Georgia gaining confidence, understands winning on road and at Rupp are different challenges
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball goes on the road tonight to Kentucky, a tough test for the Bulldogs who are off to a hot start in SEC play. Having beaten Ole Miss on the road over the weekend though – the program’s first win on the road since February 2, 2021 – Mike White’s squad has the confidence that they can compete with anybody.
“We definitely have our confidence in our ability to be competitive at this level in these games down the stretch,” White said. “Fortunately, we’ve won some close ones, and if we hadn’t and had come up a little short in some of those mid-major matchups early on, we could be looking at this season a little differently. Some of those close wins, the resilience, mental toughness has increased, which gives our guys a better chance.”
Georgia, 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play for the first time since 2017, trailed with just over two minutes to go in Saturday’s win at Ole Miss. Kario Oquendo, who finished with 15 points – all in the second half – to lead the team in scoring, hit a 3-pointer to that gave Georgia the advantage for good as part of a 12-4 run in favor of the Dawgs in the final 5:21 of play.
“It definitely felt good,” Oquendo said. “I think we just were thinking too much about the situation. Like we were thinking ‘We’ve got to win this one on the road. We have to win this game.’ It definitely feels good to win on the road and hopefully we can get a couple more.”
Oquendo acknowledged that there’s a different level of respect Georgia is getting this year than last year, and even over the course of the season as the Bulldogs have won more and more. As the wins have stacked up, the confidence from him and the rest of his teammates has continued to increase.
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“The winning has definitely given all of us confidence,” Jusuan Holt, who transferred in from Alabama this offseason, added. “Winning obviously is going to bring confidence. We’ve been working hard together so I feel like the more we win, the more confidence we’re going to gain as a team.”
While the confidence has increased, White has caution for his team to not get overconfident, especially going into Tuesday night’s game. Winning on the road is one thing, winning at Rupp Arena is a different kind of challenge.
“We’ve won some close ones, but winning at Kentucky is a whole different deal,” White said. “They’re coming off probably the best win of the season in college basketball this year at Tennessee, who has a chance to win the whole thing. This is a Kentucky team coming off a big-time performance, especially defensively. Every point is going to be difficult to come by, but if we play really well, who knows. I think our guys feel like we’ll have a chance to be competitive. A couple months ago, I’m not sure that would have been the collective thought.”
Tip time for Tuesday night’s game is set for 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Kentucky (11-6, 2-3 SEC) is expecting the return of All-SEC point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who started his career at Georgia, after missing Saturday’s big win over Tennessee with a shoulder injury. The Wildcats also bring to the table reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe.
