During the 23 minute stretch Georgia when UGA was playing its best ball since the SEC Tourney, they outscored the Vols 57-44. Then the wheels fell off. The Dawgs didn't hit a field goal from the 8:10 mark in the second half until Rickey McFee's meaningless 3 pointer with 8 seconds left. During that run, they also collapsed at the free throw line and went 9-6 from the stripe.
As Corey Butler told the ABH:
“It was really a product of finishing the game, again, rebounding,” Georgia senior guard Corey Butler said. “When we took control of the game, I think we were up (10) points, we took control of the glass. But when you saw the game slipping, that’s when we lost control of the glass.”Yep. That and not making shots. Here are some positives and negatives:
- There is hope for the future - Trey Thompkins, Dustin Ware and Travis Leslie form the nucleus of a solid SEC team in future years. The near term problem is they are absolutely puppies out there. Ware in particular played an exceptional game getting 11 points and only 1 turnover in 16 minutes.
- Substitution Patterns - Given how well Ware was playing, I really don't understand why he didn't get more minutes. We need a kid with his wheels when playing a team as fast as UT.
- Cameron Tatum - Tennessee's starting freshman had 13 points in the game. He's from Tucker, Georgia. 61 miles from Athens.
- Competition Level - We likely won't play a dramatically better team than UT for a while. If they could ever find a way to play consistently for 40 minutes, or legally change the game length to 35 minutes, we'd be ok in a down SEC.
"...we had been getting every shot we wanted and being patient," said Georgia freshman forward Trey Thompkins, who scored 14 points, but was held scoreless for the final 14 minutes. "But for some reason, we just started rushing shots and started playing into their hands."If they ever figure out that "for some reason" issue, they'll be fine. In the meantime, we'll keep getting headlines like "Dawgs find a way to lose."
PWD
18 comments:
UT ought to be a blueprint for our basketball team. Did you see how many fans they had at the game? It's 'cause Pearl's an exciting guy, he gets people to care even though the ball isn't pointy.
No, UT had a good turnout and were loud as can be because Pearl WINS. He just happens to be an exciting guy to go along with it. If you thought UT brought a lot of fans then come watch the kentucky game, they will bring even more. Hopefully we only have to see this team coached by felton for a few more games, hes awful.
With the way we got outhustled and outrebounded in the 2nd half collapse, I thought I was watching a replay of the Tech game. The team showed that they can play ball in the SEC tourney last year, as well as in parts of the Tech and Tennessee games this year. If Coach Felton can just figure out how to make them finish the drill, the program has a lot of potential.
I take issue with being "outhustled" yesterday- from the previous comment. The guys played hard and did not quit- true, we did not play smart at times and good teams like UT will make you pay.
About the midpoint of the second half, I looked up and saw us shooting 48% FGs, 86% FTs and the rebound difference was 1. Agreed that that's about as good as we can play. Too bad we could not sustain it, though. Hope our freshmen can grow up quickly- our upcoming schedule does us no favors.
On the plus side, this is the most talented Dance Dawg team we have ever fielded. Just sayin'.
Courage -- It's the Dance Dawg Dream Team out there. It's incredible.
I thought hustle was an issue for the first few minutes, but they sort of rose to UT's tempo after that.
The rebounding issue in the final 8 minutes was more to do with experience, talent and b-ball IQ than hustle.
Talent goes a long way, but you can tell how well a team is coached by how they perform in the first and last five minutes of a game. Despite hanging around for a good portion of the game, it's obvious where the blame should be placed.
Felton should be praised for cleansing the program. Now it's time to find a consistent winner and recruiter. We've served our penance.
sometimes I wish it was just georgiafootball.blogspot.com
I mean that from a depressing basketball season sort of way.
More pics of Dance Dawgs please
I agree with the substitution pattern comment. At the end of this game, and I am a big Felton fan, I told my wife that the coach failed the kids today. Ware was playing awesome and then never made it back in the game. Price finally woke up and played with aggression in the second half only to be benched for Jackson, who then walked and turned it over. To top it off, and this goes to the comment about fans, as a season ticket holder, I find it disheartening that as we were making our run, I was told by the ticket holder behind me that we stood up to much and needed to sit down during the game. When you have 18 and 19 year old kids playing their butt off for you and playing well against the 15th ranked team in the country, you stand your fat a$$ up and cheer. My frustration this week lies with the coach and the fans who did not show up to support these kids. If we wait to support them then the program will never build. Sorry for the length, still mad about Saturday....
By the way the cowboy hats on the dance dawgs made my day.
One more thing - Paul - could you start posting possible candidates. If I here one more dawg fan say that we need to get Anthony Grant, I'm going to scream. That is all I heard at the gym Saturday. The guy has done nothing since his team beat Duke. And a lot of people have beaten Duke the last couple of years.
I'll give us a candidate....Jamie Dixon.
As for the Dance Dawgs...those outfits yesterday were horrible. Not a single inch of cleavage.
Jamie Dixon would be awesome. No way he is leaving PITT for UGA. But I could be wrong. If we borrow from the Hartman Fund, we could probably entice him with $$ and the new practice facility. The more I think about it. Hopefully Damon gives him a call. I was looking to see if there are any assistants that have followed along the same path as him.
Crane,
No problem. I know what you mean. But with all the football bitching and moaning, you'd think Felton coached them, too.
PWD
I turned to my friend yesterday and said that we actually looked like we were outhustling UT for once, something they normally do to other teams.
What was most perplexing and frustrating, was the absence of Ware after he played a brilliant game for a freshman. During the most crucial stretch of the game, Felton SAT Ware and put Swansey in. Granted we lost the edge on the boards, but the team looked lost at the same time.
To me Swansey has no poise and has lost my confidence as a ball handler (something that should be hand in hand as a point guard). I liken this situation to what Duke currently has with Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith. Granted Paulus is a senior and Swansey a Soph., Coach K made the switch to Smith as the starter because he is clearly the more dynamic player. The same applies to Ware. The kid needs to play.
I was at the game and I couldn't agree more about Ware needing to play. He was on fire there for a few minutes, making every shot he took, and then he was taken out and I didn't understand why. When you have a kid who's on his game like that, KEEP HIM IN!! Another thing that I noticed that needed improvement was clock management. We were up by 10 points and UT had already reached their foul limit so why not milk the clock?? Instead, Zac Swansey would run down the court and try and make these quick fade-away shots that never went in. I really like Coach Felton, but he should have called a time-out wayyy before he did. They were giving the game away and he was just watching it happen. If we can actually keep these young kids like Trey Thompkins and Ware, we might actually have a solid team in a couple of years. They did look promising.
some reasons why I don't put Dixon out of the picture...
with the new espn deal, EVERY SEC game will be on an espn network (though they may farm a game or 2 a week out to a jp type)...so the SEC will now get as much or more exposure than any other conference.
With the new espn deal, we have more money....WAY more money than ever before.
Would you rather live in Pittsburgh or the sunny south.
and lastly, EVERY coach in America knows that he who controls Atlanta in recruiting can just basically preprint Sweet 16 banners. The easiest place to do it from is either Georgia or Georgia Tech.
There is not a single coach in AMerica that we should not explore because we don't think they would leave where they are. Make people tell us no.
Courage and PWD,
How can you tell me that we didn't get outhustled?? We got beat 12-4 in offensive rebounds, and 41-29 in total rebounds. UT had 71 FG attempts to our 57. That's getting outhustled for rebounds.
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