ATHENS — When LSU comes to town Tuesday night, it will have been a month since Georgia last won back-to-back games.
That needs to change. It should – and it better.
With all due respect to LSU and its proud basketball program, this is not an opponent that should be able to hang with Georgia when the teams tip off at Stegeman Coliseum at 8:30 p.m. In a transition year under first-year coach Matt McMahon, the Tigers arrive having lost 11 consecutive SEC games. The wonder in that is they won that first one, which happened to be the conference road opener against Arkansas.
This past weekend, LSU trailed Texas A&M 41-17 at halftime in Baton Rouge. To their credit, the Tigers won the second half 45-33, but the damage was too great to overcome. They fell to 12-13 overall and 1-11 in SEC play.
Georgia certainly will not look like Mount Everest to Tuesday’s visitors. The Bulldogs (15-10, 5-7) are in a state of transition themselves in Year 1 under coach Mike White. But they have shown tremendous progress overall and lately have gotten well physically and mentally.
Coming off a resounding 75-68 win over Kentucky this past Saturday, it’s time Georgia plays with confidence and, quite frankly, a little desperation. The Bulldogs improved to 12-2 at home with the rare victory over Big Blue basketball.
Momentum, at this point, is much too valuable to waste.
“Every win from now to the end of the season is going to be a big win,” said junior Kario Oquendo, who led the Bulldogs with 21 points against the Wildcats. “We wanted to come in here and show them we could defend our home court and split the series. It was definitely a big win; first time I’ve beat them.”
After Tuesday, the schedule will do Georgia no favors. They’re on the road against No. 1-ranked and SEC-undefeated Alabama, then off to Arkansas and back home against Missouri. Those three teams have 58 wins among them.
But with only six regular-season games remaining and whatever the Bulldogs can muster out of the SEC Tournament (March 8-12 in Nashville), there’s no quibbling over venue and quality of opponents.
Georgia just needs wins.
“At times, we’ve taken a couple of steps back, a couple forward,” White said after the Kentucky victory. “That’s part of the process, of course. Tonight was a couple forward in that category. Had some maturity, had some connection, didn’t seem we got as rattled.”
That was critical in the second half when the Bulldogs saw a 10-point halftime lead dissipate into a four-point deficit. But instead of panicking, Georgia turned on the energy, which was boosted by another home crowd topping 10,000.
That’s the way the Bulldogs played at the outset of the SEC slate. They won three of their first four contests, including back-to-backs against Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Since then, there have been a pair of three-game losing streaks sandwiched around an overtime win over South Carolina.
Georgia already has more than doubled its win total from last season and won five times the conference games of a year ago. But the Bulldogs are far from satisfied. SEC Tournament seeding and postseason prospects remain on the line.
“You know, the environment at home has been great, our record has been good and we have played well at home,” White said. “… These guys will continue to work and be ready to go.”
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