Georgia has dropped its first two conference games and heads on the road to a gym that has been historically hard on the Bulldogs.
Although the alarm bells are sounding, Georgia doesn’t want to overreact.
“The biggest thing for us right now is to not panic,” guard Dustin Ware said. “We know that we’re a good team. We’ve got good guys and we’ve got good players and we’ve got to have faith that it’s going to turn around. The ball hasn’t bounced our way the last couple of games and plus, we’ve been playing good teams — Vanderbilt and Florida are two of the top teams in the country. Having that experience early in the season helps with a young team. We’re learning a lot and growing together. We’ve got to stay the course and keep battling.”
Georgia (9-7, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) travels to Vanderbilt (12-4, 2-0) for a 4 p.m. tipoff today in Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn. The Bulldogs have lost five straight at Memorial Gym and are 13-52 all-time against the Commodores in Nashville.
“They (Vanderbilt) are good,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “They start four seniors and a junior. They returned so much firepower off of an NCAA tournament team from last year. That’s why they were picked to have a very good year and why they’ll have a very good year and we’ll have to play very, very well on both ends of the floor to win.”
Georgia lost at home to Alabama 74-59 in its SEC opener last weekend and was flattened by No. 19 Florida 70-48 on Tuesday. This is the Bulldogs’ second consecutive road game.
“We’ve just got to keep playing hard and working every day, that’s all you really can do,” Ware said.
“You’ve got to keep everybody’s spirits up and keep practice fun and keep practice loud. We’ve got to make sure we’re going hard and as long as we do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
Georgia’s biggest deficiency in its last two games has come on the defensive end. The Bulldogs have allowed at least 50 percent shooting against both Florida and Alabama.
“Better defense would definitely solve a lot of our problems,” Ware said. “At the beginning of the year, we would really get down and guard people. That was kind of our trademark. We’ve gotten away from that as the year’s moved along, so that’s something we really have to get back to doing well.”
Florida hit 24 of 48 (50 percent) from the field and Alabama converted on 27 of 49 attempts (55.1 percent) from the field. Georgia played both games without injured forward Marcus Thornton.
“We have not defended very well since Marcus was injured,” Fox said. “We have to find a way to stabilize our defense. We have not done the job down there and that’s very frustrating. We face a big challenge in Vandy in they’re such a good offensive team. We knew that offensively our team was going to have some challenges and take some time to get better. But the defense has been disappointing.”
Today’s game will be a homecoming of sorts for senior guard Gerald Robinson. He was born and raised in Nashville and played at Tennessee State for two seasons where his father is the long-time tennis coach.
“It’s going to feel good to play back there,” Robinson said. “I wish I could play at home every game.”
Georgia men at Vanderbilt
WHEN/WHERE: 4 p.m. today/Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tenn.
TV/RADIO: Pachtree-TV/AM-960 The Ref.
RECORDS: Georgia (9-7, 0-2 SEC); Vanderbilt (12-4, 2-0).
PROBABLE STARTERS: Georgia — G Vincent Williams (Jr., 6-0, 160, 4.7 ppg, 1.9 apg); G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Fr., 6-5, 200, 14.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg); G Gerald Robinson (Sr., 6-1, 180, 13.3 ppg, 3.4 apg); F Nemanja Djurisic (Fr., 6-8, 230, 6.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg); F Donte’ Williams (So., 6-9, 220, 7.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg). Vanderbilt — G Brad Tinsley (Sr., 6-3, 210, 10.6 ppg, 4.4 apg); ); G John Jenkins (Jr., 6-4, 220, 19.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg); F Jeffrey Taylor (Sr., 6-7, 225, 17.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg); F Lance Goulborne (Sr., 6-8, 230, 9.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg); C Festus Ezeli (RSr., 6-11, 255, 5.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg).
SERIES: Vanderbilt leads 84-49, including 51-13 in Nashville. The Bulldogs have lost five straight at Vanderbilt.
LAST MEETING: Vanderbilt overcame a 14-point deficit to win 64-56 on Feb. 16, 2011, in Athens to sweep the season series. Jenkins scored all 21 of his points in the second half. Robinson led Georgia with 15 and Ware had 12. Vanderbilt outrebounded Georgia 49-32.
SEASON AT A GLANCE: Georgia looks to avoid an 0-3 start in conference play against a team on a roll. The Bulldogs lost by 15 to Alabama at home and 70-48 at No. 19 Florida on Tuesday. They return home to play Tennessee on Wednesday, the first of three straight in Stegeman Coliseum. Vanderbilt, which starts four seniors and a junior with 361 career starts, is on a six-game winning streak. The Commodores, ranked No. 7 in the preseason, were 6-4 after a 61-55 home loss to Indiana State on Dec. 17. They held South Carolina to 12 first-half points in a 67-57 win on Tuesday night in Columbia.
NOTEWORTHY: Djurisic has scored in double figures in three of the last four games, including a team-high 14 at Florida. … Jenkins, one of the nation’s top shooters, leads the SEC in scoring average and tops the NCAA in 3-pointers per game with four. The Commodores hit 13 3-pointers against South Carolina. During its six-game winning streak, Vanderbilt has hit 71 of 150 3-pointers (47.3 percent). …Ezeli (school-record 162 career blocks) missed 10 games with a right knee injury and is still not at full strength … Freshman guard Dai-Jon Parker, a Georgia recruiting target from Milton High, is averaging 2.1 points and 0.8 rebounds per game for the Commodores. …Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings is 15-10 all-time against Georgia.
