It’s a fair question to pose – which Georgia team will show up for its SEC battle Saturday evening against No. 18 Tennessee?
Will it be the team that charged back from a seven-point deficit with less than 90 seconds left in regulation to defeat Florida 72-69 in overtime Wednesday in Gainesville?
Or will it be the team that offered lackluster defensive performances in consecutive losses to Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and No. 10 Auburn?
The lack of consistency has been one of the primary reasons for an uneven season for Georgia (14-11, 5-8 SEC) and certainly has been a point of aggravation for both coach Mark Fox and Bulldogs fans.
“I would say I’ve been very frustrated with our inconsistency defensively because that’s something we thought this team could be good at, and we have shown we can be very good defensively,” said Fox, whose team has lost six of its past eight games. “We just haven’t done it every night and that’s been very costly. So that’s been frustrating for sure.”
Despite its recent troubles on defense, Georgia remains one of the league’s stingiest teams, allowing 67.2 points per game. Tennessee (19-6, 9-4) is right up there with the Bulldogs, also giving up 67.2 points per night.
The difference, then, lies on the other end of the court, where Georgia will need a solid defensive stance to limit the Volunteers’ offensive chances. Tennessee comes into Saturday’s game ranked sixth in the SEC in scoring 75.7 points per game, while the Bulldogs are bringing up the rear at 68.8 points per game.
Coached by Rick Barnes, Tennessee has won seven of its past eight games, the only misstep lately being a 78-50 loss Feb. 10 at Alabama. A victory Saturday would give the Volunteers their first 20-win season since 2013-14.
“The challenge No. 1 is the quality of the opponent,” Fox said. “Tennessee is having a great year and playing with unbelievable confidence at both ends of the court. (They’re a) team that doesn’t have an obvious weakness – those are challenging teams to play because you can’t play toward their weakness. They’re very sound, and that’s why they’re having such great success, so we’re going to have to be very disciplined ourselves.”
An interesting matchup in the making could pit Georgia’s 6-foot-8 Yante Maten (19.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg) against Tennessee’s 6-7 Grant Williams (16.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg).
Maten, the SEC’s only player in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage, recorded a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds against Florida, a game where he also nailed two 3-pointers in the final 16 seconds of regulation to put the game in overtime.
Williams, who leads Tennessee in scoring, rebounding and minutes played, has recorded six 20-point games this season and tallied 22 points in the Volunteers’ 70-67 win over South Carolina.
“(Williams is) having a great year, and he had great games against us a year ago,” Fox said. “I’m not sure there are two better power forwards right now. Those kids are playing great.”
The Bulldogs had a bit of a scare Wednesday when point guard Turtle Jackson didn’t play in the overtime period because of what Fox termed “a strained area in his leg.” But Fox said Friday that he expected Jackson (8.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg) to be able to play against Tennessee.
Should Jackson falter, Fox can turn to sophomore Tyree Crump (5.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg), who took over Wednesday in overtime and has played some of his best basketball as of late, having scored 13 points against Mississippi State and Auburn and nine points against Vanderbilt.
“Tyree has tried to play a couple of different positions for us, and learning two spots can be hard for guys,” Fox said. “He has had an approach that has allowed him to get better and allowed him to continue to improve at both positions. So now he’s able to play both and he played the point spot very effectively for us.”
Georgia, which has defeated Tennessee the past four times the two teams have met, can expect a large and boisterous crowd as Saturday’s game is sold out. Fox is hopeful his team will do a better job of maintaining its composure than it did at home last Saturday in a 78-61 loss to Auburn.
“We’ve had some tremendous crowds and (Saturday) should be another one,” said Fox. “The key is to be able to play in that environment and maintain your poise. You’ve got to manage the emotions and get used to playing in front of a packed house every night, which we have. We have to handle that emotion with maturity.”
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