Georgia Tech: post mortem

I am tired of being the basketball step-child of Georgia, as I'm sure many of you are.  Mark Fox has to get that fixed.

With that said, I promised not to despair if Georgia lost this game, and despite some very negative emotions while down 15 in the first half, all is not lost.

The Dawgs need to find a way to win 8 non-conference games.  I was hoping this would be one of them.  Time to move on, but first, some thoughts and impressions:

• You can see why Georgia wanted Charles Mitchell so badly.  His on-court antics rubbed me the wrong way at times, but the talent is obvious.  The result almost certainly would have been different had he been in red.
• Cox was good too.  Those two in the post are going to win some games for Tech.
• With that said, it was Quinton Stephens that made the difference tonight.  We'll see if he stays hot, or if Georgia was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Continuing to give Stephens open looks after his third or fourth made three was disappointing.  He wasn't about to create his own shot.
• Kenny Gaines looked good at times tonight.  If he really isn't at full strength yet, I think we can expect good things from him this year.
• Marcus Thornton was more good than bad, though he still throws up a head-scratcher now and then.  He is clearly most comfortable when he catches the ball in the post.  More of that, and less runners and threes would bode well for his season.
• I like the three guard lineup Fox chose to start the game, and J.J. Frazier continues to impress.  There are, of course, a lot of good things about Charles Mann's game, but he's yet to show anything to suggest he's taken a big step forward.
• I still believe Yante Maten will be great, but some foul trouble kept him from getting in any sort of rhythm.  On that note...
• The refs over-officiated a bit, in my opinion.  I didn't think one team benefited more than the other.  I thought the two worst calls of the night were on the charge by Juwan Parker, and then on the foul Parker drew by running into (I think) Cox.
• Nemi had a nice offensive game.  No bad ball-handling turnovers, and some nice moves around the basket.  His defense, though, was not stellar.
• Neither Kenny Paul Geno nor Cameron Forte did anything to make me miss Brandon Morris less, though Forte had a couple nice moments.
• Good job of limiting the damage of Georges-Hunt.   That was absolutely the right thing to do, and had you told me he'd finish with 11, I would have liked our chances.
• The camera crew found three pretty girls and went back to the well all night long. Guess they couldn't find any more. I don't think that will be a problem in Athens.

In the end, the game was lost in the first ten minutes.  For anyone hoping the scoring droughts were a thing of the past with this team, the start of the game was a rude awakening.  After an early 5-4 lead, Georgia played from behind the rest of the night.

As usual, though, Fox's kids didn't quit.  In fact, you get the feeling that if this game were played ten times, Georgia would win 6 or 7.  But it didn't work out tonight, so it's on to Stony Brook.

Have a good weekend, and I'll see you Tuesday night at Stegeman.