Tom Crean summed it up quite succinctly after his team’s 105-102 overtime loss to Alabama.

His team needs to learn how to win.

The bad news is, there are plenty of lessons that still need to be learned, and it’s unclear if any answers can be found in time for the team to turn its season around.

Georgia’s struggles have been well-documented.

In its last three losses, Georgia has built double-digit leads, only to have the other team come back to pull out the victory.

Although losing a 12-point second-half advantage wasn’t quite as egregious as blowing 20- and 22-point leads against Missouri and Florida, the Bulldogs’ second-half failures are becoming all too commonplace.

A lack of a true big man has been painfully obvious for Georgia all year—somebody to protect the rim.

That’s not all. The Bulldogs just aren’t guarding well enough to compete in a league like the SEC.

“We’ve got to guard the ball better. That becomes more of an individual pride, we’re going to get down and guard better,” Crean said. “There’s not an excuse being made for that. It has to happen.”

But when?

With an SEC record of 4-24 since taking over the Georgia program, Crean's start in SEC play isn't what many projected, despite the youth currently on the team.

“You get in these situations, like the other day or at Missouri, and we came back against Florida; we let Missouri back in it,” said Crean, who dropped to 4-24 in SEC play since taking over as Georgia's coach. “We’ve just got to bear down and we’ve got to get leadership on the court.”

However, right now, there doesn't seem to be much of that to be found.

Although the Bulldogs played hard against Alabama, this is a team currently devoid of on-court leadership.

You don’t think Nic Claxton is sorely missed?

Sure, Georgia could have used his nearly seven-foot talent, but it’s what Claxton provided from a leadership standpoint that would have served this team well. Claxton played with a huge chip on his shoulder his entire three years in Athens.

Currently, there’s nobody cut in that mold. Some player—any player—needs to step up and assume that mantle led by the current Brooklyn Nets rookie.

Defensively, the Bulldogs currently have nobody able or willing to do that.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re 18 or they’re 22. It’s those guys. Last year, Claxton gets those stops, Christian Harrison get those stops,” Crean said. “They’re not there, so we’ve got to have other guys who can bear down and make those plays. This is the youngest team I’ve ever coached, and it’s just part of it. We’ve just got to keep building through it.”

Until that happens, Georgia’s struggles will continue.

Although the Bulldogs' ability to guard was certainly called into question again, at least Georgia played hard.

That included Anthony Edwards, who played Saturday despite missing practice Friday with the flu, and was less than 100 percent. Nevertheless, Edwards played 36 minutes, finishing with 14 points.

Even Rayshaun Hammonds was able to play his best game in three weeks, finishing with 20 points despite battling a migraine headache earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, freshman Sahvir Wheeler continues to be a shining light.

With Edwards struggling to stay on the court, Wheeler scored a career-best 24 points to help keep Georgia in the game. It's hard to imagine where the Bulldogs would be without him.

There were some positive signs, but right now, not enough to mask the negatives.

“We’re doing a lot of good things, but I don’t come in here painting a rosy picture, because I’m not standing up here feeling that way,” Crean said. “But we just have to learn how to put people away, keep them away. But for us, it really starts with how we guard that ball.”

Unfortunately, that’s an area the Bulldogs simply don’t do very well.

Whether or not they will before the end of the year, Georgia fans will just have to wait and see.

But right now, there's plenty of frustration to go around.