ATHENS -- Following the ball during Georgia and Samford’s basketball game Saturday might be akin to trying to follow a puck during a hockey broadcast. It’s going to be a blur moving up and down the floor all night.
At least that’s the expectation as the teams prepare to face off at 7 p.m. at Stegeman Coliseum. The home-team Bulldogs (4-0) come in averaging 82.5 points per game, while the Bulldogs of Samford (2-1) average 90 per game.
But the college basketball world is still buzzing about Samford’s work in a Nov. 25 exhibition game against Greenville College. In their debut under first-year coach Bucky McMillan, they scored 174 points – or 4.35 points per minute.
“When you score 174 points in a game, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against; you have a high-powered offense,” Georgia coach Tom Crean said. “So we’re going to have to do a great job defensively.”
Though McMillan is new to Samford, he’s well known in college basketball circles because of the great players his Mountain Brook (Ala.) High teams produced while winning five Class 7A state titles in 12 seasons. The up-tempo style he employed there has translated well to the college game so far, as five players come to Athens scoring in double figures, led by Myron Gordon with 19.5 points per game.
Of course, the Bulldogs are all about playing fast and scoring in bunches under Crean, too. That was best demonstrated in a 98-65 win over Jacksonville on Dec. 4.
But Georgia also proved it can win at a more deliberate pace. It won that way, 63-50, on Tuesday night against Montana.
So perhaps the Bulldogs should try to slow Samford and beat it in more of a half-court game?
“No, we want to play fast,” Crean said. “No doubt about it, we want to go fast. For us, it’s going to be the ol’ John Wooden, ‘be quick, but don’t hurry.’ We can’t get in a situation where we get all rushed and do those types of things. We’ve got to get good shots, very good shots. But at the same time, we’ve got to challenge them.”
Nobody would blame the Bulldogs if they were slower than usual. Saturday’s game will be their fifth in 14 days just as the semester edges into final exams.
But Georgia also is in position to record its first 5-0 start since 2001. So, the Bulldogs insist they remain motivated and ready to run.
“It’s probably going to be a battle of wills,” Georgia senior forward P.J Horne said. “Obviously they play really fast. We play really fast also. It’s going to be a matter of who can execute better and who can put stops together.”
Georgia’s cause would be helped if its outside shooting improved. The Bulldogs have sunk to 28 percent from 3-point range. That’s a major disappointment considering the emphasis the team put on improving last season’s 31 percent mark.
But the thrust of their game continues to be getting up and down the floor behind lightning-quick point guard Sahvir Wheeler. The 5-10 sophomore cooled down some with nine points and five assists against Montana, but logged the first three-game points-and-assists double-double streak in school history to open the season. He comes in leading the Bulldogs with 14.8 points and 9.3 assists per game.
“Our key focus is really running back down the court (on defense) because Samford likes to throw it ahead off misses and free throws,” Georgia’s Andrew Garcia said. “They’re a fast-break team that’s really good. So, we have to be very aware of that.”
The Bulldogs insists they’re looking forward to the challenge. If nothing else, they’re ought to be plenty of scoring to be had.
“They find it exhilarating and exciting,” Crean said of his players. “The only one that’s real uptight and apprehensive would be the head coach, being me, when you see a team score like they do.”
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