Georgia basketball entered Wednesday night’s matchup against Tennessee ranked in the top 25 for the first time in the last 14 seasons. And for the first 20 minutes, Georgia looked ready for the test and took a lead into the half.
But then Tennessee blitzed the Bulldogs to open the second half on its way to a 74-56 win— its fifth straight over Georgia.
Following the game, Georgia coach Mike White discussed Tennessee forcing 19 turnovers, what he made of Asa Newell’s performance and much more. Here’s everything White said.
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On similarities in second half struggles against Ole Miss and Tennessee
“The overall aura/body language. I thought we were phenomenal in the first 20. And then early second half, we were just different defensively, and then we find ourselves in a hole there pretty quickly. And then we got a little bit stagnant offensively, which allowed Mashack and Zeigler to really crawl into our guards and be just overextending them. But really, throughout the game, whether it was first half or early second half, we did a poor job blocking them out. Didn’t match their intensity on the glass. Eighteen offensive rebounds. Those two stats the 18 (offensive rebounds for Tennessee) and 18 (defensive rebounds for Georgia) really kind of tell you what happened out there.
“But early second half, probably some similarities. We’ve got to evaluate it. We got to discuss it as a staff and figure out how we can avoid that, or at least try to avoid it at the end of the day. But it’s a top-10 team at home, and they probably weren’t quite as sharp there in the first 20. They got it going early second half. We helped them with some of those turnovers and of course, we’ve got to do a better job on the on the defensive glass, again.”
On what he can do as a coach to help slow down a run like Tennessee went on
“It’s on all of us, and it starts with me. You know, Silas had a couple of those, but I thought Silas played really really well too. And it’s easier said than done. These guys are so disruptive. They’ve got experience, but they’ve got winning experience, as well, with Mashack and Zeigler. Those two guys together in the back court, I don’t know that there’s another tandem defensively who’s better in college basketball. And they did what they did.
“We did a pretty good job (early) valuing the ball, strong with the ball, toughness. Nothing casual there in the first 20. We didn’t get into a great rhythm, but not many teams do against these guys, especially at home.
“We got into a great rhythm late game, you know, once it was loosened up a little bit. I thought we moved it better, got some open looks. Not all of them fell, of course. We’ve got to shoot it better. We’re better shooters than that, but some of it is just being a little bit stagnant, and you find yourself in a hole, and you try to get a little bit creative offensively, but meanwhile your guards are out there handling the ball versus that intense pressure.
“As we just played more downhill late in the game, we were more effective.”
On multiple Georgia players having turnover problems the last few games
“Huge concern. It’s been a huge concern all year, as we’ve said. We’ve had good wins, and we’ve got really good defensive numbers, and we’ve got a lot of good offensive numbers, but that one number (turnovers) has been glaring all year, and we’ve talked about it. And we’ve done a lot of stuff in practices, we’ve done a lot of film work. We’ve addressed it.
“I don’t know that we’re, by the end of the year, you know, gonna be in the top three or four in the league in terms of valuing the basketball and assist-to-turnover ratio, but we certainly can be better. And I have confidence that we’re gonna continue to improve, because we’ve showed moments where the ball’s moving and our decisions are better and we’re valuing it at a high level. We’ve had a few games where those numbers have been pretty good. Tennessee will expose you, though. If you’re soft with the basketball, if you make poor decisions, if you’re casual in any way offensively, they’ll make you pay for it.”
On Georgia struggling with Tennessee’s full court pressure
“I mean, we had one just glaring possession where we’ve got three guys in press attack and two guys not in press attack. And that’s unacceptable. That starts with me and our staff. But then we had four or five others where, again, it was just better defense than offense, with Mashack and Zeigler there in the back court, just creating some havoc. And their extended pressure not only caused those turnovers, but I thought it had us on our heels a little bit there offensively.
“But again, credit our guys. Late game, probably the last 10 minutes of the game or so, I thought we played downhill in space, made good decisions. Our bigs did a pretty good job of moving it, and we got open ones. I mean, we got really good looks there late in the game. A few of them fell, some of them didn’t, of course. But hopefully that’s something that we can point out moving forward.”
On Georgia responding well to losses so far this season
“We’ll be ready. Our guys will be ready to compete. And our guys will be prepared. They have to play really well, of course, to beat a team who is ranked No. 1 (Auburn) and of course, played really well last night (against Mississippi State). The adjustments that they made without arguably the best player in the country (Johni Broome), credit those guys. They’re terrific offensively, defensively. It’s gonna be a battle, of course. We look forward to Stegeman rocking and giving Auburn our best shot. We’ve got to flush this one as soon as possible. We’ll get home real late. Guys got to get to class tomorrow, and we’ll start talking about Auburn tomorrow afternoon and try to figure out the best plan possible.”
On Asa Newell’s performance against Tennessee
“Really good player. Unbelievable kid. He was pretty good. He was pretty good. Asa will probably tell you he didn’t think he had his best game, but we go to Tennessee, and he puts up big numbers and played with a lot of toughness, responded to adversities, made some good passes late in the game. Could have had a couple more assists there. Was strong with the basketball. I thought their detail with their defensive rebounding was on point. I thought Tennessee did a really good job. And that starts, of course, for us, with Asa, and he still found a way to get three of them. But we’ve got to do a better job collectively of getting him some better looks. But he without a doubt will be ready to go tomorrow. And again, we’ll figure out the best plan moving forward here these next couple days.”
