As the old saying goes, one step forward, two steps back. That would be the best way to describe Wednesday night's game for Mike White and Georgia basketball as they took on the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers before a crowd of nearly 19,000 at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN.
After a slow and sluggish start that had the Bulldogs up 26-25 at halftime, the Volunteers stormed out of the gates in the second half to defeat the No. 23 Georgia Bulldogs 74-56.
Just a few days after receiving their first AP Top 25 ranking in over a decade, this was not the showing the Bulldogs were hoping for. As pointed out by White in his postgame interview, turnovers continue to plague the Bulldogs.
“It’s been a huge concern all year,” White said via rowdysports.tv. “We’ve had good wins, really good defensive numbers, we’ve got a lot of good offensive numbers, but that one number’s (turnovers) been glaring all year and we’ve talked about it.”
Georgia’s turnover problems
The Bulldogs committed 19 turnovers that the Volunteers were able to convert into 19 points. Tennessee also out-rebounded the Bulldogs 35-29. Second chance scoring opportunities also tilted in the Volunteers favor as 18 of their 35 rebounds were on the offensive side of the court. When all these stats are in favor of Georgia’s opponent, it’s going to be nearly impossible to win.
The Volunteers were led in scoring by Jordan Gainey and Zakai Zeigler with 19 and 16 points, respectively. The Bulldogs leading scorer for the night was Asa Newell with 13 points.
What's next for UGA?
Things do not get any easier for the Hardwood Dawgs as they return to action on Saturday to face another Top 10 opponent in No. 1 Auburn. Thankfully this game is in Athens, where Georgia has found a lot of success this season.