Georgia basketball: The men need a miracle to save this season
Georgia basketball has two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum, as the women’s squad is one of the best and the men are one of the worst teams.
After the mens’ 83-66 loss to South Carolina on Saturday evening, it’s pretty evident the Dawgs will need a miracle to turn this season around.
Saturday showed another mid-game collapse from the Dawgs, and it’s getting harder to watch this team. They had a lot of momentum against the Gamecocks, but it was like someone let out a balloon in the second half of the game, and that was it for the Dawgs.
Georgia basketball needs a miracle to save the men’s season.
The Dawgs have now lost eight straight games, are 5-13 on the season and 0-5 in SEC play. They have yet to win on the road this season, and at this point, it doesn’t seem like they will win another game.
Against the Gamecocks, the Dawgs came out strong, shooting 40.9% from the floor and making 21-of-22 free throws. Georgia led for 27:29 minutes of the game and still found a way to fall apart in the second half.
Braelen Bridges led Georgia with 20 points, Noah Baumann tallied 14 points, and Christian Wright was the third dog in double-digit points at 10.
South Carolina went off in the second half outscoring the Dawgs 47-24 and keeping them scoreless for over six minutes. No team can go scoreless for that long to win a ballgame, and it’s detrimental to the team’s momentum and confidence.
The Dawgs are just one of the worst defensive teams in college basketball right now, and South Carolina took advantage of it in the second half. Georgia turned the ball over 18 times, which has been a significant issue all season long. Not to mention, the Gamecocks outrebounded the Dawgs 37 to 31.
South Carolina scored 29 fast break points compared to Georgia’s 10 and scored 16 points off those 18 turnovers. The Dawgs just couldn’t get a rhythm in the second half, and after hanging in there with Carolina to start the game, it resulted in another disappointing loss.
What does Georgia have to do so this team can get back on track and finish out the season strong? There needs to be some kind of meeting to see where they can get better as a team. While it looks ugly, those players fight throughout the entire game and give it all. It just never seems to go their way.
There isn’t a leader on the court, not like Jailyn Ingram or P.J. Horne brought to the table. It’s evident they don’t have a guy they can turn to, so someone needs to step up and be that guy. Tom Crean isn’t making a case for him to stay any better with performances like this.
Four years into this era, the Dawgs are on an eight-game losing streak. I’m not sure anyone suspected that would be the case with Crean’s success at other places. Georgia has to make their men’s basketball program a priority because other SEC schools are, and while the Dawgs have other great programs, this is one they cannot lose.
Georgia football sees a devoted mindset from early enrollees. dark. Next
Men’s basketball is a high-revenue sport, and if you look at teams like Auburn, you can see why it matters to have a strong program in both sports. There needs to be a miracle in Athens, but it seems too late to ask for one of those at this point in the season.
Georgia returns on Tuesday to take on Alabama at home with the tipoff slated for 6:30 p.m. ET and will air on the SEC Network.