Work just beginning for Georgia hoops after week to remember

Georgia basketball’s best week since 2007 has it 2-1 in league play and likely in the Associated Press Top 25 come Monday, but this team’s journey, Mike White‘s third in Athens, is just beginning. Two top-20 wins in one week is great, but next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Knoxville to take on the No. 1 team in the country and then they’ll host the nation’s No. 2 team a few days later.

“They’re all huge,” White said after Georgia’s 72-62 win over No. 17 Oklahoma. “And I say they’re all, like there’s going to be a bunch, who knows how many we can get and how many some of these other teams win. It’s just great opportunities, but every one of them is just going to be a war. And you have to appreciate the wins that you do get. We appreciate the home court advantage that we had tonight, and we have to work on our force moving forward.”

The Bulldogs rode that Stegeman Coliseum edge to a big win earlier in the week, too. Kentucky came to town and Georgia controlled the nation’s No. 6 team. It won the glass, held the Wildcats well under their season average in points per game and field goal percentage, and grabbed an 82-69 victory.

Getting to this point, above .500 in league play after playing three ranked opponents and 14-2 overall, has been a lot harder than it has looked. If you look at the box score then you probably notice some wins that look comfortable but if you’ve watched the team closely, you’ve seen how hard they’ve had to fight.

On paper, the Bulldogs have a clear No. 1 scorer in Asa Newell. He has led the team in scoring in nine of the 16 games this season, reaching double digits 15 times total. Newell is also making a lot of the veteran hustle plays that are buying Georgia extra possessions in big games. But he’s also a true freshman.

It’s the deepest Georgia back court in recent memory with five guys showing the ability to play winning basketball. Silas Demary is the team leader and constant but a different guard is stepping up each night. It was Dakota Leffew’s turn against Oklahoma with 12 second-half points but Blue Cain had the honors against Kentucky, pouring in 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Newell, a former five-star prospect, is the Bulldogs’s top playmaker in a front court that includes fellow former five-star Somto Cyril, RJ Godfrey, Dillon James, and Justin Abson. Cyril had one of his worst games as a Bulldog against the Sooners, turning it over four times and picking up four fouls in just nine minutes but he provided value as a rim protector, tallying four blocks.

With Cyril struggling mightily on the offensive end, Abson gave the Georgia an incredible six minutes where he scored four points, two rebounds, a block, and a savvy play under the Georgia basket where he slapped a free basketball into a Sooner defender, deflecting it out of bounds.

Georgia has done a lot right to get to this point, a place it hasn’t been in a very long time. It’s going to have to do a lot more right to stay there. After it faces the current No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country in the next six days, it’ll take trips to Arkansas and Florida, another top 10 team.

Alabama, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and rematches with the Gators and Tigers loom in an absolutely daunting February. As tough as it all seems right now, it looked even worse a week ago after the Bulldogs had dropped their SEC opener at Ole Miss.

This season will bring peaks and valleys. The SEC is loaded and Georgia has to travel right through middle of it, uphill, both ways. How will they ever do it? The answer is always the same — one day at a time.

“It was the response for a young team after beating number six,” White said after the game. “It was pretty good; it needs to be great. Coming into this week, it’s got to be great. If that were to happen [being ranked], I’d be happy for our fans. I don’t really care. I want to reach our potential and reach our ceiling and continue to get better and prepare well for this next one. If it happens or it doesn’t happen, we’re still going to talk about how we handle today’s success.”