Ole Miss: post mortem

Don't be surprised if that win last night goes down as one of Georgia's best all season.  I know Ole Miss isn't the highest rated opponent Georgia has beaten, but they are a really good team.

They struggled early in the season learning to play without team-cancer-but-incredible-scorer Marshall Henderson, but in SEC play their losses are to Kentucky (in OT), LSU (by 4) and Georgia.  They beat a game South Carolina squad and ran Arkansas out of their home gym.

It's not a stretch to say the Rebels could easily win 7 or 8 out of their next 9, at which point this win will look fantastic:

• Despite picking Georgia to win, I have to admit that I just wasn't feeling it at tipoff.  The arena was dead, Ole Miss came in hot, and Georgia was on full letdown alert.  After a first half where nothing seemed willing to fall, I was ready to write it off as a good loss to a hot team.
• In the end, Georgia didn't play close to their best ball, yet they still found a way to beat a good team.  That's refreshing.
• If you had told me Kenny Gaines would finish with 5 points and Georgia, as a team, would shoot 22% from the 3-point line, I would have told you Ole Miss would win by 15.
• For the second game in a row, Charles Mann didn't score in the first half, and for the second game in a row he came out hot and motivated in the second half.  I have no idea what that means, but it has to mean something.
• Thornton looked like he was going to score 40 the way he played in the first 10 minutes.  Good thing, too, because without him the Dawgs had nothing.
• J.J. Frazier has no conscience, and that's meant as a compliment.  He might want to chill on the alley-oops, though.  I'm not sure he's completed one all year...
• The radio guys named Cameron Forte as their player of the game, and it's hard to disagree.  Mark Fox talked about the "beautiful spirit" he brings to games, and he's right.  I confess, I didn't think Forte had much of a role on this team coming into the season, but the energy he brought to the team last night was as important as anything in the stat sheet.
• 10 missed free throws:  really bad.
• 15 assists on 22 made field goals:  really good.
• Stefan Moody was fantastic, and sometimes that's all there is to it.  Much of his scoring came at the expense of Kenny Gaines, and that means he earned it.  Just as important as his scoring line, though, were the lines of Summers, Moody, and Coleby.  They were a combined 12 points below their season averages.
• The way Ole Miss dominated the offensive glass in the first half was concerning.  The fact that Georgia largely corrected it in the second half was nice to see.
• Yes, the crowd was small, but it's also about what I'd expect for a midweek game against a non-rival.  Keep winning, and the crowds will grow.  I promise.

Now Georgia heads on the road where they'll be expected to win.  Imagine that.  Fox has to keep them focused and believing.  And if you haven't been to Stegeman yet this year, next Tuesday against Vanderbilt would be as good a time as any.  This team is worth your time.