WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 8-5, 0-1; Vanderbilt 9-4, 0-1
TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Mike Morgan, Mark Wise); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle and Tony Schiavone); Sirius/XM (98/190)
Two little words summed up the thought process of Tom Crean and members of the Georgia basketball team during interviews Tuesday at the team’s training facility – bounce back.
Coming off the program’s margin of defeat since 1959, it’s easy to see why the Bulldogs are anxious to wipe the aftertaste left by their 96-50 loss to Tennessee from their collective palates when they host Vanderbilt Wednesday night (6:30 p.m., SEC Network).
Senior Derek Ogbeide put a unique spin on the thought process coming into the game.
“Another thing we had to bounce back from is the mentality,” Ogbeide said. “You go through this kind of thing all the time, but no matter what it is, you’ve just got to retain and be able to bounce back immediately because there are much bigger pancakes to flip.”
Just one deep into the SEC portion of the schedule that statement is most likely true, although moving forward, head coach Tom Crean knows there’s obviously a lot of work to be done.
“The final score wasn’t an issue to me, it was how we played is what I focused on. The final score was what it was. The main issue was we didn’t change the way we could play. They played well. Like I said then, we didn’t make them have to earn a whole lot,” Crean said. “They had to earn a little more than I thought right after the game, but they didn’t have to earn very much. They got it, because they just went and got it, we didn’t make it tough on them. We were never tough on the ball in that game and we didn’t play very smart in the post.”
Foul trouble was a big reason why.
In the game, Ogbeide picked up two personal fouls in the first 90 seconds, with Rashaun Hammonds and Nic Claxton getting called for an early bevy of personal fouls.
“You can’t go into the game and get fouls like that early. He (Ogbeide) is arguably the most improved player on our team. We have some other guys that are up for that award if we were giving it out right now, but Derek would certainly be it right now,” Crean said. “So, if you get two fouls in 90 seconds, then it changes the entire dynamic of the team and we didn’t respond to it well. With that being said that is what you focus on more than focusing on the final score. Where do we have to get better? What hurt us from getting us there? And like I said I think it was pretty uncharacteristic of us but we’ll see. We have to get better.”
Claxton agreed.
“We’ve just got to stay competitive,” Claxton said. “Our shots weren’t falling but something we can control is our toughness and we didn’t do good job of that.”
He was certainly right about the shots.
Georgia’s perimeter game has been spotty all year, but against the Vols was downright ugly as the Bulldogs only converted one of their 20 three-point attempts.
“I knew we weren’t shooting well but we’re not going to sit on that. We came back out and were shooting threes yesterday just like we will today. Right?” Crean said. “I mean the bottom line is that is part of it, unfortunately, and we have got to do a better job of being ready to shoot and a better job of moving the ball, but it’s a great example when you’re not cutting, when you’re not screening, when the ball is not moving the way that it needs to.”
Failure to execute Crean’s basics only compounded the problems that he wants to see corrected against the Commodores.
“There’s not activity, and you’re not getting offensive rebounds for kick-outs and things of that nature, and you’re not getting defensive rebounds that get you up the court and get the game in rotation, you are not going to shoot very well,” he said. “Those are the kind of lessons that you make sure that they walk out there with, but the last thing you want to do in practice is raiding that. You want to move forward. That’s exactly what we do.”
