Georgia Basketball drops tough test at Wake Forest
The Georgia basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on the road at Wake Forest, dropping the game 81-71. The Bulldogs finished the game with four players scoring in the double-digits, with Terry Roberts and Mardrez McBride both putting up 13 points. Unfortunately, the Demon Deacons had two players finish with more than 20 points, with Tyree Appleby, Mike White’s former player at Florida, dropping 22 points and Daivien Williamson finishing with 24 points.
“Thank goodness we ended on a positive note, obviously, it’s a loss you’re not happy about,” White said after the Bulldogs won the second half to make the final score closer than it was at halftime. “The first 25 minutes we’re incredibly unhappy about that performance… led by me. We were erratic offensively with our decisions, with our ball security, with fouling. It continues to be a problem for us really early in this season, it has been in some of our intersquads as well.”
Despite dropping 71 points, head coach Mike White felt that the Bulldogs struggled offensively, citing a lack of confidence as one of the key reasons for the Dawgs’ woes.
“Started a freshman, got a bunch of new guys, that said, you know, Wake’s got new guys too. They executed better than us, shot it better than us,” White said. “I do think early on, we had some possessions where we missed some open ones. I just feel like we played rattled the last 10 minutes of the first half… Our confidence level dropped, we were hesitant with passing up open ones, and then we took a couple really bad ones.”
While injuries are just a part of the game in college athletics, White explained that without starting forward Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, the Bulldogs’ offense is forced to look different.
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“Yeah, honestly, I thought we prepared offensively tonight, that said, we probably would’ve had a little bit more rhythm with MA Moncrieffe had he played as one of our best players of course and one of the reasons why we revamped what we’re doing a little bit.”
Starting off the season 1-1 certainly is not ideal, but White kept his postgame speech short and positive, citing the resiliency that the Dawgs’ showed in their road loss.
“As I just addressed our team in the locker room, I finished with a positive, and that’s the fact that our guys played really, really hard, I thought for the better part of 40, but especially the last 15 or so,” White said. “They showed incredible fight down big, it could’ve gotten really ugly the way we were executing offensively. But we created some turnovers, got out in the open floor, and made it interesting there for a little bit.”
The Bulldogs have a quick turnaround, heading back to Stegeman Coliseum for next Monday’s showdown with the Miami (OH) Redhawks. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM, and the game will be broadcasted on SEC Network+.
