ATHENS - Georgia got up seven points just before the final break in the game against The Citadel.
The problem wasn’t that Georgia was only up seven - it was that Georgia had already allowed 83 points.
83 points with four minutes to go?
Let that sink in.
The good news is that Anthony Edwards can dig you out of a hole. After a five-point spurt that started with Edwards’ and one, and the game was just a little too far out of reach for the Charleston-based school to get back into it.
The problem here is the defense. This has been the No. 1 criticism of Tom Crean’s teams for some time according to folks that know his history. Georgia might be able to outscore the likes of South Carolina’s military college, but in the SEC… and against quality foes that you need to beat in order to get into the NCAAs, this defense isn't going to work.
And the thing is defense is about wanting to do it. Georgia, for so long under Mark Fox, had a problem with offense… you can’t teach offensive skill. You can work on it, but for the most part either you have it or you don’t.
Defense is another thing all together. It is about being OK with physically pushing the other person out of the way to get a rebound without fouling. It is about dropping to the level of the ball, and then jumping to help. It is about fighting over screens, and hedging hard to defend against screens, and then busting your ass to get in the right position.
Two games into things things, with UGA being as young as they are, I understand them not understanding why defense matters so much. It will be up to Crean to teach them that, and up to them to learn.
Small schools like The Citadel are going to chunk a lot of threes, and the Bulldogs made a lot of them tonight. But allowing nearly 90 points against a Southern Conference team is not good enough. UGA won 95-86, but the game was close because of the Dawgs’ defense.
The Citadel has only played twice this season, but in their only outing this year managed to score 76 points at home on Saturday in a loss to UNCA. The Citadel knocked in nearly half of their shots on Tuesday night - hitting 42% of threes.
They also out rebounded the Dawgs. These sorts of metics are not good looking. Winning is, but winning ugly will only work so long. This team must get better at defending - the results as the season goes on depends on it.
