Needing additional scorers, Bulldogs continue to seek 'consistency' on offense

Only one SEC program does not have multiple players averaging double figures.

It's not last-place Vanderbilt. It's not 10-9 Mississippi.

Georgia, despite having the SEC's leading scorer in Yante Maten at 19.6 points per game, does not have multiple players posting an average of double-digit points.

And that's become a concern for Georgia, which has been forced to rely almost exclusively on Maten on the offensive end. And when Maten has an off night or faces a tough defense, scoring the ball at a consistent clip has been problematic. Maten has told his teammates to feel confident when taking shots.

"I tell people when you're open, shoot it. Don't hesitate," Maten said. "Go ahead and get to your rhythm, your shot. Coach emphasizes that all the time. I try to back that up. We just try to make sure no one is trying to do too much. We play the offense until we get the shot we practice every day."

Junior guard Turtle Jackson is Georgia's second-leading scorer this season at 9.4 points per game. But after posting double figures in nine of Georgia's 11 non-conference games, Jackson has only scored 10 points or more once in SEC play. Against SEC opponents, Jackson is averaging 5.3 points per outing.

Senior guard Juwan Parker, who is averaging eight points per game, provided Georgia a first-half spark in last Saturday's 79-65 loss to Auburn. While the Bulldogs were blown out in the second half, Georgia led by 14 at the break, with Parker scoring 13 of his 16 points in the first 20 minutes.

While the Bulldogs are fourth in the SEC in scoring defense at 65.8, they are last in total points per game at 69.9.

Parker said he and his teammates will need to do a better job of helping alleviate the scoring load placed upon Maten, especially in a tough conference that could get eight or nine teams in this year's NCAA Tournament.

"That's something we did very well in the early season, we had a lot of balanced scoring," Parker said. "We want to continue that so teams can't just key in on Yante and shut the whole team down. With a lot of scorers it helps the whole team."

And that's the challenge Georgia faces at the moment. The Bulldogs, at 12-6 overall and 3-4 in SEC play, are very much in the NCAA Tournament conversation. While ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Georgia on the bubble as one of his first four teams out of his projected bracket, CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm and USA Today's Shelby Mast have the Bulldogs in their fields.

From here on out, Georgia won't have an easy week on its schedule. This week's slate of games against Arkansas on Tuesday and Kansas State on Saturday will be tough, considering the Razorbacks are a top-50 program and the Wildcats are coming off of wins over Oklahoma and TCU.

While Maten has been a force for opposing teams to deal with, head coach Mark Fox knows he can't be the only one Georgia relies on offensively.

"As guys start to play bigger roles, you have to be consistent in finishing the plays you get," Fox said. "They're so hard to get in league play. Consistency is something we need to see more of."

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Needing additional scorers, Bulldogs continue to seek 'consistency' on offense."