his school-record third SEC Freshman of the Week Award Monday after averaging 18.5 points in Georgia’s wins over Auburn and Vanderbilt.

With 511 points, Edwards has scored the third most points by a Bulldog freshman, and is only four points away from tying Jumaine Jones for the No. 2 spot.

“We’re just making sure his energy is good, to make sure he's getting better,” Crean said. “We just want to make sure his confidence is high, that he does understand how to read different situations, and that when it comes game time, he does his very best like the rest of them.”

During Dwyane Wade’s recent jersey retirement ceremony in Miami, the former NBA great took time to pay homage to Crean, who served as his coach while at Marquette.

The relationship between the two men has been well documented, and during his speech, Wade credited his former coach for helping make his career what it was.

“I saw the video; I have not seen the show though. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the documentary. My wife has seen most of it, but no, I'm way behind. I’m behind on the "Inside the SEC." I did see the first part of his speech. I really would have liked to have been there,” Crean said. “We’ve got a great relationship, we’ve been through a lot, would have loved to have been there. It just wasn’t going to work out with the travel to Vanderbilt. But I’m proud of him. I’ll watch the speech in its entirety, just like I’ll watch the documentary, and I’m proud to be a part of all of that. Proud to be a part of his life, continue to be and will be forever."–Crean

Anthony Dasher

Georgia is coming off back-to-back SEC wins for the first time all year, but it faces a South Carolina team that dominated the Bulldogs in every category two weeks ago in Athens, winning 75-59. While it’s reasonable to expect a better showing by Georgia in Columbia, it’s still tough to see the Bulldogs pulling this one out. Prediction: South Carolina 72, Georgia 64.

Georgia returns home to Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday against Arkansas. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m ET. The Bulldogs will then close out the regular season with a home contest against Florida (March 4) and the finale at LSU (March 7).