Felton's SEC Road Record Falls to 5-30 with Loss in Columbia

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Georgia lost 62-56 on a night that saw our starting guards shoot 4 of 22 from the floor, and our team overall went 4-27 from beyond the three point arc. If you take away the fine effort of Corey Butler (a walk-on), Felton's scholarship players -- all of whom he recruited -- shot 1-23 from three point land.

Why a team with only one legit three point shooter is hoisting 27 threes is positively beyond me.

Here are some stone cold facts to digest. Dennis Felton's SEC road record now sits at a staggering 5-30 after 4.5 seasons. His overall record in true road games (neutral sites excluded) is 8-38. Here are the wins:

2008 - (1) Hawaii
2007 - (3) Wake Forest, South Carolina and Arkansas
2006 - (3) Western Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina
2005 - (0)
2004 - (1) Kentucky

In fairness to Felton, he did beat Clemson, Oregon State, Gonzaga and a few tomato cans in neutral sites games in Atlanta/Gwinnett/Virgin Islands. However, he also lost to Clemson, ETSU, Ole Dominion, Tulane and others in neutral site games. Regardless, in a scary strange place surrounded by people that don't like the Red and Black...it's not so good.

Those are indisputable facts. If there's a mistake, you let me know, and I'll correct it.

Now, here's an opinion. We lose because we go for 5, 7 and 9 minutes without scoring more than a single field goal. Often these long stretches of ineptitude are punctuated with no timeouts from Felton. But mostly, I feel like we lose because we appear to lack the same intensity / effort on the road as at home. Again, that's my opinion.

Now, we can sit here and try to pin blame on Jim Harrick, Tony Cole, Mike Mercer, Takais Brown, Damon Evans, Vince Dooley, Mike Adams or the soap dispensers in Stegeman Coliseum's men's rooms. And maybe some blame still falls there. You've got your opinion on that, I've got mine. I really don't care about causality at this point. I care about outcomes.

The fact is that South Carolina had a 9-10 record going into this game and a coach that is being put out to pasture following this season because he didn't produce results.

Furthermore, while we're counting stats...Dennis Felton is now 69-70 at Georgia. If you eliminate Div II and HBCU teams (only because they are typically some of the lowest rated teams in college basketball) he is about 15 games under .500 in 4.5 years.

I've been to at least 6-8 basketball games a year for 17 years...some years many, many more games than that. I've seen us play in Boulder, Chicago, Charlotte, Columbia, Lexington, Nashville and a few other venues. I'm a hardcore Georgia Hoops fan. The program matters to me.

This...this "progress" and "steady climb" as Felton calls it is getting old.

I'll see you in Athens on Saturday at 1:00 for the Kentucky game.

Go Dawgs.

PWD

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