First big test of the season for Georgia basketball puts spotlight on this junior leader
Georgia’s first game this season against Power 5 competition didn’t come easy.
The Bulldogs had to face a team with more size, endure a slow scoring start from freshman phenom Anthony Edwards and a defensive performance that struggled at times in the second half.
But in the end, Georgia found a way to come up with the 82-78 victory over Georgia Tech and that’s what head coach Tom Crean appreciated the most.
“For our team to figure out ways to figure it out during the game, with as young as we are and as many young guys as we had on the court, and with some of the injuries we were dealing with…. We found a way,” Crean said.
The Bulldogs entered the game 3-0, but those wins came over Western Carolina, The Citadel and Delaware State. Georgia Tech, with a 2-0 record featuring a road victory over North Carolina State, represented the toughest test by far.
That level of competition was obvious early on for the young team. Georgia missed its first nine shots and at one point trailed 20-12 in the first half.
But luckily for the Bulldogs, Rayshaun Hammonds decided to put on a show for the scores of NBA scouts in attendance.
He scored nine of Georgia’s first 10 points, and he ended the first half with 19. Despite just two points from Edwards, the Bulldogs led 35-27 after the first 20 minutes.
“That was the difference in the game tonight, was what Hammonds did in the first half,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said. “That just set the tone for them.”
Crean said that Edwards had an effect on the game in many other ways besides scoring. Sometimes, the mere presence of a player like that can cause problems for a defense that must account for his scoring talent.
But if that’s going to be the case, there have to be players that step up and answer the call. That’s where Hammonds came in.
“He was in a pretty good rhythm from Friday night,” Crean said of Hammonds, who scored 26 points last Friday against Delaware State. “He picked right up because he’s not forcing anything. He’s letting it come. He’s playing with speed, he’s playing with aggressiveness.”
Edwards noted that he just wants to win, whether he’s putting up gaudy scoring numbers or not. He didn’t have the shooting stroke going, so he figured out other ways to help the team.
“What a lot of people don’t know about me is I feel like I can pass the ball,” Edwards said. “I’m not a selfish player. Rayshaun had a great night, so feed the hot hand.”
Hammonds said after his 26-point performance Wednesday that he’s focused on being more of a leader for the team, and that showed against the Yellow Jackets. On the other hand, he noted that having a talented crop of incoming freshman relieves some of the pressure on him to produce so much.
The junior from Norcross also led the Bulldogs in rebounds with nine. That’s an area Georgia will have to scratch and claw at all year, as it lacks the size many other teams have.
However, the Bulldogs rebounded like a team out to prove that size isn’t everything. They outrebounded the taller and longer Yellow Jackets 24-16 in the first half and 42-40 for the game. This includes a 13-10 overall edge in offensive boards.
“That’s all we do in practice, rebound,” Hammonds said. “We’re not the biggest team in America, but we have to find ways to rebound and get physical as a team.”
In the second half Georgia built the lead to as many as 16, keeping the Jackets at arm’s length the rest of the game en route to the four-point win. It wasn’t perfect, the team found ways to get the job done.
But as Crean emphasized postgame, there’s plenty of room to get better. He lamented some of the defensive mistakes in the post and defending drives, and he still wants to see more moving and cutting from the offense. As far as the young players, he said they are still learning the “urgency” it takes to play a complete 40-minute game.
With all of that considered, however, the Bulldogs found a way to win. For an extremely young team, that might mean more than anything moving forward.