Clemson: post mortem

Dawg fans, you deserve a pat on the back.  I expected to walk into an empty building last night, yet there I was stuck in traffic just hoping for a spot in the deck.  A 6:00 PM tip three days before Christmas turned into the best home crowd Georgia has seen all season, and the players made it worth the trip for everyone wearing red and black:

• If you were a neutral observer studying up on Georgia, who would you cite as their best player?  Yante Maten?  Good answer.  Kenny Gaines?  Another good answer.  How about their best scorer?  Maten?  Gaines?  J.J. Frazier?  The fact that these questions have no clear-cut answers tells you all you need to know about how dangerous Georgia can be.
• Clemson came into the game giving up 57 points per contest.  Georgia started and finished slow and still put up 71.
• The Tigers' offensive rebounding (they got 18 of them) is really all that kept what was a rout from becoming something far more embarrassing.
• If he doesn't already, Maten is eventually going to have the green light to take 3-point shots from the top of the key.  But for a sliver of his shoe on the line he hit one last night.  The way he has expanded his game in one season is remarkable.
• Clemson shot the ball poorly.  Some of that is just a team that doesn't score well, but some of it was also Georgia's defense.  The effort was inspiring, in particular on Jaron Blossomgame.
• Blossomgame scored the first 5 points of the game and he finished with...5 points, just a tick below the 16 he came in averaging.
• Georgia only missed four free throws, and two of them were by Frazier.  Weird.
• It was great to see Mike Edwards getting it done defensively.
• His jumper wasn't on last night, but on the season, Frazier has a 2.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.  That's getting it done.
• I continue to like what I see from Turtle Jackson.  Flashes of brilliance intermingled with flashes of looking like a freshman.  All combined the four scholarship freshmen logged 58 minutes in this game.  That will pay dividends.
• Nice to see E'Torrion Wilridge is confident enough to take that corner jumper.  Even nicer to see him make it.
• Derek Ogbeide is a work in progress on defense.  The fact that he was limited by foul trouble and still put up a 6/4/1 stat line is encouraging.
• Welcome back, Charles Mann.  Draining free throws.  Mostly good shot selection.  Solid defense.  Who knows if it's a trend, but it sure was nice to see.
• Osahen Iduwe logged a few good minutes.  He has a long way to go, but practicing against guys like Maten and Ogbeide can't hurt.
• Brandon Young getting greedy.  I like it.

A drama-free win in a packed Stegeman three days before Christmas.   It doesn't get much better than that.  Robert Morris probably won't demand the same attention, but these guys are playing well, so let's reward them with more butts in the seats.  It's just more fun that way.

Merry Christmas everyone.  God bless you and your loved ones.

Clemson: gut feeling

My gut says Georgia is a much better team than Clemson and would roll them in front of a big crowd, but there won't be a big crowd tonight.  Will it matter?

My gut says Kenny Gaines gets it rolling again tonight.  Clemson will do everything they can to take Maten out of the game, so Gaines should get some good looks.

My gut says Mark Fox should keep a close eye on Jaron Blossomgame tonight, just in case the Alpharetta native hits the graduate transfer market next spring.

My gut says at least one of those baby hooks finds the basket tonight for Derek Ogbeide.

My gut says Georgia finds a way to 70 points against a slow, stingy Clemson team and wins the game.  Don't fail me now, gut.

Georgia Tech: post mortem

I was in Jacksonville for the Georgia - Florida football game this year, and I didn't have anything red to wear, so I bought a t-shirt.  I wore the shirt for that game (yuck) and the Chattanooga basketball game (ugh).  I decided to give it one more chance today, and it got it done.  This was a big win for my t-shirt:

