ATHENS — As Georgia heads to South Carolina on Wednesday, Bulldogs point guard Sahvir Wheeler leads the SEC, and ranks fourth in the nation, in assists, at 7.6 per game. That’s actually 2.3 more assists than anybody else in the league.
Wheeler’s innate ability to penetrate and drive the lane to either score or dump the ball off to a teammate seems otherworldly at times, especially utilizing a body type that is probably better suited for soccer than basketball.
At other times, though, it can be problematic. Sometimes the 5-foot-10 Wheeler’s courage and willingness to enter a forest of SEC shot-blockers outweighs his ability to get through them or his teammates’ ability to corral the last-second, bullet passes suddenly coming their way. That has resulted in many of the Bulldogs’ turnovers and/or wasted possessions.
The negative side of the equation reached a point of critical mass Saturday against Florida. After wheeling-and-dealing his way to nine assists and only one turnover in a close first half against the Gators, Wheeler committed three quick turnovers early in the second and found himself spending the remainder game on the sideline with coach Tom Crean in what ended as a 92-84 loss.
At such times that we’re reminded that Wheeler is a still somewhat raw sophomore and not a seasoned veteran. He walks, talks and leads like the latter, but sometimes he has found himself downtrodden with self-inflicted frustration.
“I’m not sure why that happens,” Wheeler said after the Florida game. “I’m playing the same game (both halves), and I’m trusting the coaches. (Crean) thought he had something good going there, and he went with it. We’re all trying to win games and that’s all I want, whether I’m out there or not.”
To be clear, the Bulldogs (9-5, 2-5 SEC) are better when Wheeler is out there. He already has turned in two or three of the best performances by SEC guards this season. Already he has recorded five “double-double” games of points and turnovers, including the Florida contest (10-10). Now early in his second college season, he is 30 assists shy of running down three-year starter Gino Gianfrancesco for No. 18 on Georgia’s career assists list. He’s only 18 assists from overtaking Rod Cole for No. 10 for the single-season assists mark from the SEC championship season of 1989-90.
Wheeler’s 5.44 assists per game for his career than any SEC player is averaging this season (Vandy’s Scotty Pippen at 5.27 apg). So it’s probably just a matter of time before Wheeler runs down all of Georgia’s assists records. Rashad Wright (493) holds the career record (2000-04), while Pertha Robinson (169) has the single-season mark (1994-95).
For now, though, Georgia coach Tom Crean only needs Wheeler to run his offense efficiently, starting Wednesday against South Carolina (3-5, 1-3). While the Bulldogs’ 15.6 assists per game average leads the SEC, so does their 17.1 turnovers.
“Sahvir continues to improve and adjust and learn how defenses are playing and the role he has as the main ballhanding conduit to our offense,” Crean said. “He will bounce back. I have no doubt about that.”
In the meantime, Georgia has several areas it needs to shore up as well. Chiefly, those are defense and rebounding.
The Bulldogs were exposed in both areas in Saturday’s 92-84 loss to Florida. The Gators shot 56.9 percent from the field and outrebounded Georgia 41-27, 16-10 on offense.
As it is, Georgia enters the South Carolina game 13th in the SEC in points allowed (75.1 per game), 12th in field goal percentage defense (45) and 13th in defensive rebounding (35.9 pg).
Inexplicably, the Bulldogs’ worst defensive work has come in the second half, allowing competitive games to quickly get out of reach. That happened in losses to Arkansas, Auburn and Florida.
“We are letting go of the rope in these second halves, at times,” Crean said. “When we haven’t, we’ve been good. We have got to string stops together and not let our offense dictate our defensive talk and physicality. We need to generate more deflections, defensive rebounds and get our running game going. We need to realize how long of a game it is and stick with our belief.”
The Bulldogs have an opportunity to improve this week. The Gamecocks are one of the few SEC teams that trail them in the disciplines of defense and rebounding, and Georgia is a decidedly more efficient offensive team. That game will be followed Saturday with a rematch against Ole Miss, which the Bulldogs beat Jan. 16 in Athens.
“We know what it takes to win games, and we know what are some of the common factors when we don’t win games,” Wheeler said. “We’re still in the growing process. We have some pretty good wins, and we have some losses that we wish we could take back. No one wants to lose, but we have found some bright spots.”
Wheeler is one of those, for sure.
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