The frustration of the past week-plus for Georgia reached an apex during Wednesday night’s game with Alabama, an 80-60 loss to the Crimson Tide that head coach Mark Fox was forced to watch from the locker room following his ejection late in the first half.
With 1:59 on the clock, Fox became livid after freshman Jordan Harris was called for a carry, bringing on a double technical and the automatic ejection that went with it.
Down by eight points, Georgia was issued the technical fouls. The Bulldogs eventually went into the half trailing by 14, 41-27.
After the game, Fox delicately tried to explain what happened.
“Here’s why I was upset: I fully understand that Georgia has to earn our keep. We’re not asking to be given anything, but I think every team, every school should be treated fairly. I’m not asking for any favors. We demand that these kids on our team perform a certain way in the classroom. We demand that they are a certain kind of citizen, and we demand a certain kind of effort from our team. These kids work their tails off,” Fox said. “In exchange for those expectations, they know that we are going to fight for them and we’re going to fight for Georgia. I’ll fight for Georgia and for these kids every night. That’s what I decided to do. If I have to do it again … we’re going to fight for our team and our school every night.”
Assistant coach Philip Pearson coached the Bulldogs (12-8, 4-4) the rest of the night.
“We weren’t playing well,” guard J.J. Frazier said. “Coach, I guess, was frustrated about some calls, but give Alabama credit for frustrating us.”
Fox was already at his wits end.
Already frustrated with the officiating in his team’s overtime loss at Florida back on Jan. 14 , and Saturday’s defeat at Texas A&M highlighted by the clock malfunction at the end of the game, Wednesday’s officiating crew of Antinio Petty, John Higgins and Jeffrey Anderson didn’t have Fox feeling any better.
When the carry on Harris was called, the Bulldog head coach exploded.
Fox was asked if the frustration with the officials against the Gators and Aggies played a role in what happened on Wednesday.
“I can’t comment about those two games,” Fox said. “So ... I … yeah, perhaps.”
As for the game, the Bulldogs really never had a chance.
Down by 14 at the half, Alabama led by as many as 22 points in the final 20 minutes, and finished the contest with a 40-27 edge in rebounding.
The 80 points represented the third-most points scored by Alabama this year.
“We just lost – at home … by 20 … it felt like 40. I’d say we’re pretty frustrated,” Fox added.
Yante Maten led the Bulldogs with 20 points, with Juwan Parker the only other Bulldog in double figures with 10.
Braxton Key led Alabama (12-7, 5-2) with 26 points, with Riley Norris and Corban Collins adding 15 each.
“I didn’t do a good enough job of getting our team ready to play. I thought we had a wounded spirit from the weekend and I didn’t get it repaired enough to compete,” Fox said. “I don’t want to take nothing away from Alabama. I thought they were the aggressor, I thought they played well, but I didn’t get our team ready to compete like I needed to.”
Georgia returns to action Saturday against Texas in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. Gametime is 4 p.m.
“I think our players have great pride in themselves and we have to regroup and do what competitors do – compete,” Fox said. “I was disappointed in how we competed tonight. This is a sport in where you’re going to have ups and downs because the season is so long. You have so many games and you hit bumps along the way. You’ve got to find ways to get over those bumps and tonight we didn’t do that.”
