Of all the areas head coach Mike White likes regarding his Georgia basketball team, depth may be at the top of his list.
Contributions are coming from everywhere, even when Georgia is not at its defensive best.
Wednesday’s 94-82 win over Mount St. Mary’s was another good example.
“I think we have a lot of guys who can start at other programs,” Noah Thomasson said. “But they’ve sacrificed, they’ve identified their roles, and they know who they are.”
The numbers tell the story.
Ten different Bulldogs (8-3) contributed on offense, led by Jabri Abdur-Rahim with a career-high 23 points, R.J. Melendez with 18, Thomasson with 17, and Blue Cain with 10.
Of Abdur-Rahim’s 23 points, nine came on a trio of three-pointers. He was also a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
“That was a good win for us,” White said. “Three games ago, they kept it very respectable at Ole Miss, who is very good, obviously. We were very fortunate because we could not collect a bunch of stops in this one.”
The statistics bore that out.
Mount St. Mary’s (4-6) out-shot the Bulldogs, shooting 56 percent (33 of 59), with 44 of its 82 points coming from inside the paint on more layups and dunks than White cared to see.
“Our transition defense, our sense of urgency needs to improve, in league play of course,” White said. “Our defensive numbers coming into this game were really good. Obviously, they’ll take a hit after this one, but credit those guys getting downhill, especially No. 1 (Dakota Laffew) and No. 2 (De’Shayne Montgomery), their guards in space. Broken plays, transition, they just seemed to finish everything.”
Ultimately, however, the Bulldogs simply had more bodies than the Mountaineers could handle.
Part of the reason for that is that Wednesday was the first time he’s had his team at full strength, and if the Bulldogs’ sixth-straight win was any indication, having more options will only benefit his squad the rest of the year.
Getting R.J. Sunahara back and Jalen DeLoach returning for the first time in three weeks definitely helped matters.
Although the pair combined for just six points, their presence allowed White to utilize different rotations we’ll see later this year.
“Those guys are two of our toughest guys, probably,” Abdur-Rahim said. “J.J. and R.J. are two unselfish guys, so getting those guys was really good. It took a lot of pressure off us on the toughness end, and it definitely helped us defensively, offensive rebound, and passing, too.”
Twenty-one of Abdur-Rahim’s 23 points came in the first half.
“It was good to have some go in early, but I give credit to Silas (Demary) and J (Justin) Hill for finding me, so credit to them. I just happened to knock some shots down.”
Georgia returns to action Friday afternoon against North Florida. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
This and that
• Abdur-Rahim tied his career high in points (21), made free throws (10), and steals (3) in the first half alone, as he finished with a personal best 23 points.
• Georgia’s win over Mount St. Mary’s, the first meeting between the programs in history, extends Coach White’s longest winning streak leading the Bulldogs to six games. Coach White is now 20-4 at home inside Stegeman Coliseum.
• For the 10th time in 11 games this season and the 33rd time under Coach White, Georgia outscored its opponent in bench points, 43-27.
• Melendez finished with 18 points in the contest, marking the fifth time in the last seven games he’s reached double figures in scoring.
• Georgia’s 94 points is the program’s most in a game since the team’s 98-65 win over Jacksonville in 2020. The Bulldogs scored 49 in the second half, the most its scored in a half this season, and 45 in the first, the third most in a half so far this season.
