Georgia focused on present instead of looking at 'big picture'

ATHENS, Ga. — There’s a big one in the Classic City tonight as Georgia takes on LSU at Stegeman Coliseum. A battle of two teams currently sitting 3-2 in the SEC; it’s early, but positioning towards the top of the league is on the line.

“They execute. They space you, they drive you. They’re led by those two guards, [Jalen] Cook and [Jordan] Wright. Wright’s one of the most recruited players in our league. Cook, the transfer from Tulane, was recently eligible and made them different. Credit there, in my opinion, to their staff. They’re playing a lot different now with him eligible, especially offensively, compared to how they were playing early in the season, so they’ve adapted a little bit and they’re playing really well,” Georgia head coach Mike White said to preview the Tigers. “They could easily be sitting here with four wins, and this team has a top-50 defense and a very dangerous offensive team as well.”

For the Bulldogs, there’s obviously a lot at stake. They’ve played well at “The Steg” this season, and they’d like to keep that up. While the last game played in Athens was a loss to Tennessee, emotional investment in the team from fans is at an all-time high – at least, compared to the last couple of seasons. That’s something Georgia will need to keep up to create a home court advantage with key matchups against the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Texas A&M still to come – all teams mentioned by ESPN’s Joe Lundardi in his latest look at the potential NCAA Tournament field of 68.

Georgia on the other hand has yet to be mentioned by Lundardi in his Bracketology. That’s why winning a game like Wednesday night’s is important to keep momentum rolling with those opportunities ahead. Ask White though, he’s not concerned about the big picture.

“That’s it. That’s it. I mean, it’s a brutal league,” White said prior to Saturday’s loss against Kentucky about the need to take it game by game rather than looking ahead. “This team has nothing to do with last year’s team. We’re a totally different team, a totally different mentality, experiences to this point, playing differently … With us and the whole big-picture thing, we just don’t do it. I don’t do it. If you do it in this league, you’re in trouble, right, or you’re in major trouble.”

As was the case last season, Georgia came out of its non-conference schedule 10-3 and got off to a 3-1 start in SEC play. What White and company will look to avoid though was what happened after that: letting a loss at Kentucky spiral into the Bulldogs dropping four in a row and seven of eight.

“Maybe, you know, looking back on last year’s team, maybe we got out of that a little bit — not from what I was saying, but maybe the big picture got a little bit too big for us,” White said. “And maybe a couple of those losses we didn’t handle the way that we should have. Because whether it’s a win or a loss in this league, you have to move on quickly because that next opponent now, in 2024, is going to be a real opponent in the SEC.”

“I’m more confident that if you’re focused on having a good practice today, you’ll play better tomorrow and give yourself a chance to be in a good position against a really good LSU team,” he added on Tuesday. “If you win enough, good things will happen, but it’s a waste of time for us to talk about it. That’s why we try to have those conversations on the front end, get them out of the way. Let’s focus on how the heck we keep Jordan Wright off the foul line, and how do we guard the big fella [Will Baker] in the post, and [Jalen] Cook is tremendous in creating his own shots. This is a team that is 3-2 in our league, so we’ve got to have a great practice today. That’s where we’re at.”

Tip time for Georgia-LSU on Wednesday night is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. Last season, the Bulldogs and Tigers split their two meetings with UGA winning 65-63 in the regular season on a Justin Hill buzzer beater. Coach Matt McMahon and company came out on top in the SEC Tournament however, taking down White’s team 72-67 on opening night in Nashville. This will be the first of two scheduled meetings between Georgia and LSU this season with the next on February 27th in Baton Rouge.