George Mason at Georgia
WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Saturday, 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 4-5; George Mason 5-5
TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, Mark Slonaker); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)
The loss of graduate transfer Jailyn Ingram to a season-ending ACL injury is forcing head coach Tom Crean and his staff to do some major adjusting ahead of Saturday’s game against visiting George Mason (7 p.m., SEC Network+).
Ingram was not only Georgia’s third-leading scorer (10.7 points per game) but he and Aaron Cook were the team’s most experienced players in terms of games played, and he was the Bulldogs’ top rebounder with 6.0 boards per game.
“We are going to have to play different. Not wholesale differently, but we are going to have to do some different things,” Crean said. “Guys are going to have to do more things like rebounding and getting to the rim. We are going to have to change our post-up outside of Braelen (Bridges). Jailyn (Ingram) was not only our starting four-man, but he was basically our first back-up inside.”
Ingram, who suffered the non-contact injury in his right knee during the win over Jacksonville, underwent successful surgery Friday afternoon.
So, exactly what will Crean, and the Bulldogs attempt to do?
For one, look for junior college transfer Dalen Ridgnal to play an increased role. Ridgnal, who was slowed by injury to start the year, has slowly seen his minutes increase, and that should certainly continue now that Ingram’s season is done.
“Injury-wise, he's (Ridgnal) getting comfortable, and now he has to do it earlier. I think Noah Baumann. It changes the game for us. Jaxon Etter has got to continue to do the multiple things that he does. He epitomizes 'Swiss Army Knife,’” Crean said. “I think Tyrone Baker, Josh Taylor; Those guys have got to be ready to go. But I think the one guy who brings something defensively, not only in the post but on the perimeter, is Ty McMillan.
“Jailyn did a lot of things, but when you take him and Aaron, those were two guys who, whatever you needed to be done offensively or defensively, they could find a way to do it.”
Cook, who returned to action against Jacksonville after missing the Memphis game with the flu, said the rest of the team just has to step up.
"One thing that coach always says in practice is ‘next guy up.’ Just because one guy goes down, we can't fold or not respond. We have to have somebody that is willing to step up. It might not be just one guy; it might be five guys, six guys,” Cook said. “The whole team has to make adjustments, especially with a player like Jailyn who can score, rebound, play defense; he did it all for us. I think it's going to be a complete team effort to compensate for his efforts."
Kario Oquendo said the 11 days between games has helped with the transition of not having Ingram with them on the court.
“At first we were kind of like, ‘What are we going to do?’ Now we have more of a sense of what we're going to do as a team without having Jailyn (Ingram) on the court,” Oquendo said. “The 9-10 days have helped us. We came in, some days we scrimmaged, some days we did other things. We cleaned a lot of stuff up.”
The next step is making sure the confidence the team gained by defeating Memphis and Jacksonville doesn’t disappear against George Mason (5-5), the first of three games for Georgia over the next five days.
“It took me a day to get mine back up, to be honest with you. A leader can’t have doubts. Even when you don’t know how it’s going to go, the leader can’t have any doubts, and I don’t. I don’t know how we are going to play yet,” Crean said. “We are going to have to morph into that a little bit, because with the three-point shooting, with the spacing. We’re taking out a 23, 24-year-old man that is incredibly tough and physical and can do so many different things. You just have to try and build the confidence.”
NOTES: Crean revealed that he, along with his assistant coaches and most of his players, took their booster shot for Covid-19. … One of Georgia Mason’s assistant coaches is none other than former Bulldog head coach Dennis Felton.
