Balanced effort leads Minutemen in upset over Bulldogs
Here are five observations from Georgia's 72-62 loss to Massachusetts.
No excuses
Georgia was coming off of final exams. There was an 11-day layoff from the last time it played a game. While a loss is never good to take, conference play has yet to start.
No. There are no excuses for this loss. Basketball is basketball, and you have to be ready to play regardless of the circumstance.
Georgia's coaching staff, plan and simple, did not have its players prepared well enough to face Massachusetts.
The Minutemen (6-5) entered this game with one player averaging double digits in scoring in Luwane Pipkins. Yet against Georgia (7-2), UMass got a balanced performance, with five players scoring 10 points or more With the pre-game attention on Pipkins, Georgia was beat ferociously down low by center Rashaan Holloway.
Holloway scored 12 points and proved to be a tougher-than-expected assignment down low for forward Yante Maten. But Georgia never once adjusted with any help and allowed him to go 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Guard Carl Pierre hit some big shots, nailing five of his seven 3-point attempts en route to 15 points off of the bench.
Pipkins was able to score 10 quick points en route to 17 of his own. Chris Baldwin contributed 11 with three makes behind the arc. Guard C.J. Anderson added 10 points and had a team-high eight rebounds.
UMass shot 50 percent from the field as a team, with Georgia providing little resistance in the early going. In the game's opening moments, the Minutemen jumped out to an 18-4 lead. Given that Massachusetts entered the game as a one-man show, it is quite concerning for the Bulldogs to allow so many options to open up.
“We got off to a terrible start,” Georgia head coach Mark Fox said in a statement. “We had not practiced well and we played the exact same way. The defense wasn’t near what it needs to be at to win on the road. We didn’t play well, but give UMass credit for taking the first swing. In the second half, we started to look like ourselves, but you can’t dig that big of a hole.”
As a young head coach, Massachusetts head coach Matt McCall is now 2-0 over Fox. The first came in 2015, when McCall led Chattanooga, his previous place of employment, to a 92-90 win over Georgia in overtime.
A head-scratching coaching decision
This isn't why Georgia lost. But in a game with glaring coaching errors, this one in particular stands out in a major way.
Down by 16 points with 6:10 left to play, guard Tyree Crump hit a 3-pointer, giving Georgia a much-needed jolt. Yante Maten stole the ball on Massachusetts' next possession, with Crump putting up another 3 through the basket. Suddenly, the Bulldogs trailed by only 10 with 5:34 to go.
The Bulldogs got a stop and Crump turned the ball over on the ensuing possession. If you're Georgia, and you're coming down the stretch in a game where you are getting little offense, you live with that particular turnover. But shortly after that play, Crump was taken out of the game. He would not return.
Georgia's offense could never establish a rhythm whatsoever. And in that moment, Crump was the only player on the floor looking to create while down by double digits. Taking out a 3-point shooter coming off back-to-back makes is never a good idea, especially when you're in a last-ditch spot for a comeback on the road.
Crump finished the game playing only 10 minutes on the floor.
Not taking advantage
UMass led by 19 at the break but gave Georgia a great opportunity to climb back into the game in the second half's first five minutes.
The Minutemen rolled up nine fouls in four minutes worth of time and then saw Holloway create an offensive foul for No. 10. And during this span, the Bulldogs cut the Minutemen's lead to 12. But from there, Georgia did not attack the paint enough to get to the free-throw line.
Given the situation, this screamed for Georgia to feed Maten down low and let him go to work to draw fouls on the UMass bigs. Instead, the Bulldogs declined to take advantage and ended the game with only 15 free-throw attempts.
One shot
Hammonds, a top-50 recruit who starts on Georgia's offense, came into the game averaging 6.5 shot attempts. Against UMass, Hammonds put up only one shot attempt.
Over the past few games, it hasn't seemed like Georgia has made a concerted effort to get Hammonds involved on offense. Sure, he's on the floor. But none of Georgia's sets have him in mind. Perhaps it is time to run more of the offense through Hammonds.
After all, he is starting for a pretty obvious reason, right?
Why so many?
In the first half, Georgia rotated 11 players. The NBC Sports Network television crew took notice of this and voiced its concern over the fact.
Sure, the Bulldogs struggled out of the gate. But there is almost zero chance for a team to establish a semblance of rhythm when that many players check in and out of a game during the first 20 minutes of a game.
Bonus five
-This loss, at least for the time being, is a bad one for the NCAA Tournament resume. Massachusetts entered the game with a No. 185 RPI ranking and a No. 148 KenPom ranking.
-Maten was the only Bulldog to show up from start to finish. Once again, he impressed with 20 points and nine rebounds.
-The Bulldogs got only nine total points from Hammonds, Juwan Parker and Derek Ogbeide. Hammonds went scoreless, Parker scored seven and Ogbeide notched only two points without a make from the field.
-Georgia lost by 10 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicated. Yet the Bulldogs only turned the ball over six times. Conversely, Massachusetts almost met its season average with 14 turnovers.
-The Minutemen doubled the Bulldogs up from the 3-point line. While Georgia went 6-of-17 shooting from long range, Massachusetts made 12 of its 22 3-point attempts.
This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Balanced effort leads Minutemen in upset over Bulldogs."