Arkansas: post mortem

That was fun, right?  Any complaints that Georgia didn't play particularly well (they didn't), the free throw shooting was awful (it was), and the fans were only there for Kirby Smart (maybe) are noted.  But sometimes, when two equally mediocre teams lace it up, what you get is a fun, close game, and that's what we saw Saturday night:

• I don't suffer from migraines, but my wife does.  If her experiences with them are any indication, J.J. Frazier was nothing short of heroic on Saturday night.  He's what we call a DGD around these parts.
• Yante Maten can't touch the ball on every possession (can he?), but he needed to get more than 13 shots.  Especially with Kingsley on the bench the whole first half (his second foul may have been the biggest play of the game), Maten could have - and often did - have his way.  17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 0 turnovers is a whale of a game.
• I think Mark Fox is realizing he doesn't have the depth he initially thought he would.  Some of that may be because a few guys haven't gotten enough minutes to develop, but I'll leave that for another time.  J.J. Frazier, Charles Mann, Kenny Gaines, and Yante Maten all played at least 35 minutes.
• In fact, until I looked at the box score I didn't realize Georgia's bench only scored 2 points.  That's not great...
• Houston Kessler played pretty well again.  Even if I don't agree with it, I can see why Fox is so tempted to give him minutes over some other guys.
• I still wish we'd see a lot more of E'Torrion Wilridge, though...
• Interesting game for Dusty Hannahs.  He was the only reason Arkansas was even in the game, and he's a big reason the Razorbacks lost in the end.
• I still haven't watched the replay, but that lane violation on Hannahs was a gutsy call by the officials (Dusty loudly compared the call to cow excrement as he went to the bench).  That late in the game those things normally get overlooked unless they're blatant.  Was it that blatant?
• That first play in OT was beautiful.  Get the ball, feed Maten, and score.  Wish that one had been drawn up at the end of regulation.
• Kenny Gaines went to the basket more in this game, and I loved it.  He didn't always finish, but he had two big buckets late.  He has been relegated to something like a 3-point specialist, and while he's a great shooter from distance, there can be more to his game.
• Kenny Paul Geno failed to score again, but here's why you don't hear me complaining about his minutes: on the season, he's averaging (all numbers rounded) 3 rebounds, 2 assists, half a block, a steal, and only 1 turnover per game, and he's doing so from a position at which Georgia has very little depth.
• I confess, I'm the one who yelled, "No, Charles!" as he let go of that dagger 16-foot jump shot in overtime.  Good shot, Charles!

I've given up trying to figure this team out.  I'm just going to try to enjoy the ride.

Now's when the schedule gets brutal.  If Georgia thinks they're a postseason team, now would be the time to start proving it...

Arkansas: post mortem

I admit I wasn't able to focus on the game yesterday, so this will be half-hearted.  That's appropriate, because so was Georgia's effort in the game.

Ok, that may not be fair.  I don't think the effort was lacking.  I do think the injuries finally got to the team - mentally.  It's hard to see teammate after teammate limp off the court, and it felt to me like things changed when Juwan Parked hobbled off with his sprained ankle.  That felt like the straw that broke the camel's back.

Fortunately, Georgia had very little to gain by winning yesterday (aside from perhaps a tiny seed bump), so the loss is hardly devastating.  I hope the whole team is in for a spectacular week of rest and healing:

• Defensively, Georgia did what they needed to do.  Holding Portis to a single field goal is no small task.
• Unfortunately, the Bulldogs missed about 500 (unofficially) layups.  Finish in the lane just a few more times and that's a game.
• Kudos to Taylor Echols.  If those were the last minutes of his career, that was a strong finish.
• The box score shows a pretty even game.  Free throws were a problem again, but the lack of second (and third and fourth) chance points really did Georgia in.
• Yante Maten was a little quieter, but that block on Bobby Portis was great.  The future is bright.
• Good decision by Fox to sit Gaines.  If Georgia is lucky enough to get a Friday tip, that'll be 5 or 6 full days of rest (depending on how much he participates in practice).  If the Bulldogs are going to win a game in the tournament, they're probably not going to do so without Kenny at least close to full strength.

So yeah, sorry, I just don't have much left to say.  I'm excited to find out who the Bulldogs are going to draw in the first round.  Once that happens, we'll have plenty to talk about.

Game card: Arkansas

Opponent:  Arkansas
Record:  25-7 (14-5)
Best player:  Bobby Portis
Line:  Not available as of this writing

Why Georgia will win:  Kenny Gaines, Charles Mann, Juwan Parker...Georgia is the walking wounded right now.  But you know who's healthy?  Marcus Thornton and Yante Maten.  Bobby Portis is Arkansas' best player, and if Thornton and Maten can contain him, the Bulldogs have a punchers chance.

