Mike White assesses best way to view Georgia’s close loss vs. Tennessee

Georgia almost had No. 5 Tennessee dead to rights with five minutes to go this past weekend in Athens. Instead, the Volunteers mounted the comeback and disappointed the Bulldogs in their prime opportunity to extend their winning streak to 11 in a row.

In his postgame press conference following the 85-79 loss, Mike White obviously expressed his dismay after the Bulldogs were unable to seal the deal. He knows they had their opponent right where they wanted them but, in the end, a superior team outplayed them in the final moments.

“Honestly? I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I’m not disappointed,” said White.

“We’re up, what, nine or ten pretty late and just got out-executed down the stretch offensively, defensively by a team that’s just better than we are right now,” White said.

Georgia was down by as much as 14 to the top-five Volunteers in the first half. They went into halftime with some momentum, though, with a 9-0 run over the final four minutes. That burst sent them to the locker room down by only five.

That energy continued into the second half. The Bulldogs outscored Tennessee by 13 over the first 15 minutes of the half. That stretch featured 16 points, including three triples, from Jabri Abdur-Rahim en route to his team-high of 21 points on the afternoon. There were also five other threes in that run from Blue Cain, Noah Thomasson, and Silas Demery Jr..

From that moment on, though, Tennessee absolutely broke their backs with a 15-1 run to close it. Volunteer F Dalton Knecht was the driving force behind that stretch. Nine of his game-high of 36 came in that time while also tallying an assist, a steal, and a block. His fifth three, a season-best, gave Tennessee the lead for good. That was before he and G Zakai Zeigler then iced it at the charity stripe to take it by six.

This is one that Georgia may end up looking back on as their season and conference play continues. Still, all they can do is continue to grow and hope that they don’t let any more chances slip away.

“We hope to continue to improve. We wish that we could’ve finished the 40 because we played a pretty good 35. A really good 35 – the best we’ve played.”

Georgia regroups for road game after tough loss

For the first time since before Thanksgiving, Georgia was on the losing end of a battle on Saturday.

The Bulldogs fought hard but their valiant effort wasn’t quite enough to top No. 5 Tennessee. They led the Vols by double digits with 6:24 to go before they outscored them 15-1 in the game’s final five minutes.

“We played them close. We had a chance. The people that say, ‘That’s a great effort’ – that’s not what we are about. We’re trying to win those,” Mike White said after the game, not taking solace in any sort of moral victory. “Let’s be positive about the positive things that we did and let’s continue to work to get better at the things we need to get better at.”

The Bulldogs are on the road for their next test on Tuesday night at South Carolina. The Gamecocks are also 2-1 in the SEC including an overtime road win over Missouri. They also beat Mississippi State at home the week before with a blowout loss at Alabama between the two.

Tip time is set for 9:00 p.m. EST on ESPNU.