• I didn't get a chance to put up a "gut feeling" post, but everything I was going to say would turn out to be wrong.
• I thought Charles Mitchell was going to have a big day: wrong.  I thought James White was going to have a big day: wrong.  I thought Georgia Tech was going to win the game: wrong.
• Admit it, though...when Quinton Stephens banked in that 3-pointer in the first half, you flashed back to last year and thought, "Oh no, not again."
• Going into the locker room down only 1 after getting nothing from Gaines in the first half actually felt pretty good.
• Starting the second half on a 9-0 run felt really good.  That's two games in a row where Georgia has come out smoking in the second half.  I'd love it if that became a habit.
• Georgia only shot 14 3-pointers, and I think that's a recipe for success - especially when J.J. Frazier hits 6 of them.
• Houston Kessler had good and (very) bad moments, but 5 offensive rebounds will always get you praise around these parts.
• Derek Ogbeide struggled like you'd expect a freshman playing his first real minutes to struggle, but the talent is evident.  He and Maten are going to be a scary pair in the post for the next two years.
• Less turnovers, more assists, and even on the boards.  I'll take that every single night.
• When Adam Smith hit those three bombs in quick succession and Georgia came out of it unscathed, that's when it felt like it might just be the Dawgs' day.
• Nick Jacobs is a large man.  Yante Maten did a fantastic job of denying him the ball, and I loved the quick double every time Jacobs got his hands on it.  It was obvious Fox didn't believe the Jackets could win the game from the 3-point line.
• And seriously, Yante Maten is a grown man.  He had an off night at the line, but it's easily forgiven considering everything else he's doing for this team.  And I love the fact that he threw that shot into the stands with .4 seconds left on the game clock instead of giving up the layup.  Play to the whistle.
• I also love the press Georgia showed in the last 4 minutes.  It caught Tech by surprise, ate some clock, and generated at least one turnover.  Excellent coaching.
• In fact, for a team that has struggled to close out games for years, Georgia did a fantastic job today.  There was very little drama.  They didn't turn the ball over, they (Frazier) hit their free throws, and they forced long possessions.  It was great to see.
• Brandon Young: on the board.

This was a good game, and Georgia can be so much better.  Will we see the typical after-finals surge out of the Bulldogs?  Let's hope so.  For now, it's just nice to be back on top of the nerds.

"Now, she just texted me and the phone's back on. We're good now."

Frustrated by missed free throws?  Here's a novel approach:

"Man, my mom turned my phone off after the game we just lost," Davis, who made 18 straight free throws in Wednesday night's win, said. "She was mad. Talking about my free throws and all this other stuff.

"She said 'Why are you missing free throws and all these jump shots?' So she just turned my phone off and she told me 'Get it together.'"

 I think we can all agree that Trey Davis's mom is a national hero.

[www.masslive.com]

Winthrop: post mortem

I admit, my heart sank when I realized Kenny Gaines hadn't started (it took me a few minutes of game time to notice he wasn't out there).  Not just because it made me feel worse about our chances, but also because the injury bug just hasn't been fair to Kenny.  Here's hoping it's nothing too serious:

• Another fast start for Georgia.  I hope this becomes a trend.
• And a fast start after halftime.  The 7-0 run to start the second half was as important to the outcome as anything else.
• What else is there to say about Yante Maten at this point?  He's pretty much doing everything, and Winthrop had no answer for him.
• Actually, I do have something else to say: Maten is clearly a guy who decided to take pride in his free throw shooting, and look what has happened.  Last year he was a 65% FT shooter, a number that ticked up as the year went on.  This year he's shooting 80%, and he's shooting 88% in the last 4 games.  It kept Georgia in the Seton Hall game, it won the Oakland game, and it helped last night.  It matters.
• The game is just so much easier when you hit your free throws.  Georgia made 29(!) of them last night.  If they hit their normal percentage, it would have been 5 less points, and it would have been a completely different game.
• I really liked the lineup with J.J. Frazier and Turtle Jackson in the game together.  Maybe a little sneak peek at next year.
• Jackson looks quick and confident out there.  Good news, since he probably has no idea what he's doing.  His shots aren't falling yet, but that will come in time.
• As for Frazier's shots, I think they'll start falling too.  He's getting good looks, and he needs to stay confident.  That's generally not a problem for shooters.
• How long do you think it's been since Charles Mann missed two bunnies at the rim like that?  Middle school?  It didn't cost the team, so shake it off.  His 9/10 performance at the FT line suggests that it didn't bother him all that much.
• He's only played 5 minutes so far, but you can tell how Derek Ogbeide is going to change things when he's healthy.  He's a grown man.
• Good for Mark Fox for letting the young guys play through some adversity.  When Roderick Perkins got hot and sparked that 8-0 run, Fox let his guys fight through it.  That kind of thing is going to pay off down the road.
• In fact, I appreciated his treatment of all the freshmen last night.  Mike Edwards had more minutes than Kessler, and should really be taking that starting spot (unless Ogbeide gets it first) before long.
• Toe looks more and more comfortable too, but oy vey, those free throws...
• Keon Johnson was as good as advertised.  Georgia was in his business all night and he still found a way to get 21 points.
• When the flagrant 1 was called on Okeke, I stood up and cheered.  It was a big play, and I was excited.  The guy behind me smacked me in the back and yelled at me to sit down so he could see.  He is a Georgia fan.
• Worse, he is a season ticket holder, so I'm stuck with him.  Time to win and get some fresh fans in the doors...and hopefully get rid of some of the old ones.  Oh, and I'll keep standing when I get excited.  If you want to sit through the game, SEC Network has you covered.

