Murray State: post mortem

You win some, you lose some, and Kenny Gaines puts you on his back and drags you to victory in some.  It's clearly not a sustainable strategy, but it was good for at least one night:

• If there was any doubt who the best player on the Georgia roster is, that doubt was erased against Murray State.  The combination of explosive offense and suffocating defense you get out of Kenny Gaines is unmatched in the locker room.  I've said it before: if Kenny was three inches taller we'd be talking about him as a late first rounder.
• Had you told me Maten and Mann would combine for 9 points, I might not have made the drive to Athens at all.
• Their nights felt different, though.  Charles was a victim of his own shot selection (that is to say...it felt poor).  Yante just couldn't get anything to roll in.  I liked the looks, though, and they'll go in more often than not.  Remember, he's just a sophomore.
• The rebounding was so much better than in the Chattanooga game.  Maten, Mike Edwards and, surprisingly, Houston Kessler were all strong on the glass.
• I wonder how often J.J. Frazier has missed two consecutive wide-open threes.  The whole arena thought the second one was going in.  Keep shooting J.J.
• The free throw story was better, largely due to who was taking them.  Maten and Mann still have work to do, and they're going to be at the line a lot this year.
• Kenny Gaines: 10 field goals.  The rest of the team: 7 fields goals.
• Lots of missed bunnies tonight, too.  This game could have easily been a 20 point win for Georgia.
• E'Torrion Wilridge had an incredibly quiet 16 minutes.  He's going to be really good once he gets more comfortable, but he just wasn't assertive at all against the Racers.
• It helped that Murray State just isn't a high volume 3-point shooting team.  They had some nice looks but didn't knock them down like the Mocs were able to.
• Brilliant spin move by Wayne Langston that made Yante Maten look silly on defense (hard to do).  Then he tried to go to the well again and Maten blocked it easily.  Fun to watch.
• Osahen Iduwe needs to keep his feet on defense.  He tends to get himself in the air.
• Only 10 turnovers.  Much better.
• The defensive strategy against Georgia is going to be pretty obvious from here on out: blanket Kenny Gaines.  Can guys like Mann, Maten, and Frazier take advantage?  If they can, Georgia becomes a very dangerous team.
• Traffic-wise, these Friday games are brutal.  Just brutal.

Another scary game next Wednesday.  The crowd will be light, and High Point is no joke.  So if you can, bring the family to Stegeman Coliseum and make a little noise.  These guys are fighting hard.