WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 1 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 10-12, 1-8; Ole Miss 15-7, 5-4

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Richard Cross, Debbie Antonelli); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Tony Schiavone); Sirius/XM (111/191).

Getting a handle on some of Georgia’s defensive issues continues to be focus for coaches heading into Saturday’s home game against visiting Ole Miss (1 p.m., SEC Network).

For those watched the Bulldogs’ most recent two losses to South Carolina (66-60) and Alabama (89-74), you’ll understand why.

Both the Gamecocks and Crimson Tide converted an identical 33 of 58 shots against the Bulldogs, who have also allowed 82 or more points in three of their last five games and rank dead last in the SEC in scoring defense having given up a conference high average of 75.2 points.

So, what's been the problem?

“I think everybody individually is on their own continuum a little bit,” assistant coach Joe Scott said Friday. “I think right now that’s where we are, just sort of merging all the guys, whoever they are, into sort of getting the collective understanding at this juncture of what we’re really striving for defensively, what we’re really striving for offensively.”

Scott spoke to reporters during the team’s regularly scheduled media session in place of head coach Tom Crean, whose Bulldogs (10-12, 1-8) face an Ole Miss team (15-7, 5-4) which snapped a four-game losing streak with Wednesday’s win over Texas A&M.

For Georgia to have success, it’s going to start with getting its players on the same defensive page.

“Obviously, it’s (the system) new for everybody but I do think certain guys show it a little bit better than others like, this is what we’re really looking for. That’s our focus as a staff,” Scott said. “We’ve got to do our part to get our guys to really help them understand what we want defensively in terms of whether it’s guarding the ball, guarding off the ball, personnel-wise and I think shrink it down for them at this juncture.”

Senior Derek Ogbeide admits it hasn’t been easy.

A lot has been written about the Bulldogs having to learn a new system under Crean. While that’s certainly been true, some of the recent defensive lapses have been a head scratcher.

“It’s not easy, it’s not supposed to be but you have to find a way of putting it all together, playing at one speed and that’s a balance,” Ogbeide said. “It’s like water, you want to be able to get to that point and then just flowing from there.”

Unfortunately, getting all five players on the same defensive page is proving to be quite the chore.

“This game is always a team game, it’s always a collective team defense of five guys,” Scott said. “It’s all five of those guys understanding on the ball, what we’re looking on the ball. For example, something we’re working to do a better job of is really get them to understand specifically what we want to happen … what we want to have happen on the ball and next what we want right off the ball, what we want specifically ... sort of that job responsibility, then take a step further out and now that means this is how we want to guard three-point shooters.”

Ironically, this is an area where the Bulldogs haven’t done that badly.

Even counting the previous two games, Georgia ranks sixth in both field goal and three-point defense with opponents converting .421 and .329 of those shots, respectively.

However, it’s that sort of inconsistency that Scott said the team has to find a solution for.

“Really, I think at this juncture get to be so specific so that we can get the team defensive element about,” he said. “Individually, we all know hey, you’ve got to keep your body in front of your man but we are really striving to get that collective five person, team defensive concept across and if we can do that then I think we’re going to see the improvement that we all want to see.”