ATHENS -- After a challenging stretch of road games and ranked opponents, things ostensibly should be easier now for the Georgia men’s basketball team
For a number of reasons, however, that may not be quite true.
South Carolina, the last-place team in the SEC East, visits Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday. Georgia already owns one win over the Gamecocks, two weeks ago in Columbia.
But if the Bulldogs are to pull off the sweep, it will have to do so with very little rest. They played at Florida on Thursday night.
“They’re gonna do everything to get us ready,” Georgia guard Travis Leslie said after the game. “Take an ice bath. Do whatever they’ve gotta do to get us up.”
The short turnaround isn’t necessarily a death knell. Last year Georgia beat Florida at home just two nights after losing in overtime at Vanderbilt.
Not surprisingly, Georgia head coach Mark Fox said he would follow the same routine as last year, including a normal practice on Friday.
The Bulldogs (18-9 overall, 7-6 SEC) have just finished a stretch when it played five straight teams currently ranked in the top 30 of the RPI. Three of those games were on the road.
The next two games are at home against South Carolina (14-12, with an RPI of 116), and LSU (10-17, with an RPI of 205).
But both teams could be playing a bit better. LSU just won at Mississippi State, and South Carolina knocked off Mississippi.
Even if Georgia hops out to a big lead early Saturday night, clearly everyone will know it’s not over. The Bulldogs have led at halftime of the past six games, winning only three of them, and they only leads they held onto were at South Carolina and Tennessee.
Fox said Friday he didn’t think the second half troubles were “the story of our year.” But he granted that it was something the team needed to worry about.
“I think our concentration and ability to concentrate, and be assignment-sound for 48 minutes is not where it needs to be,” Fox said. “And I think we need to get a little bit more out of his bench. But I don’t think we’re physically tired at all.”
Indeed, Georgia did use more bench players Thursday, including Vincent Williams at point guard and Donte’ Williams in the post. Fox said star Trey Thompkins asked for more rest, and the coach acquiesced.
But Fox wants more scoring help from the bench too, and that hasn’t materialized yet.
“It is a one-day turnaround, we’ve already played this team once before,” Fox said. “So it is what it is, we’ll have to go back to work tomorrow and get ready to play.”
