Preview: South Carolina at Georgia: Looking to respond
WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 13-7, 3-4; South Carolina 8-12, 1-6
TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Dave Neal, Joe Kleine); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)
Mike White’s message to his Georgia basketball team after three straight losses – the latest a 31-point blowout defeat at Tennessee - was a simple one.
It’s time to respond.
Saturday in Stegeman Coliseum, the Bulldogs (13-7, 3-4) have an opportunity to do that against a South Carolina (8-12, 1-6) looking for its second SEC win.
Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. (SEC Network).
“I'm not super proud of the loss at all, but at the same time one loss to a team that could potentially make a deep run in March on the road in Knoxville shouldn't define who we are,” White said after practice on Friday. “We got to respond, that's it, we talk about responses every day in life and in between lines, and our guys have done a good job responding to adversity up to this point and I expect us to do the same. Whether that's a win or a loss, I expect us to play hard and execute and it will be a great environment. Our guys are not quite right now, they're tired from practice, so (Saturday) they will be ready to tip it up."
With 13 wins, the Bulldogs have already doubled last year’s victory total, while their three conference wins are two more than Georgia had all of last year.
While the Bulldogs still qualify as one of the surprise teams in the conference, senior Jaxon Etter admits a certain amount of complacency may have set in after getting off to a 13-4 start.
“It’s easy to just sit there and say we’re better than we were last year. That was a topic we just talked about in film (session), and that is we can’t get complacent,” Etter said. “That’s MAYBE what set in a little bit; complacency, guys maybe being content with hey, we’ve tripled our SEC wins last year, I’m comfortable. That’s kind of the barrier that we need to break, to get through that complacency and get hungry.”
Guard Justin Hill said it’s as simple as putting forth the effort needed to be successful.
“We’ve just got to play harder and get back to how we were playing before,” Hill said. “Don’t let them get rhythm threes off the three-point line; just do what we were doing that made us successful in those other games and carry it over to here.”
White could not agree more.
Although the offense was certainly lacking against Tennessee when the Bulldogs tallied just 40 points, it’s his team’s intensity on the defense that he wants to see improve.
How much, so?
“A ton. It lacked in the second half at Rupp Arena, you’re on the road at Kentucky, I’m going back, three, two and a half games now, they had 20 fouls which was a part of that, and giving up a lead,” White said. “We didn’t respond like we’re talking about needing to Saturday in that next one (against Vanderbilt) defensively. Vanderbilt was our best offensive game analytically this season, but defensively, it was one of our worst few.”
Against South Carolina – which beat Kentucky at Rupp Arena for its only league win – that’s something that simply cannot happen.
“At home, there’s no excuse for that. We don’t need for it to be one of our best games, by I’d like for it to be one of our best offensive performances of the year,” White said. “But what’s easier for us to control is our intensity, our effort, our energy, being in our stance and communicating and sprinting around. I just want to see us play really, really hard.”
Etter did all he could to help team
The nine minutes Jaxon Etter saw in Wednesday’s loss to Tennessee marked the first game action in the previous seven games.
However, that did not mean the senior from Woodstock did not do whatever he could to help the team.
“I actually reached out to Coach Dean (Antonio Reynolds Dean) to put me on the scout team, and I’d do anything I could do to possibly help the team,” Etter said. “So, was giving it my all no matter what my role was, whether it was diving on the scout team, or diving on the floor in a game. No matter what is, I’m going to do what I can to help Georgia basketball.”
Etter is averaging nine minutes in his nine games played.
This and that
• According to KenPom.com, UGA is the nation’s most improved defense, up 243 spots from last season.
• UGA enters the weekend ranked No. 13 nationally in 3-point FG percentage defense at .287.
• UGA is on pace to hold opponents under 30.0 from 3-point range for just the 2nd time in program history.
• UGA’s assist-to-TO ratio is up by +.20 since Thanksgiving, the best improvement by an SEC team during that span.
Scouting South Carolina
South Carolina slipped to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in the SEC with an 81-60 setback at Florida on Wednesday night. The Gamecocks’ league win was an impressive 71-68 victory at Kentucky.
The Gamecocks are in their first campaign under head coach Lamont Paris, who spent the previous five years at Chattanooga. Paris led the Mocs to a pair of 20-win seasons and an NCAA Tournament bid last spring when they finished 27-8 and swept the South Conference regular season and tournament titles.
Freshman Gregory “GG” Jackson II’s averages of 16.1 points and 6.9 rebounds not only lead South Carolina, they rank No. 5 and No. 8, respectively, among SEC leaders.
Three more Gamecocks are putting up points at a double-digit clip, with Meechie Johnson at 11.9 ppg, Chico Carter Jr. at 10.9 ppg and Hayden Brown at 10.4 ppg.