Mike White reveals what he has learned about Georgia this year

Mike White got off to quite a start in his first round of SEC play as Georgia‘s head coach by knocking off Auburn 76-64 Wednesday night in their conference opener. However, he acknowledged he has plenty to learn about his group.

White took over a Bulldogs team that won just six games last year and turned them into an 11-3 team so far this year. A big part of that success has been Bradley transfer Terry Roberts, who leads the team with 15 points per game. Roberts has been one of the leaders as Georgia works to close out games, and White said that’s one area he’s seen the Bulldogs take big strides.

That said, he’s still learning about the roster, and he expects to find out more after looking at the video from the Auburn game.

“We’ve continued to grow in that area,” White said of staying competitive in games. “Terry’s grown up a lot. Maybe we can have a potentially a very competitive bench that’s interested in making winning plays as opposed to trying to make hard shots and coach keeps [them] in the game. We’ve got to continue to work on defensive rebounding. I’ll watch the film. I’m sure there’ll be a dozen more things that we’ve got to learn from tonight.”

Now, White is gearing up to head back to Florida, where he spent the last seven years before replacing Tom Crean at Georgia. He was asked about that in his postgame press conference, and his approach to his return is simple.

“Business,” he said. “That’s it.”

That said, he shared how much the Gainesville community means to him even after his departure to an SEC rival.

“Gainesville is a place I love,” White said. “I’ve got five kids that were raised in Gainesville for seven years, and the second half of their development will, Lord willing, be in Athens. But, it’s a special place. It’s a place Kira and myself and all the kids, we love it. We had a great time there. I’ll always be appreciative.

“I’m looking forward to seeing some family and some friends. Really, being honest with you, a lot of people in those stands I’m anxious to see. I care about them and people throughout the community and so on.”