Georgia reaches make-or-break point in season on three-game skid

ATHENS, Ga. — After dropping Saturday’s game against South Carolina, Georgia Basketball is officially on its longest losing streak of the season. The Bulldogs have been on the wrong end of three straight, and it may be time to hit the reset button. Head coach Mike White admitted in his postgame press conference that he can see his players feeling the pressure starting to pile on, and it’s on him to help them overcome that – and the adversity facing them with the recent results.

“I thought late game today, just like late game Tennessee and late game Bama, we look like the weight of the world’s on our shoulders,” White said on Saturday after the 72-62 loss. “We don’t look the same, and I’ve got to figure that out.”

White went on. As was the case against the top-25 opponents Tennessee and Alabama, Georgia held a second half lead over the red-hot Gamecocks, likely to be ranked come Monday’s new poll. In all three cases however, things turned on a dime with White’s team failing to handle their success well and ultimately succumbing to the pressure of the situation.

“I’ve got to help these guys, because if you play to your identity, if you play to the way you’ve played the first 15 minutes of the game for 40, better things are going to happen, right? And what I keep preaching to these guys is, let’s stop looking at the scoreboard. Let’s stop with all of the distractions. There’s 9,000 in here screaming for us, and we’re not used to the decibel level in this building. Let’s embrace it, but let’s not rest on it,” White added. “Let’s control what we can control. South Carolina’s doing that at a really high level right now. We’ve done that at times. We did that in the first 20. Yeah, we’ve got to re-evaluate.”

It doesn’t take much to see that there’s need for re-evaluation. The Bulldogs have blown double-digit point leads in back to back games including one in the second half against Alabama on Wednesday. They’ve been up by 10+ at some point in the game in each of their three SEC home losses.

White said they tried to do things a little bit differently on Saturday as Georgia changed up its halftime routine with hopes of changing up the results that have come in the second half. It didn’t. After shooting 46.9% from the field and making eight 3-pointers in the first half, the Bulldogs were only able to manage one more make from deep on 29.2% shooting overall in the second half. No Georgia player scored more than nine after the break as UGA was outscored 34-22 in the frame.

Going on the road for a couple of contests this week, things don’t get any easier. However, it’s make or break time for the Bulldogs. While hopes of the NCAA Tournament that were there early in SEC play have faded, playing in the postseason for the first time since 2017 would still be a success. Making the NIT would accomplish that, but that’s not a given at this point either.

Georgia takes on Mississippi State Wednesday night in Starkville in a Quad 1 opportunity according to the NET rankings. Then, it’s a trip even further west to Arkansas where a reeling Razorbacks team awaits.

White’s squad has proven that it’s going to be competitive in just about every game they play the rest of the way. The Bulldogs absolutely have the ability to go 2-0, and they might need to do so to keep postseason hopes alive. Nine games in total – plus at least one in Nashville for the SEC Tournament – remain, and Georgia certainly is capable of going on a run with opportunities for wins still out there against the likes of Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss – all at home – and others including Vanderbilt and LSU, plus this week’s opponents, on the road. It’s now or never though.

“Thank goodness we get nine more and then we’ve got an SEC Tournament and we’ll see where it goes,” White said. “In this league in 2024, we’ve got a bunch of great opportunities. Every night’s a great opportunity, so we’ve just got to get back to work Monday.”

“We’re going to focus on everything. We’re going to focus on being the best we can be,” he continued. “We’ll meet on Monday at length. Three in row, it’s something that these guys, we haven’t been through this season. It’ll be heavy film and talking on Monday. We’ll try to talk some things out, long staff meetings, and figure out what gives us the best chance moving forward.”