Bulldogs building strong response muscle in non-conference play

ATHENS, Ga. — In sports, the ability to respond to different circumstances is incredibly important. One could argue that it’s the most important factor for an athlete and their team with success coming to those who have the right responses to whatever cards are dealt. In the case of Georgia Basketball so far this season, head coach Mike White has to be pleased with how his team has responded to everything thrown its way. Injuries and illnesses, ups and downs all resulting in the Bulldogs’ 8-3 record with two games to go in their non-conference schedule. Has it been perfect? Nope, they aren’t 11-0 all all. Have they responded well though? Absolutely, and that’s been important in getting them to the point they’re at with an opportunity to continue to grow.

Take Braelen Bridges for example. He’s had plenty to respond to this season. The only Bulldog to start all 32 games last year, Bridges found himself coming off the bench on night one of the 2022-23 campaign. His minutes slowly decreased too, playing as few as four in back to back outings against Bucknell and Saint Joseph’s. He was held scoreless in each of those games, plus the one before it against Miami (OH). However, as White described on Tuesday, Bridges responded well to his struggles and fought through to eventually force White’s hand into a spot in the starting lineup. He turned that into a 21-point day against Hampton at the end of November and three games later another strong showing that earned him SEC Player of the Week honors.

“I acknowledged Braelen in our locker room yesterday because he deserved it. He’s had some ups and downs. He’s had some games where he didn’t play many minutes,” White said. “He has had the ‘I’m going to make Coach play me more’ mentality. I’m happy for him. I’m proud for him. It’s a great example of just keep working, keep grinding, good things will happen. He was the best player on the court in a big win. Very happy for him.”

Bridges into the only one who had a big day against Notre Dame. Jabri Abdur-Rahim recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. That too required a response – this time one from assistant coach Erik Pastrana during a first-half timeout.

“It was early in the first half, one of the media timeouts, and one of our assistants Coach (Erik) Pastrana challenged specifically the 3’s, the small forwards, to go in and get offensive rebounds. I knew that was going to change the game,” Abdur-Rahim recalled. “We knew coming in that Notre Dame was one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country, and we really wanted to challenge that because we are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. So, we just tried to continue to do what we do and I feed off of what Coach Pastrana said. Accepted the challenge and tried to crash the glass aggressively. The ball just kind of came to me, and I was able to make some plays.”

Terry Roberts responded too. His came from one game to another and was part of an overall team response to their game at Georgia Tech. In the 79-77 loss on December 6th, Roberts turned the ball over twice on a pair of late possessions. Next time out against Notre Dame, Roberts had 10 points and a team-high five assists as the Bulldogs picked up their biggest win of the season to date.

“We responded well,” Roberts said himself. “We were upset, obviously a close game that we all feel we should have won. We just got right back to practice, went hard and it paid off.”

Georgia’s challenge now is responding to success. Back in action on a short turnaround from Sunday to Wednesday, the Bulldogs take on Chattanooga (7-4) at Stegeman Coliseum at 3:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

“It’s huge. It’s next play. It’s just like within a game. In this instance, it’s how you handle success that’s moving on from a positive,” White said. “We hit a four-point play: three and an and-one. What do you do? Does that mean you won the game? Now you’ve got to get a stop. We just had a really good win, so what do you do? You prepare for Chattanooga, and that’s what winning teams and winning cultures and programs do.”