Georgia goes 'searching' for answers vs. South Carolina amidst recent struggles

Georgia Basketball is looking to get back on track today as the Bulldogs take on South Carolina. The two teams won’t be in the spotlight of the SEC with the majority of the league competing in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, but that might be just what Mike White’s squad needs coming off of three straight losses. What else should help: playing at home against an opponent that’s only won one game in league play and is below .500 on the season.

“We talk about responses every day in life and in between the lines, and our guys have done a pretty good job of responding to adversity to this point,” White said ahead of the game. “I expect us to do the same. Whether that’s a win or loss, I expect us to play hard and execute. I know it’ll be a great environment, and our guys aren’t quite [ready] right now — they’re a little tired from practice today, but tomorrow we’ll be ready to tip it up.”

One thing that’s noticeable right now with this team is some soul searching going on. White has done it some looking at the lineup. The players have done it as well in practice looking at their effort and production. Justin Hill made his first SEC start earlier in the week against Tennessee while Jaxon Etter played for the first time in over a month. White described the move as one in an effort to go ‘searching’ a little bit against one of the top teams in the country, but it’s some of that searching that White hopes can help his team find a spark amidst their recent struggles too.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys that we’re playing throughout the year. At certain times guys have played more minutes than others,” White said after the loss at Tennessee. “This was a game, I thought we lacked some competitive fire in our last one (85-82 loss to Vanderbilt last Saturday), some of that ownership that we talked about, some floor burns, some intensity level, some toughness – especially physical toughness – in our last one, so I wanted to make it a point to get Jaxon Etter out there. He’s a guy that brings a lot of that to us, brings us great leadership and I thought he did some really good things in this one … You’ve got 200 man minutes and you’re trying to work it out as best as possible to be competitive in each game.”

Scouting South Carolina

As far as scouting South Carolina, the thing that stands out the most is G.G. Jackson. The No. 1 player in the Class of 2023 reclassified and backed off of his commitment to North Carolina before ending up in Columbia with new head coach Lamont Paris. A future NBA lottery pick, Jackson has the attention of the Bulldogs without a doubt.

“Versatility. His ability to create his own shot in so many different ways,” White said. “He’s a unique player, and also at his size. There’s a bunch of 6-5 guys that can do what he can do, but not at his size and length — especially at his age. He is a talent, as we all know … But for the most part that’s throughout our league. You know, we had a bunch of guys that had our guys’ attention as we were watching individual clips — personnel clips heading into Knoxville. And same thing with the Gamecocks. It’s not only GG — Hayden Brown’s a really good player, right? You’ve got Meechie Johnson and Chico Carter — two of the best shooters in our league. They compliment each other well. We just talked about that: You’ve got a guy who can isolate you from the elbows and post and the extended post and pick and pop. They’re good in transition, and you’ve got two guys that can spread you to 25 feet defensively. This is a team, as we know, they went into Rupp Arena and won. That’s really all you need to know. I mean, they’re very, very dangerous.”

Tip time is set for 6:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night at Stegeman Coliseum. The game can be seen on the SEC Network. Georgia has not beaten South Carolina since March of 2016, 12 straight wins for the Gamecocks.