Georgia basketball: Three keys to victory against Vanderbilt
Georgia basketball plays Vanderbilt in a big SEC road game Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. That game is on the SEC Network.
Georgia basketball heads to Nashville, Tenn. for an important SEC game against the Vanderbilt Commodores. A win keeps Georgia’s NCAA Tournament dreams alive, but a loss might be the final nail in the coffin. Here are three things the Bulldogs must do to avoid another SEC loss.
Limit turnovers
Turnovers weren’t a huge issue for Georgia throughout the season. Only recently have they affected the outcome of games. Giveaways were a catalyst of Florida’s 20-point comeback win on Feb. 5. The Bulldogs gave the ball away 19 times in the loss to South Carolina at home and 21 times in the road loss to Texas A&M. Georgia cut down on turnovers Wednesday when it upset Auburn.
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Vanderbilt, despite its paltry record, is pretty good at creating turnovers and average over seven steals per game. Georgia got back on the right track with turnover prevention on Wednesday. But if the Bulldogs fall off the wagon, Vanderbilt will add its name to Georgia’s bad loss column.
Apply ball movement and shot selection from Wednesday
Georgia beat Auburn on Wednesday. The Tigers missed a lot of shots, but they didn’t beat themselves for 40-straight minutes. Georgia outplayed Auburn and it really started on offense with good ball movement and shot selection.
The reason why turnovers didn’t kill Georgia is because Sahvir Wheeler and Anthony Edwards were a lot more careful with the ball than they were in the recent losses. They cut out the reckless drives and bad passes, and spread the ball around the half-court, leading to more open shots. It didn’t show up in the scorebook, Georgia only scored 65 points, but with how Auburn fared even worse on its end, Georgia’s long possessions added pressure and urgency to Auburn’s possessions.
Vanderbilt is nowhere near as good as Auburn. If Georgia spreads the possession in the half court to find more open or high-percentage shots, it’ll make the Vanderbilt game a cake-walk.
Don’t crumble in “winning time”
If Georgia could have just played better in the final 16 minutes of several games during conference play, we wouldn’t be talking about the Bulldogs clawing their way back into tournament contention. But here we are. Georgia had double-digit leads over Florida, Missouri and Alabama with around 16 minutes left in those games.
It sounds simple, but before Wednesday, the last 16 minutes were Georgia’s worst. Georgia has played well enough to build big leads, but the team was too inexperienced to know how to play with the big leads. Maybe after three heartbreakers, the Bulldogs have learned how to put opponents away.