Why Georgia will lose:  Arkansas is really good, and beating them is a challenge healthy.  Bobby Portis is ready for the NBA and Michael Qualls can beat you several different ways.  The Razorbacks' pace is designed to wear you down, and Georgia just doesn't have the horses in the barn.

What I think will happen:  This one probably won't be pretty.  Arkansas rolls 82-64.

Arkansas: post mortem

Sometimes you lose a basketball game, and sometimes you get beat.  Last night, Georgia got beat.  That is certainly not to say they played a perfect game, but what we saw would beat every SEC team not named Kentucky on almost any given night.

That's small consolation, of course, to a team fighting hard for a tournament berth.  There is no doubt the loss represents a setback, but it is not time to panic yet.  It does, however, ratchet up the pressure just a bit more in Baton Rouge on Saturday:

• A huge amount of credit needs to go to the students.  The student section was almost full 30 minutes before tip, and it was overflowing by the time the game started.  I hope a loss like this doesn't deter them from showing out again a week from Saturday.
• The rest of the crowd was OK.  Late arriving, as it standard fare for a weekday game in Athens, and a little more sparse than I'd like.
• Sometimes you run into a hot player, and that makes it very hard to win.  Georgia ran into two.  Bobby Portis was every bit the NBA prospect he was sold as, offensively at least, in the first half.  Then Alandise Harris simply refused to miss in the second.
• The two are related, of course.  Portis was so good he demanded extra attention.  That forced Georgia to be a little softer on jump shooters than they normally are.  Harris made them pay.
• Arkansas came in ranked #23, and that looked about right to me.  They're not top 10, but they're a tournament team if I've ever seen one.
• In my head, Georgia is somewhere around a top 50 team, and that looked about right too.
• That has to be the best first half Georgia has played in a long time.  The fact that the lead was only 7 at halftime turned out to be a bit foreboding.
• There were a lot of big plays in the game, but let me point you to one sequence you may have forgotten.  Georgia had the lead at 13 in the first half after a Thornton dunk and a Gaines three, and Djurisic found himself wide open for a 3-point attempt.  Had it gone in, Stegeman would have lost its collective mind and the whole tenor of the first half could have changed.  Instead, it rimmed out, and Portis scored 5 quick to bring the Razorbacks right back.  Easy to wonder what if, but if I could have willed that baby in, I surely would have.
• Speaking of "what if," I try not to do this often, but I found myself wondering last night what might have been had Brandon Morris had a better head on his shoulders...
• I've said all along there would be a game where missed free throws would cost Georgia a win.  I'm not sure this was that game, but I am sure a couple more makes would have helped.  Juwan Parker's 2-5 stands out, especially since he's statistically one of Georgia's better free throw shooters, and one of the misses was the front end of a 1-and-1.
• We shouldn't let that mar what was a really nice game for Parker, though.  More of that, please.
• So how do you lose when you out-rebound your opponent 40-25 (including 16-7 offensively)?  Turning the ball over 17 times is a good place to start.  It's long been on my wish list that Fox would stop employing some sort of ball pressure.  Maybe then Georgia could figure out how to consistently break the press, a bugaboo of the Fox era.
• Finally, Yante Maten deserves a mention.  The stat line wasn't that impressive, but at some point Fox decided Maten was his best option against Portis and it worked.  The young man plays hard on defense, and if his offense keeps coming around (that up and under in the first half was pretty), Georgia won't miss much of a beat when Marcus Thornton graduates.

Fox has a couple of days to rally the troops.  It's a big one on Saturday, folks.

Game card: Arkansas

Opponent:  Arkansas
Mascot:  Razorbacks
Primary color(s):  Cardinal and white
Record:  11-2
Best player:  Bobby Portis
Line:  Georgia -2

Why Georgia will win:  The Bulldogs just keep taking care of business at home, where they have won 21 of their last 23 games.  The Razorbacks, meanwhile, don't win on the road much at all.  When Arkansas has won, the point totals have been impressive, but against quality defenses they've looked very mortal.

Why Georgia will lose:  Number 8 in the country in scoring and number 1 in the country in assists.  That's what Georgia has to deal with tonight.  The Razorbacks have at least 4 guys that can score, and all of them can shoot the three.  Bobby Portis has been a one-man wrecking crew.

What I think will happen:  It is getting harder and harder to pick against Georgia in Athens.  Dawgs win 71-67.

Pig suckie

It's looking way, way ahead, but the first conference game in Athens against Arkansas may be a big one.  Let's hope they're ranked, because Arkansas hasn't won on the road as a ranked team since 1999.

Of course, losing to Iowa State is nothing to be too ashamed about.  Still, let's hope the trend holds for a couple more weeks...