NEW ORLEANS — With any luck, Dustin Ware will become the 42nd Georgia player to score 1,000 points in his career when the Bulldogs face Mississippi State in the SEC tournament Thursday.
Then again, luck is something of which Ware hasn’t had much this season.
Reaching that coveted milestone seemed a given for the senior guard at the outset of the season. He began with 748 points, meaning he would need to average a modest 8.4 over 30 games. Considering Ware’s past accomplishments and the role he was expected to fill for the Bulldogs his senior season, it seemed a foregone conclusion.
As it happened, Ware remains 16 points shy as the 11th-seeded Bulldogs (14-16, 5-11 SEC) open tournament play Thursday night against sixth-seeded Mississippi State (21-10, 8-8).
“My mom said something to me about it the other day, but I just tried to put it in the back of mind,” said Ware, who comes in averaging 7.9 points.
“It’s obviously something everybody would want to accomplish, and it’s a big achievement for a player. But all I’m thinking about now is playing hard and winning. We’ve got a good team, and my focus is trying to get as many wins as we can out of this tournament. That’s all.”
Ware might already have his thousand points if not for a season-long shooting slump. As a junior, Ware shot 49.3 percent from 3-point range in SEC games, best in the conference. This year he has shot 22 percent in conference play.
It’s something of which Ware is painfully aware and has worked tirelessly to correct. He has stayed late after every practice and attempted hundreds of shots.
“I’ve tried it all,” Ware says, exasperated.
“He said the other night, ‘I think I’ve cost a couple of games,’” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “I said, ‘You didn’t make some shots, but it’s not fair for you to swallow all the burden.’”
Fox has tried to jolt Ware of the funk by occasionally pulling him out of the starting lineup. After starting all 64 games the past two seasons, Ware came off the bench nine times this season.
Meanwhile, Ware has contributed in other ways. His 3.13 assist-to-turnover ratio would rank fifth nationally if he met the NCAA’s minimum standard for total assists.
“Dustin’s been a great model of stability,” Fox said. “If he’s not the hardest worker on the team, he’s one of the hardest workers.”
Ware’s accuracy issues have paralleled the Bulldogs. They rank last in the SEC in field-goal percentage (.394) and have shot 29 percent on 3-pointers in league play.
“We have a good shooting team, but we haven’t shot the ball well all year,” Fox said. “It’s kind of been a real enigma. We felt like coming into the year we had a lot of guys who could make the 3. We just haven’t been as consistent as we hoped.”
One of the times the Bulldogs were on with the long ball was Feb. 11 against Mississippi State. Georgia made 11 3-pointers that day, including a season-high six by freshman guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Ware had three, his second-highest total this season.
Not coincidentally, the Bulldogs defeated then-No. 20-ranked Mississippi State 70-68.
“Don’t tell us and Florida and South Carolina [Georgia can’t shoot],” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “Those are very capable shooters. ... Ware was a great shooter last year, one of the best in the SEC. He hasn’t shot it as well [this year], but we know what he’s capable of. They’re a good shooting basketball team, and that was the difference in our game.”
The good news for Ware is both his personal and team goals can be met in the SEC tournament. Should he score 16 or more against Mississippi State, he’ll have his thousand, and it’s a pretty sure bet the Bulldogs will have won.
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