Mike White confident Georgia will not carry loss over to next game

Georgia head coach Mike White is confident that the overtime loss to Florida won’t carry over into the rest of SEC play for the Bulldogs.

After trailing big at halftime, Georgia came up short 102-98 even after outscoring the Gators by 13 in the final 20 minutes. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 14-6 and 4-3 in the conference while Florida’s win pulled itself even with its rival.

But still, White remained confident in his squad.

“I mean, it’s not who these guys are,” White said postgame. “These guys aren’t very delicate, mentally. Collectively, this group will come back to work Monday and it is Saturday right? This thing runs together and they’ll be ready to work and we’ll learn from the film. I’m not worried about that. What I did say was obviously really proud of the fight and the connection down the stretch. Minus Jabri, I thought they did a really good job on Jabri, he didn’t get it going. Silas fouls out. I should have gotten him out of the game.” 

Jabri Abdur-Rahim finished the game with just eight points and three rebounds as White referred to. Then Silas Demary Jr. only had four points and fouled out of the game.

If you look at it from that perspective, Georgia battled without two of its better players on or being highly productive on the floor.

RJ Melendez was the best one on the floor though and nearly willed Georgia back himself. He had 35 points, three rebounds and one assist in the game.

However, it wasn’t enough and White acknowledged the quick turnaround for Georgia.

“Electric environment and a lot of adversity which is part of life on the road in the SEC,” White said. “And we come in here and give ourselves a chance late so, a lot to be proud about and then you know, we just gotta get back to work on Monday and prepare for the next one.

“In this league, these days, you gotta celebrate it or if you’re going to be down about it, you gotta get over pretty quickly, got to flush it because another one’s right around the corner.”

It doesn’t get much easier for Georgia and White as a Wednesday date with Alabama is up next. At the very least, the Bulldogs play that one at home.

White and the Bulldogs will tip off against the Crimson Tide Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.