Good win over an average team.  Now things get real again.  Georgia Tech comes to town having beaten Georgia 4 times in a row.  They'll be favored to get a fifth.  If Georgia has any designs on an NCAA Tournament berth, the next 3 games are probably must-wins.

Get your butt to Stegeman if you can.  More Georgia fans means less Tech fans.  And by God, stand up and cheer when something exciting happens.

Winthrop: gut feeling

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have no idea what's going to happen in this game.  I am miles away from having this team figured out.

Watch out for Keon Johnson - don't need my gut to tell you that.

See you there?

Kansas State: post mortem

That one hurts.

If you're the team, nothing changes.  Your goal should still be a 20-win season and an NCAA Tournament berth.  Every loss has been close enough that it's clear you're competitive.

As a fan, however, I found myself recalibrating my expectations for this team on the long drive back to Atlanta.  It is early, but the Bulldogs have put themselves in a very bad situation.  Unless something changes fast, do you really see this team beating Georgia Tech and Clemson?  Me either:

• Was it goaltending or basket interference?  Yes, it probably was.  On the one hand, this game never should have come down to the last second.  On the other, it would have been nice to get that call and escape, and it's completely insane (especially after last year's NCAA Tournament) that it's not a reviewable play.
• Dean Wade isn't bashful, and he won his team the game.  He could have shut it down after a bad first half, but he kept shooting.  The fact that he was able to get two wide open looks in crunch time when he was clearly Kansas State's best option was...frustrating.
• Yante Maten: beast.
• That first half showed you what Georgia can be.  Unfortunately, so did the second half.
• Georgia gave up 16 offensive rebounds, was outshot 59-51, and missed 8 free throws.  Deja vu all over again.
• Mike Edwards is learning on the job, and he's having a tough time on the floor, but it's going to make him a better player.  A couple late offensive rebounds made his potential pretty obvious.  He just needs to get stronger.
• E'Torrion Wilridge looks lost on the floor right now, and that's a shame.  I'm sure it's partially because he doesn't know what he's doing - he's only played 6 games, after all.  However, some of it is because he's scared to make a mistake.  It's hard to blame him, because...
• ...Turtle Jackson came in 10 minutes into the game, went around a pick and took the ball straight to the basket for a layup, completed a brilliant no-look pass to Yante Maten the next time down the court for an assist, and then turned the ball over and committed a bad foul that led to a 3-point play.  In other words...he did what talented freshmen do - he flashed his potential, and he made mistakes.  What did Fox do?  He immediately yanked him off the floor, and Jackson only saw 4 more minutes all night.  I may write a longer post on this later, but it's insane.
• For what it's worth, Wade (a freshman) had a pretty bad first half, but Bruce Weber let him play 30 minutes, and we know how that turned out...
• I am hard on Houston Kessler around these parts, but his rebounding was pretty good.  His defense?  Still plenty of room for improvement...
• Great to see Ogbeide get a few trips down the floor.  Hopefully that is ramped up into meaningful minutes on Tuesday night.
• Osahen Iduwe needs to learn to stay on his feet on defense.  You're almost 7' tall, my man.  Defend without fouling.
• I guess I'll just give up on seeing much zone.  The last time it was employed extensively, Georgia cut a 10 point Seton Hall lead to 1.  We've barely seen it since...

So what now?  I have no idea.  I'm going to keep going to the games, but I worry that most Georgia fans have probably lost interest already.  The intrigue of a new football coach easily trumps a mediocre basketball team in Athens.

But it doesn't have to be this way!  The team we saw in the first half was an NCAA Tournament team.  Period.  Had that team come back out of the locker room, we'd be having a very different conversation right now.  Had they played close to that level all year, we'd be 6-0 and excited.

But they're not, and we're not.  They're 3-3, and we're uneasy.  Keep grinding.  See you Tuesday.

