The afternoon before Georgia’s SEC game with No. 23 Florida, Bulldogs coach Mark Fox asserted that a three-game losing streak had taken its toll on his team’s poise.
“There’s no question their confidence has been shaken a little bit,” Fox said Monday. “Anytime you have a loss or two together, that can happen, but we’ve got to fight to get that back. There’s no question their confidence has taken a bit of a hit.”
What a difference one victory makes.
Georgia’s 72-60 upset of the Gators – and the way the Bulldogs won, outscoring Florida 22-9 in the game’s final 10 minutes – could go a long way in bringing back some of that much-needed self-assurance.
“There’s going to be people jump off the ship when you lose a couple of games,” said Fox after Tuesday’s game. “These kids didn’t jump off the ship. They’ve got great character, and they stayed with it. There’s more success to come, there’s more adversity to come, but you have to stay the course and keep battling, and hopefully the confidence … returns. But we’ve got to keep trying to get better.”
The first step toward getting better – and maintaining the pace for a drive to the postseason – begins Saturday in Starkville, when Georgia (13-8, 4-5) visits Mississippi State (16-6, 4-5) for a 6 p.m. tipoff. Both teams are among six SEC schools bunched in the middle of the standings with 4-5 records.
Although the Bulldogs have defeated five teams currently in the top 50 in RPI, their victory over the Gators (who had won three of their past four games) might not mean much without a solid follow-up. And battling inconsistency has long been a challenge in Athens.
“Consistency is repetition,” said Georgia senior Yante Maten, who scored 20 points against Florida and has been the picture of reliability for Georgia this season. “Whatever you do every day is what you’re going to end up doing in the game. So that’s the biggest thing – making sure we’re getting our reps in practice.
“You can’t look back at all the mistakes you made. You have to learn from it, but you can’t keep looking back. You’ve got to look to the future and understand what has to be done.”
The Bulldogs got a big boost against Florida from the play of freshman Nicolas Claxton, who made key contributions – some reflected in the box score, some not – in his 20 minutes on the floor. Claxton recorded five points (including a big 3-pointer in the second half), eight rebounds and three blocks.
“We just need everybody to step up like they did tonight,” said the 6-foot-11 Claxton, who is averaging four points and 3.5 rebounds per game. “We know the position we’re in, so we’ve got to keep swinging.”
Claxton, who scored nine points in a loss to Arkansas and six in a loss to Kansas State, recently has provided strong play in relief of Georgia’s big men, most notably freshman Rayshaun Hammonds, who started in 18 of the Bulldogs’ 21 games, but played only nine minutes off the bench against Florida, contributing two points and six rebounds.
“He’s a high-energy, high-motorcycle guy, and he just loves the game,” said Maten of Claxton. “He’s always looking to help somebody out, and that’s what you want in a teammate.”
The Bulldogs also received sturdy bench play against Florida from Jordan Harris (seven points, five rebounds), Tyree Crump (six points, two rebounds) and Mike Edwards (one rebound).
Mississippi State has a modicum of momentum entering Saturday after an impressive 81-76 victory Thursday at South Carolina. It was Mississippi State’s first road win of the season.
With nine games remaining in the regular season – including return dates with No. 11 Auburn, No. 23 Florida, South Carolina and LSU, and a tussle with No. 18 Tennessee – Georgia has an excellent opportunity to make its case for the NCAA Tournament, but nobody is predicting smooth sailing.
“There are going to be times in seasons when you have struggles,” Fox said. “It happens to everybody. Everybody hits it. The teams that can come out of it on the other side and scratch out a few more wins – those are the teams that end up going someplace. Those guys have to keep battling. Because we won tonight, it’s not enough. We’ve got to go win some more. But we’ve got to keep getting better to win some more.”
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