Georgia basketball is a tale of two ends of the spectrum. The ladies are phenomenal, while the men need guidance. The men take on Auburn this Saturday, and while it’ll likely be impossible to see an upset, the Dawgs could shock the world.
That shock is highly unlikely, but let’s discuss. Georgia upset Alabama at home in the Steg by drawing fouls and making their free throws.
Then the Dawgs made their free throws, had a high shot percentage but couldn’t play defense to save their lives against Vanderbilt. Most recently, Georgia’s men got embarrassed by Arkansas, which led us to a massive showdown with No.1 Auburn.
The Tigers beat Georgia 83-60 back in January, so one could think the second game would give the Dawgs a better shot, especially being at home? Nope. Georgia isn’t mentally ready to beat a team like Auburn or mature enough to. They could shock me, but no one should hold their breath.
Georgia basketball needs to take this game strategy to miraculously beat Auburn.
So what can Georgia do to upset the Tigers if the basketball gods show mercy on them? One thing they need to do is have a massive chip on their shoulder and prove their own coach wrong.
Head coach Tom Crean said his team lacked maturity, and with all those transfers, it’s understandable why they do. Then injuries took out the veteran leadership that transferred to Georgia, and here we are.
However, Braelen Bridges, Noah Baumann, and Aaron Cook are seniors or graduate students. So while the maturity isn’t there, it could be. In this game against Auburn, these three players need to prove that their coach is part of the problem. They need to tighten up their shot selection and play great defense.
Most importantly, they need to play with a purpose, and like their hair is on fire.
Auburn and Georgia both make around 74% from the foul line, so the Dawgs need to use their starting five to draw fouls and force the Tigers to make mistakes. Georgia needs to play better defense, too, though. We’re not going to lie. The Dawgs need help all over the court, except at the foul line.
Saturday’s game strategy is simple — hold on, find ways to make mistakes and when you do, make sure you score off them. Georgia needs to give it 1000% on the court Saturday afternoon, or this Auburn team will embarrass them.
Auburn is likely going to embarrass them anyway, but if this group can play defense and keep up with the Tigers, who knows, anything could happen and Georgia could get another upset.