Georgia Bulldog Coach Mike White Breaks Down Big Win Over Kentucky Wildcats
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs took care of the Kentucky Wildcats on the gridiron last fall, and yesterday it was Mike White who led the Bulldogs to victory over Kentucky on the hard-wood in a big 75-68 victory.
Here’s what White had to say to reporters after the big win...
Opening Statement
“A great win for our guys, I am really happy for our guys. Great environment, I am appreciative to our fans. It was a special day honoring the final four team that came back and I look forward to spending time with those members, support staff members and staff and seeing Coach. It was cool day for Georgia Basketball, our fans were great, obviously we played really well, this was a big win for us. Kentucky is very good; they are an NCAA tournament team. Oscar (Tshiebwe) is one of the best players in the country, did a better job on him. I said post-game on TV, I thought we did a much better job and then I got the box score and saw we led he had 20-14, that’s how good he is. Justin Hill continues to play really, really well, that’s 13-2 was his turnover, the last couple if I am
not mistaken. Made some three, really struggled from three recently, I thought those were factors. I thought the biggest factor of the game, I thought Braelen Bridges played as hard as he’s played all year. He was really good, really proud of him and his teammates are appreciative. He’s had bigger scoring and rebounding numbers in other games, but you go down you see he was plus 22 today, it tells you that he made a lot of winning plays.”
On winning the paint offensively...
“It was huge. To get it inside... We had a couple of high-low looks that we didn’t deliver but we also had a couple of pretty creative ones off of middle pick and rolls. M.A. Moncrieffe had a pretty good one to Braelen (Bridges). We had a bunch of paint touches oof of drives too. Protecting the paint obviously was huge for us. It just gives you a better chance to, in our opinion, slow down Oscar (Tshiebwe) and also slow down their ability on the offensive glass. Just a much better jib than we did up there. The guys played really hard.”
After Georgia’s win, the Wildcats now have just +4000 odds to make the Final Four according to FanDuel after a rough regular season so far.
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On how gratifying it is to win a game like this ...
“Very, very. You know, it’s been a tough stretch for us. You know, and the environment at home has been great. Our record at home has been good and we have played well at home. We had a couple that we didn’t quite take advantage of down the stretch of course. That’s the SEC. Right? That’s what it is and to bounce back like this at home against a very good team is great for our guys. Our guys, our guys work. We prepared. I thought we prepared really well going into the Ole Miss game and prepared equally as well today. We probably played a little bit better, but again Ole Miss had a lot to do with that the other day too. So these guys will continue to work. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow. But that said, it doesn’t matter. You know, records, programs, the names on the jerseys. I
mean all of these teams are really good and we’ve got to continue to get better.”
On the teams growth in responding to adversity...
“Early on, we responded to adversity very poorly. We took some jumps forward, obviously, and at times we’ve taken a couple steps back and a couple forward. It’s all part of the process of course, and tonight was another couple steps forward in that category. We had some maturity and had some connection, and it didn’t seem, overall, that we got as rattled as we’ve been and as defeated with our body language. We saw some of that on film from the other day. But
some of that too is making winning basketball plays which allow you to feel better about yourself. We played with more mental toughness today.”
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• Series Update – Kentucky maintains a heavy advantage in the all-time series, 131-28, despite the Bulldog win. Georgia has now won their last two matchups with Kentucky in Athens. The Bulldogs have won consecutive home games against the Wildcats for the first time since the
1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.
• Team News – This afternoon’s starting five (Hill-Oquendo-Holt-Moncrieffe-Bridges) started their third consecutive game as a core. Terry Roberts returned to the court after his two-game absence.
• Breaking the Trend – Georgia’s 42 points at halftime tied the season-high. Previously, the Bulldogs scored 42 points in the first half against UAB and the initial matchup with Kentucky, but lost both contests.
• Super Kario – Kario Oquendo recorded his 39th double-digit point game of his career and the 16th of the season. His 17 points in the first are the most by a Georgia player in a first half this season.
• Safe Hands – Georgia committed only 7 turnovers tonight, a season-low.
• Busy on the Board – Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe tied his season high in rebounds this afternoon with 9. Georgia collected 37 boards as a team.
• Bench Boost – The Bulldogs’ bench contributed outscored their opponent’s bench, 21-1. On the season, Georgia’s bench has outscored opponents, 588-409.
• Ingram Inches – With his three points this afternoon, Jailyn Ingram needs just 7 more points to reach the 1,500 mark. Ingram is one of four Bulldogs (Abdur-Rahim, Holt and McBride) who has scored more than half of their points this season on 3-pointers.