University of Georgia Athletics
Dog Notes: Slow Start, Strong Finish
January 07, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
A game can change on just about anything, even an end-of-half semi-altercation that was mostly nothing.
For the Georgia men's basketball team, which had just ended 20 minutes of lackluster play against Missouri Saturday, and trailed the Tigers 26-20 at the break, the minor dust-up between the teams right after the half ended turned out to be exactly what the Bulldogs needed.
The Stegeman Coliseum crowd was suddenly roaring and the Dogs were a different team in the second half. Georgia came out with loads of energy, something Missouri coach Kim Anderson said he anticipated after how the first half ended, and scored 51 points in the final 20 minutes.
"I'm sure the run was fueled by what happened at the end of the first half," Anderson said after the Bulldogs' 71-66 win. "I thought their crowd was great in the second half."
Georgia coach Mark Fox said he thought his team came out flat Saturday, perhaps suffering a bit of a hangover from Wednesday's tough home loss to South Carolina. In the first 20 minutes Georgia (10-5, 2-1 SEC) shot 33.3 percent from the field and turned the ball over 12 times.
In the final 20 minutes, Georgia shot 56.0 percent from the field and was much more aggressive, forcing the Tigers (5-9, 0-2) into 10 turnovers, with seven steals.
"I thought our team brought a little bit of the last game into this one and didn't play with the level of energy and passion that's needed in the first half," Fox said. "We were fortunate to get a great lift from our crowd."
Georgia opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 31-28 lead, but Missouri didn't wilt. The Dogs led for most of the half, but the Tigers hung tough and even took a 54-53 lead with 6:35 to play.
A Mike Edwards basket put Georgia back in front and started a critical 12-0 run that was capped by a Pape Diatta 3-pointer from the left wing that made it 65-54 Bulldogs with 4:13 remaining.
Diatta's Big Day
Not only did Diatta hit that big 3, the junior transfer scored 12 points (all in the second half) and played 27 minutes, both season highs. He also made two free throws with 10.4 seconds left put the Bulldogs up seven and basically seal the ugly-but-who-cares win.
"I think that's my best game so far," he said.
Prior to Saturday, Diatta's high in 13 games with the Bulldogs were nine points and 20 minutes.
"Pape continues to improve and he's still trying to get comfortable," Fox said. "I thought today was the first time he looked like he was not only be comfortable, but have some confidence, and that was a big step for him."
Outside Inaccuracy
It was not a great shooting day from 3-point range for either team. Georgia went 2-for-13, doing most of its offensive damage with mid-range shots and in (19-for-33) and at the free-throw line, where the Dogs wound up often and went 27-for-40.
Missouri, meanwhile, attempted 72 field goals, half of them 3-pointers. But the Tigers only made six 3s in the game.
"We can't shoot 36 3s," Anderson said. "It's fairly obvious by our percentage that we shouldn't be shooting that many 3s."
Fox said Georgia didn't set out to force Missouri into 3s. Frustrated with how his team was playing man-to-man defense, Fox switched to a zone, which protected the inside better and created more 3-point looks for the Tigers.
"Our man defense is not where it needs to be and I thought we were a little heavy-legged today, and most of that's mental, so we really went to a zone because we didn't like how we were playing our man-to-man defense, and it was effective," Fox said. "They shot a bunch of 3s and we were fortunate that they didn't go in."
Frazier Gets Going
J.J. Frazier, who is usually big threat from the outside, went 0-for-2 on 3s Saturday. The senior guard scored 16 points, second only to Yante Maten's 17, mostly by aggressively attacking the basket in the second half
Frazier had two points on two field-goal attempts at halftime. He was the spark plug to the Dogs' surge to start the second half, hitting a jumper, scoring on a lay-up after a Derek Ogbeide block at the other end and ultimately scoring eight of Georgia's first 15 points in the second half.
"I just got cleaner looks," Frazier said of his offensive output in the second half. "We were getting more stops and I saw creases in the break so I just started attacking a little more. Going into the second half I didn't say I was going to shoot more, it just opened up."
What's Next?
After playing a pair of SEC home games this week, the Bulldogs are on the road for two next week. First up is Wednesday at Ole Miss, followed by a Jan. 14 game at Florida.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
