Georgia hopes to finish strong after tough defeats

ATHENS — So far, the baby steps forward have been more than rewarding. They have offered a confidence boost, a rallying cry and a nudge to an occasionally disinterested fan base that Georgia deserves to be taken seriously.

Wednesday’s four-point loss to No. 23 Mississippi was another baby step — a solid outing against a top opponent — but head coach Mark Fox wanted to see more. He wants to see his young team take a few bigger steps and turn moral victories into actual wins.

“You know we’re emotionally young, we’re physically young,” Fox said. “As I told them after the game, you have to show up every game. That’s an area where we have to improve.”

The Bulldogs (8-7, 0-2 SEC) return to the court today on the road against Mississippi State, Georgia’s first contest against an unranked foe in two weeks. But while the gauntlet of the past three games — a win over Georgia Tech and losses to Kentucky and Ole Miss — has mercifully come to an end, the stretch only underscores how far Georgia has come and how far it has left to go.

Trey Thompkins’ 21 points paced the Bulldogs against Ole Miss, and three other players finished in double figures in a game that was lost in the final seconds. It was a similar story four days earlier in Kentucky when Georgia coughed up a halftime lead and was unable to close out the third-ranked Wildcats.

The fact that Georgia has been competitive against top opponents has been a good sign, but the way the past two games ended offers ample evidence that the Bulldogs aren’t over the hump yet in their quest toward a run at the SEC East.

“It’s tough going on the road and losing like that and then coming back home and losing down the stretch,” guard Ricky McPhee said. “It’s definitely tough on us.”

Still, it has been hard to ignore the fight the Bulldogs have shown against some talented competition. And while Georgia hasn’t come away with a win the past two games, it is beginning to turn heads.

Forward Travis Leslie finished with 17 points against Ole Miss and has been in double figures in five straight games. His signature dunks have caught the attention of basketball fans on a national level — earning big hits on YouTube and plenty of kudos on “SportsCenter.”

The fact that Georgia has shown up in the national scene at all is a big step for a team almost completely overlooked in the preseason, and Leslie’s hoping a strong performance against Mississippi State and shot-blocker Jarvis Varnando can provide a bit more enthusiasm.

“I know he’s one of the greatest shot blockers in the country, but to me that not going to stop me from going to the hole,” Leslie said. “I’m going to keep attacking. Hopefully I can get him on ESPN, too.”

That’s a bit of confidence that would have seemed oddly out of place a few weeks ago. Now, however, the future looks a bit brighter, and that’s what Leslie and his teammates are prioritizing.

The past two losses left the Bulldogs winless in conference but inspired for the road ahead.

“We’re not worried about games we’ve lost,” Leslie said. “We know we have to get over that. We have a lot of SEC games ahead of us, and we have to focus on them. We have to take care of what’s ahead.”