Georgia continues quest to improve turnover margin

It’s a simple concept.

The more a team can protect the basketball, the more its chances of scoring increase. Georgia has learned this early on through eight games of its 2017-18 season.

The Bulldogs (7-1) sustained some early-season scares against opponents that it should have put away. Against South Carolina-Upstate, the Bulldogs won by only nine points while turning the ball over 15 times. Facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the RPI No. 341 team that needed a buzzer beater to defeat NAIA team Our Lady of the Lake, Georgia gave up possession 24 times in a 68-65 win.

Georgia returned with 15 turnovers against Cal State Fullerton in a game it wasn’t able to pull away from until late. This was certainly an area of focus for Georgia, given the early results.

“Sometimes you have to make mistakes and suffer the consequences of those errors in practice the next few days to really know how to value it,” head coach Mark Fox said. “I think we’re taking much greater care of it. We’re more mindful of that area because we were careless with it early. We got their attention.”

Georgia showed strides in this department over the following three games. While it lost to San Diego State, the Bulldogs dropped their turnover total to 12. Georgia defeated Saint Mary’s while turning the ball over only nine times.

In a road win over Marquette, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 10 times.

In each of the games, Georgia’s offense found a more sustained rhythm.

“Everyone was a little rushed, including myself, at the beginning of the year to try to make a play or do the right thing,” forward Yante Maten said. “It was probably a little overaggressiveness. It’s making sure you’re doing the right play, finding open shots and getting attempts at the basket.”

Georgia did commit 16 turnovers in an 87-82 win over Winthrop last week, which was a partial reason why the Eagles were able to rally from an early deficit and then play an even ballgame down the stretch.

“You have to give yourself a chance to shoot it,” Fox said. “When you turn it over like we did in those couple of early games you don’t get a chance to shoot the ball. That obviously hurts you.”

Perhaps more concerning, however, isn’t just that Georgia has turned the ball over at least 15 times in five of its games. The Bulldogs have not been able to turn over their opponent with regularity on the defensive end of the floor.

Georgia ranks 343rd in the nation in turnovers forced at just 10.5 per game. As it relates to turnover margin, that places the Bulldogs at 333rd at minus-4.3.

But if there was ever a game to help that statistic, it could be against Saturday’s opponent in Massachusetts. The Minutemen average 14.8 turnovers per game, which is coincidentally the same amount the Bulldogs have posted.

“Defensively, we just have to establish a level of consistency,” Fox said. “I’d like to force a few more turnovers if we can. But really, just an overall improvement on both ends is what we’re shooting for.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Georgia continues quest to improve turnover margin."