ATHENS — Three days after gashing Notre Dame with lethal inside play, the Georgia Bulldogs will get all they can handle in the low post from Chattanooga.
The Mocs are led by 7-foot, 275-pound Jake Stephens, who comes to Stegeman Coliseum averaging 22.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. The trouble is, he’s not the only productive player for Chattanooga (8-4), which averages 81.8 points per game and carries an 8.5 per-game rebounding margin into Wednesday’s game (3 p.m., SEC Network-Plus).
“Jump hooks, step-throughs, extra pivots, shoots it like a 2-guard at 7-foot,” Georgia coach Mike White said of the Mocs’ star center. “They play through him at the elbows on the top of the key. He passes it like a wing. He’s fantastic. Blocks shots, in addition. And when he’s not blocking shots, he’s their anchor defensively in that paint as a presence, draws fouls. He’s a really good player.”
Still, the Mocs have managed to lose games against Ole Miss, Lipscomb and College of Charleston and, most recently, to Belmont in overtime. But they’ve also beaten some good second-tier teams in Murray State, Tennessee Tech, Milwaukee and Middle Tennessee State, with the Tech and MTSU wins coming on the road.
Meanwhile, White still is not entirely sure what kind of team he has in the Bulldogs (8-3). He was highly encouraged by their play in Sunday night’s 77-62 win over Notre Dame in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena.
Georgia dominated the Fighting Irish in the paint, getting 33 points on 15-of-15 shooting from center Braelen Bridges and forward M.A. Moncrieffe. Guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim added his first double-double of his career, with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Terry Roberts chipped in 10 points and five assists.
“It gives us something to build upon, without question,” White said. “It’s got to give our guys added confidence and buy-in into what we’re doing. Buy-in, in terms of how we’re trying to play schematically, offensively and defensively, but buy-in to each other as well. They’ve experienced a high level of success against a good team, but it’s on to the next one. Chattanooga is good.”
Georgia has two more games to get the kinks worked out. After Chattanooga, the Bulldogs play host to Rider (Dec. 28) to wrap up the nonconference schedule. They’ll open SEC play against Auburn at Stegeman on Jan. 4, the first of 18 consecutive conference games.
The Bulldogs aren’t taking anything for granted.
“The funny thing about that is, sometimes you think you had a really good game, and you go in the next day and watch film. Then you’re, like, ‘oh, man, well, I kind of made some mistakes,’” Abdur-Rahim said.
“Definitely being on the winning side makes (reviewing game video) more enjoyable. (It) showed some good moments and some things that we need to continue to build on. There were a lot of positives, for sure, but we try to use it as an opportunity to get better and learn from the things we did wrong. We’re never going to have a perfect game. We made some mistakes defensively and had some errors offensively. But, overall, it was a really good game.”
