Georgia Basketball gets fresh start to season at SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE — Bring out all the clichés for this time of year because Georgia Basketball needs them as it begins its SEC Tournament journey. The Bulldogs, who finished the regular season 11th in the conference with a 16-15 overall record and a 6-12 mark in league play, take on last-place LSU at Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night in Nashville. The winner gets to stay at least another day to take on Vanderbilt while the loser is headed home with its season over in all likelihood. That’s a road Mike White doesn’t want to do down.

“Focus, overall approach, intensity level, excitement, attitude. It’s been very good. We literally just walked off the floor, and we were as sharp as we’ve been,” White told reporters on Tuesday. “With that said, I thought we were just as sharp going into the last couple – came up on the short end of course. It would be very discouraging, especially having lost a few in a row, if we had shown up yesterday and or today with a decrease in the overall spirit and aura in the gym, and we have certainly not seen that. I’m excited about another opportunity tomorrow. I think our guys had a good one today. (I) look forward to getting in the arena tonight and shooting.”

While Georgia enters Nashville having lost five in a row, White is focused on doing what it will take for his team to advance out of Wednesday’s game. He said the message to his team has been consistent on two things: 1) the focus is only on LSU and 2) crazier things have happened than Georgia winning a couple of games and making a run in Nashville.

“To each its own, but with us, it’s very simple, 100 percent of it is going into LSU,” White said. “I say 100 percent, I’m lying. 100 percent is communicated to the team. We have an assistant coach who is working ahead to a certain extent on that second opponent, but what is being communicated to our guys over the past 48 hours and next 24 will be strictly LSU.”

“’Crazier things have happened.’ That’s literally the phrase that I used yesterday in the locker room, along with ‘Anything can happen come conference tournament time.’ ‘We’re capable,’ ‘Stranger things have happened,’ all of those things,” White continued.

Georgia last won the SEC Tournament in 2008, one that oftentimes gets brought up around these parts this time of year. Affected by a tornado that came through Downtown Atlanta, the Bulldogs won three games in two days including an overtime thriller against Kentucky and the SEC Championship Game over Arkansas to take home the title and secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

“The ’08 team, unfortunately, I had a first row seat as an assistant at Ole Miss. Admittedly, I had to scout as well,” White said. “I want to say our last game was a win in Stegeman, and we were on the bubble and really needed that win. Dave Bliss hit that bank shot at the buzzer which led to an awful weekend for us, having to bus home to Oxford and watch the rest of the tournament. By the end of the weekend, that Georgia staff from that year, and I’ve communicated clearly to those guys over the years, when they knock you out and had some adversity going on and there were good guys and a good staff, I know I found myself on Saturday and Sunday rooting hard for the Bulldogs to come through. It was a heck of a story, unbelievable run by Sundiata Gaines and the crew. We planned on actually sharing some of that tonight with our guys.”

White will certainly be rooting for the Bulldogs again this weekend, hoping that he’s watching them play on Saturday and Sunday in Nashville. Georgia’s last win came almost a month ago against the same LSU team that it’ll take the court against on Wednesday night. Braelen Bridges, Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Justin Hill all ended that game in double figures while the leading scorers on the season, Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo, combined for 12 with six a piece in the 65-63 victory over the Tigers.

“Coach White has been mentioning throughout practice, kind of saying that it’s a new season now,” Jusaun Holt said. “Anything can happen in the tournaments. Basically saying that we’re 0-0 now and we have a new slate.”

“It’s one game at a time, one play at a time,” Bridges added. “We’re focusing on the scouting report. We’re going to focus on getting this win and taking it one game at a time.”

As for what a successful trip to Nashville looks like, White didn’t have a win total in mind. He simply wants to see his team play well once again.

“It’s a bigger picture question that I hadn’t considered,” White said. “I’d like to play well. I’d like to play really hard with a lot of pride and passion tomorrow at 9:30, hopefully with an improved level of confidence offensively, and stay connected for 40 minutes and just see where it goes from there.”

Georgia and LSU are the second of two games taking place in Nashville on Wednesday. South Carolina and Ole Miss square off in the first starting at 6:00 p.m. ET. Tip time for the Bulldogs and Tigers is TBD, coming 25 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1 on SEC Network.