Kansas State: gut feeling

My gut says any revenge theme is probably overplayed a bit tonight as most of last year's Kansas State team (including Marcus Foster, pictured) is gone.

My gut says the Wildcats are closer to the team that scraped by South Carolina State than they are to the team that was leading North Carolina in the last 4 minutes.  Either way, they can't be taken lightly.

My gut says the crowd is tepid again tonight, which would be a shame.  This is the first true road game for a young Kansas State team.  It's the kind of game a good crowd can really affect.

My gut says we see more zone in this game.  Kansas State hasn't shot the ball very well, so turning it into a 3-point contest might not be the worst thing.

My gut says Houston Kessler starts again tonight.  My brain has no idea why.

My gut says Georgia finds a way to win this game in the 60's.

Oakland: post mortem

That was a fun game.  Nerve-wracking?  You bet.  Even more so because of its importance to Georgia.  A loss to Oakland may very well have been a "bad" loss on a tournament resume, so consider that a bullet dodged.

But really, that was fun.  Those boys from Oakland can score, and defense would appear to be optional:

• It's not often you survive a 3-point barrage the likes of which Max Hooper put on Georgia last night.  The 7 makes matches his career high.  And just for perspective, that was a career high for a kid who pretty much exclusively shoots 3's.  He has taken 281 shots in his career.  270 were 3-pointers.
• Then there's Kahlil Felder.  And Jalen Hayes.  And Percy Gibson.
• Oakland deserves a lot of credit.  They played at 100 mph, and they were always ready with a big shot when it looked like Georgia might pull away.  Georgia's biggest lead of the night was the final margin: 4.
• Jalen Hayes was like John Brown, part 2.  Yante Maten was the only one with a prayer of guarding him, and he even made Yante look silly a time or two.
• But Yante definitely got his.  He's given Georgia everything they could ask for in the past two games, and yet he has so much room to improve.  Remember: he's just a sophomore.
• Oh, and he's shooting 78% at the free throw line.  You know that gets me excited.
• A solid performance at the line overall thanks to the team going 6/6 down the stretch.  That's how you close a game.
• After a Femi Olujobi foul in the first half, a frustrated Coach Kampe (who apparently forgot to pack the top half of his suit) yelled quite loudly, "32 can't score!"
• 32 is Mike Edwards, and he finished with 14 points.  Give the kid credit, he's been thrown into the deep end and he's learning on the fly.  Extra credit for the breakaway dunk.  His angle didn't look great and the defender was there and then boom he just threw it down.  Incredibly athletic.
• If Edwards isn't starting in place of Houston Kessler this Friday, Fox is seeing something I'm not.  The Kessler family is full of great Dawgs, but the gentleman next to me put it best after one of his many defensive lapses: "He's just not D-1."
• Georgia ceded 13 offensive rebounds again.  Still too many.  I'm more and more anxious to see Ogbeide.  I hope he helps cut that number down a bit.
• Our post defenders are leaving their feet too often.  Edwards and Kessler are particularly guilty here, and it's leading to a lot of fouls and three point plays.
• Welcome back, J.J. Frazier.  23/4/6 with 1 turnover.  That's winning basketball.
• And doesn't this team look better when they run?  Frazier led some masterful breaks last night, and while some credit has to go to Oakland's atrocious defense, ad libbing led to some pretty good looks.  Meanwhile, the half-court sets continue to bog down.  Fox may have to loosen the reins a bit.

Let's credit Georgia for playing well on a tough night.  Coach Fox remarked in the postgame presser that they were all shaken up over what happened to Coach Richt, and that makes sense.  The crowd was incredibly sparse (non-conference Tuesday night game after the head football coach is fired is not a recipe for huge crowds) and the opponent was game.  Despite all of that, they got a big win.

Next up is a good Kansas State team.  We are going to learn a lot about these guys Friday night.  If you can make it to Athens, do so.  These kids deserve our support.

Oakland: gut feeling

My gut says Derek Ogbeide gets a few minutes in this game.

My gut says Kenny Paul Geno has cooled off a bit since the trip to New Jersey, but I also don't think it was fluky.  His shot looks pure right now.

My gut says J.J. Frazier finally hits a few bombs tonight.  That would certainly be nice.

My gut says we see more zone defense tonight as Fox tries to adjust to the new officiating landscape.

My gut says Oakland wins the game with some good outside shooting.  I haven't seen enough from Georgia yet to feel confident about this one.  I sure hope I'm wrong.