Kentucky: post mortem

There are many things I can say to try to make you feel better about the loss to Kentucky.  How about the fact that Georgia was down 10 less than 4 minutes into the game and then outscored Kentucky by 5 over the next 34 minutes?  Or the fact that the loss feels respectable despite the continued struggles of Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines?  Or the fact that the Bulldogs did all of it without their best player?

Despite all of that, I still sit here frustrated by what I saw.  Georgia had 9 more turnovers and, consequently, 9 less shots than Kentucky.  Another 8 free throws were missed.  Kentucky is a talented team, obviously, but losses are so much easier to swallow when the other team beats you.  Instead, Georgia continues to be its own worst enemy:

• John Calipari put 7 McDonald's All-Americans on the court last night, and Mark Fox needed 18 minutes out of Houston Kessler because his best player was at home with a concussion, and it was anyone's game with 2 minutes left.  Should I be praising Fox this morning or mocking Calipari?
• Speaking of Kessler, you hit two threes in Rupp, son, and no one can ever take that away from you.
• Georgia out-rebounded Kentucky by 12, and that is a startling number.  It's also the only reason the game was close.  The Wildcats feast on the offensive glass, yet they only pulled down 5 all night.  Yante Maten and Nemi Djurisic did work.
• J.J. Frazier needs to shoot more.  He passed up a couple of "open" shots (as open as they'll get against that defense).  Against another team it might make sense to run some more offense and try to find a better look, but no one would have blamed him for shooting last night.
• Djurisic was fantastic.  Whatever he ate before the game, whatever music he listened to...keep it up.
• I'm not sure what ails Kenny Gaines right now, but we're going to need him for the stretch run.  He still looks good going to the basket, and I hope we see more of that.  I'd worry about his confidence at this point, but he doesn't seem like a guy that gets too rattled.
• Maten showed why there's reason for optimism despite the fact that Marcus Thornton will be moving on after this season.  He put on his big-boy pants last night and went toe-to-toe with some of the best big men in the country.  13 points and 9 rebounds later (4 offensive), we all liked what we saw.
• Two things we shouldn't lose about Mann's night:  6 assists and 5/6 free throws.
• I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one more time how this team refuses to get rattled.  They may not make all the plays, and they certainly don't win every game, but they never panic.  A weaker team would have folded down 17 in the second half at the #1 team in the country.  Our guys went on a 25-13 run and made things interesting.  I love that about this team.

Free throws and turnovers.  Turnovers and free throws.  If Fox can find a way - any way - to address these things, this team has a chance to be great.

Despite the two losses, there's no reason to believe Georgia is anything other than a good basketball team.  The SEC continues to cannibalize itself (look up what happened to Tennessee last night) and the Bulldogs have a really solid resume.  The next two are huge.  A home win over the Volunteers and a road win over the Aggies would make all of these bad feelings go away.

So look outside.  Perhaps the sun is shining.  I guarantee it came up this morning.  Thornton is about to come back healthy and angry, and we should all be there to see it on Saturday.  This team needs (and deserves) your support.

Go Dawgs!