Georgia regroups for road game after tough loss against Tennessee

For the first time since before Thanksgiving, Georgia Basketball was on the losing end of a battle on Saturday. The Bulldogs fought hard, but their valiant effort wasn’t quite enough to top No. 5 Tennessee, leading the Vols by double digits with 6:24 to go before being outscored 15-1 in the game’s final five minutes to fall 85-79.

“We played them close. We had a chance. The people that say, ‘That’s a great effort’ – that’s not what we are about. We’re trying to win those,” Georgia head coach Mike White said after the game, not taking solace in any sort of moral victory. “Let’s be positive about the positive things that we did, and let’s continue to work to get better at the things we need to get better at.”

“You know a few. One is the fact that there’s a lot of room for growth – continued growth. And we have to get back at it tomorrow. There’re 15 more opportunities, then an SEC tournament, and if we’re good enough, potentially something in the post season,” he continued, talking on the message he shared postgame. “It’s a long process, and we have to get back to work tomorrow. We have to watch it, and then we have to flush it. And the next one will be equally as difficult, but it’s a great opportunity, as well. But that’s it. This is the SEC. The other message they want from me is, you know, all these kids get noise, positively, negatively, and individually, and let’s handle that with maturity because we’ve handled success that right way over these past 10. Let’s see how we handle some adversity. It’s been a while. But also, let’s not ever be thrilled about a loss.”

While not thrilled about the loss and obviously disappointed about a missed opportunity to pull off the upset in front of the home crowd, White was able to acknowledge the fact that the team and program are headed in the right direction. Last year, Georgia lost to a very similar Tennessee team by 29 points, putting up just 41 on the scoreboard that night in Knoxville. To lead the Volunteers this go around late shows just how far UGA has come – and the kind of potential this team has going forward.

“We’re a different team, a different program. We had a lot of people that came to support our guys today, and we’re really appreciative of that. They came to support our guys because our guys have produced. They play hard, they play together and beaten some good teams to create some excitement,” White said. “I’m proud of what our guys were able to accomplish during that winning streak, and we’re a better team, a significantly better team than we were a year ago. Let’s see how we respond to adversity.”

“I think we learned that we can play with anybody,” Georgia senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim added. “We weren’t scared coming in, and we knew they were top five in the country and that they have really good players. We feel like we do too, and we feel like we have a good team. For about 30 minutes, we showed it, but we just failed to execute down the stretch. I feel like we learned that we can play with anybody, like I said. We have a good team, and we have talented players. We should be confident in that going forward.”

Now, hitting reset and coming off the heels of the 10-game win streak, it’s on the Bulldogs to respond. As White said, he’s anxious to see how they handle adversity because it’s been a while. And while it’s over, there still are things that can be taken from the win streak and carried into the remainder of the season.

“We were right there with them all the way up until the end, and I think if we can ride some of that positive momentum into the next game, we’ll have a better result,” Abdur-Rahim said.

“Just build on the positive things we’ve done in that win streak, even the negative things we’ve done at times, and trying to figure out how we can make everything better,” freshman Silas Demary added. “We can be as positive as much as we can throughout the whole 40 minutes, so just taking away all the positives.”

The Bulldogs are on the road for their next test Tuesday night at South Carolina. The Gamecocks are also 2-1 in the SEC, like Georgia, including an overtime road win over Missouri. They also beat Mississippi State at home the week before 68-62 with a blowout at Alabama (74-47) in between. As for UGA, the resume is similar, but making the trip to Columbia adds an element of difficulty. Tip time is set for 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU.