ATHENS — Say this for Georgia basketball coach Mike White: He doesn’t mince words and hide behind coach-speak.
Asked whether postseason aspirations served as motivation for either him or his players, he did not default to the overused, robo-coach response of “we’re just focused on the next game and trying to get better every day.”
Of course, that’s exactly what Georgia is doing every day. But straining toward goals – as unattainable as they may seem to everybody else – can be healthy, too. So why hide from it?
“It’s motivation for me, for sure,” the Bulldogs’ first-year coach said of the possibility of a postseason berth. “I’m sure (it is) for some or most or all our guys, too.”
White shared Tuesday night that he actually discussed postseason prospects with his charges “maybe a week ago.” He said he verbalized to the team some of the goals still out there in front of them.
He mentioned 16 victories, which the Bulldogs (16-10, 6-7 SEC) got with Tuesday night’s 65-63 win over LSU. He mentioned 17 wins, which essentially would guarantee a winning record for the season.
Reasonably within reach now are 18 victories, which would represent three times the wins Georgia had only one year ago. The Bulldogs already have as many SEC victories (6) as they had overall last season.
Now a postseason berth such as the NIT, which would’ve seemed like a crazy pipe dream when White was hired from Florida 11 months ago, doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
“I’m not sure how much or how badly (individual players) want to play in the postseason,” White said after Tuesday night’s game. “How bad do you want to win the next one? We’re just an in-the-moment, one-day-at-a-time program. But we’re trying to grow.
“I hope we made a huge jump tonight.”
White was referencing Georgia’s not-so-impressive win over LSU on Tuesday night. The SEC’s last-place team had the Bulldogs on the ropes much of the contest. After Georgia pulled ahead in the final minutes, the Tigers then surged again and scored a go-ahead basket with 11.4 seconds remaining.
Seven seconds later, Georgia’s Justin Hill converted an end-to-end layup, then stole LSU’s inbound pass to make sure it stood up.
The Bulldogs lost such games time and again in previous years. Instead, this win came on a night when Kario Oquendo and Terry Roberts, the Bulldogs’ two best offensive players, had their worst nights of the season.
But if White has proven nothing else, it’s that he has options as a coach and he’s not afraid to use them. Tuesday night, Georgia’s bench outscored LSU’s 24-19. That brings the Bulldogs’ “bench-point margin” for the year to plus-184 (612 to 428). They’ve won that battle 19 times this season, tying Auburn’s bench output in one other game.
So, instead of a devastating and dubious defeat, the Bulldogs were able to carry valuable lessons forward from victory.
That’s just one example of the tremendous improvement Georgia has made in one year under White. Here are more:
- Defending home court – The Bulldogs are 13-2 at home this season. One more will tie the Stegeman Coliseum regular-season record;
- D’ing up – If it seems Georgia is playing better defense, it is. To wit: Last year, Georgia’s national ranking in scoring defense, field-goal percentage defense and 3-point defense was 338, 338 and 260. So far in those categories, White’s Bulldogs are Nos. 155, 99 and 24, respectively. Together, that’s an improvement of 658 spots.
- Offensive versatility – Six different players have led Georgia in scoring this season: Roberts (10 times), Oquendo (7), Braelen Bridges (4), Mardrez McBride (4), Hill (2) and Jabri Abdur-Rahim (1).
- Shooting ability – Seven different Bulldogs have recorded 10 or more 3-pointers, most by a Georgia team in 25 years. Eight players had 10 or more in 1997-98.
White is getting this done with essentially a patchwork team. Eight of his players are new arrivals either via the transfer portal or high school recruiting. One of his top acquisitions, KyeRon Lindsay, left just after the season started.
A real oddity is every player on the roster averages double-digit minutes when he plays. White has used 11 different starting lineups in 26 games. The Bulldogs are No. 2 nationally in bench minutes (45.4%).
Recruits are taking notice. When Georgia knocked off Kentucky last Saturday, 11 prospects of note were there to witness it. They included 2024 four-star forward Chase McCarty from Huntsville, Alabama, 2024 four-star guard Gicarri Harris from Loganville and 2025 five-star forward Caleb Wilson from Atlanta.
In desperate need of more big men to compete in the rough-and-tumble SEC, Georgia already has signed four-star forward Dylan James from Winter Haven, Florida, and is in hot pursuit of 2024 five-star forward Asa Newell, also from Florida. Newell’s older brother, Jaden, is a freshman walk-on at Georgia.
The wonder is what White could do with such an all-star assemblage. He had it going for a while at Florida, notching 100 wins in just 158 games (second only to Billy Donovan’s 154 in school history) before untimely injuries, illness and the pandemic blunted the Gators’ momentum.
For now, Georgia basketball just needs all the positivity it can get. On Saturday comes a road trip to No. 1-ranked Alabama (22-4, 12-1). The Crimson Tide lost for the first time in 2023 Wednesday night, 68-59 to No. 10 Tennessee in Knoxville.
“We know what it is,” the junior Abdur-Rahim said of that challenge. “But we feel really good about ourselves. We’ve had two big wins in a row, and we’re going to carry that momentum to Alabama and play really hard with a lot of energy.”
After that, it’s off to Fayetteville to face a 17-win Arkansas team. Then, Missouri and Florida come to Athens. The season ends on the road at South Carolina, which rivals LSU as the SEC’s worst team this season.
There should be three or four more wins in there somewhere, maybe more. Regardless, White’s not kidding himself about it.
“We’re not good enough today to be an NCAA Tournament team,” he said. “But we have some opportunities in front of us. Then you have the SEC Tournament where anything can happen.”
