Georgia coach Mike White is counting on his team playing better from the jump Saturday than the Bulldogs did in their most recent game when they travel to Norman, Okla., to take on Oklahoma.
“We’ll do our best as a staff to figure out how we can get off to a better start and if that means playing the five guys that are going to bring the most energy – who look like they’ve got energy at the pregame meal – I don’t know,” White said. “But you’ve got to sprint up and down the court in this league to have success.”
The Bulldogs are coming off a 20-point home loss to Florida on Wednesday where they didn’t score until nearly six minutes into the game. Since their 16-3 start, they’ve lost four of their last five games.
There was one major bright spot in the Florida loss for Georgia. Freshman Kareem Stagg scored nine points in 16 minutes after scoring just six points in his first 10 SEC games.
“He grew up a little bit,” White said. “That happens with freshmen, and if you can string together two or three of those in a row (that’d be positive). There’s always a step or two backwards as these guys go through their process, but certainly he took a step forward.”
The Bulldogs (17-7, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) were without leading scorer Jeremiah Wilkinson in the loss to Florida. Wilkinson is dealing with a shoulder injury.
White said after that game there wasn’t a timetable for Wilkinson’s return.
The Sooners (12-12, 2-9) haven’t played since last Saturday’s 92-91 win at then-No. 15 Vanderbilt that snapped their nine-game losing streak.
“Obviously you wish they were playing on the road tonight in Alaska and flying home,” White quipped. ” … I’ve seen them just a few times live. Talented and versatile and fast and playing at home. We’ll have to play really well.”
The Sooners led by 21 points with less than five minutes left against Vanderbilt but the game still came down to the wire.
During their extended losing streak, Oklahoma dropped several games despite holding double-digit leads.
“We’ve played really good basketball and we just haven’t been able to finish them off,” Sooners coach Porter Moser said.
