Mike White criticizes Georgia's physicality vs. Texas A&M

Georgia coach Mike White knows if his team wants to improve over the final month of the regular season, it starts in the post. Coming off of a 82-57 blowout loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, White criticized the Bulldogs for their lack of physicality.

The Aggies outscored Georgia 38-20 in the paint and also outrebounded the Bulldogs 43-30. In his postgame press conference, White called for his team to do better at standing their ground on defense down low.

“I thought we were dominated in the paint again,” he said. “We continue to give up layups and dunks in the paint. Whether we’re zone or man, our interior defense, it’s gotta improve down the stretch for us to have a chance in some of these SEC games. It’s just our inability to protect the rim. We’re not the best shot-blocking team, but we’ve gotta take more charges. We’ve gotta swarm to the ball more.

“Our frontcourt’s gotta match some of these frontcourts’ physicality and our guards gotta help ’em. Our guards gotta get down there and fight in the mix.”

A&M pulled down 15 offensive rebounds against the Bulldogs resulting in 16 second-chance points. With Georgia offering little resistance at the rim, the Aggies shot 50% from the floor. Henry Coleman III and Tyrece Radford tied for the team lead with 15 points each.

It wasn’t just on defense that Georgia (14-9, 4-6 SEC) failed to be physical down low. The Bulldogs shot 30.4% and no post player finished with more than seven points.

“The 15 offensive rebound number I think is a little bit misleading,” White said. “Heck, they missed 30 shots and they get 15 of ’em. It seemed like they just dominated us on the glass. With some of those drives whether it be baseline or dumpoffs, we’ve just gotta offer a lot more resistance at the rim. If you’re giving up 50%, it’s just not gonna cut it.”

The Bulldogs started off 3-1 in SEC play but has since dropped five of their past six games. Georgia has still seen massive improvement in White’s inaugural season, doubling its win total from a 6-26 finish in 2021-22. With eight regular season games remaining, it still has an opportunity for a postseason appearance if it can heed the coach’s advice.

Georgia’s first chance to bounce back from the loss to Texas A&M comes at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday against Ole Miss.