Saturday, February 13, 2010

Price is Right

Jeremy Price played big against South Carolina. He never will be a high-riser, and his free throw form looks a bit off, but the big guy got it done tonight.

Scored 16 points with 7 rebounds. Hit 6 of 8 from the free throw line. Very impressive. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he should help Georgia for the rest of the year.

I wanted Georgia to bring in a big center to replace Albert Jackson, but it looks like we'll be okay next year with Jeremy Price at the position.

Dawgs Win!

Great victory for Fox and the team. We needed this win. We're now 11 and 12 on the year, 3 and 7 in the SEC.

Thoughts:

We had 15 assists and only 10 turnovers. The low turnover number is quite a feat since South Carolina tried to trap Georgia's wing players. We out-rebounded them 34 to 28, and we shot 87 percent from the foul line. In the meantime, we held them to 37 percent shooting, and Devan Downey shot just 6 for 22.

Hard to keep Jeremy Price on the bench after his performance against South Carolina. I like starting Jeremy Price, primarily because he is a reasonable option on the low block besides Trey Thompkins. JP has good hands. He can catch the difficult pass into the post. And when he gets it, he has a way of going up strong.

Albert Jackson lost his starting job because of his off-court issues. I don't see him gaining it back any time soon.

Ricky McPhee is still twisting his body on his jumpshots. He needs to square up to the basket, release the shot and follow through. Another point: McPhee doesn't need to get up bunches of shots right away. If he lets the game come to him, runs his man off of screens, the defender will get tired and McPhee will have more open looks.

Travis Leslie played a great all-around game. He had 15 points, 7 boards and 5 assists. I still want to see him go up stronger around the basket and get the "and-one" instead of the missed acrobatic spin shots. But one of these days, he's going to have the whole package working and he going to score 40.

Trey had 21 and 10. Good enough game. He was off from behind the arc, though, going just 1 for 5. The one that he did hit was an "excuse me" bank-shot from the top of the key. I really like seeing Thompkins get some catches at the free throw line.

Can we win a couple of games on the road this season?

Stukes Scores Big in Argentina

Playing in his first game for the Quilmes Athletic Club, Levi Stukes tried to lead his team to victory. Stukes scored 24 points with 6 assists in his debut.

The opposing team, Sionista de Parana, edged Quilmes, however, winning by a score of 76 to 75. Stukes had the ball with 17 seconds to go, but he was not able to break free from the defense.

Sounds like Levi will be able to help Quilmes this year. I'll continue to follow his progress.

Dawgs Play South Carolina

I have no idea how this game will go. On one hand, the Dawgs are at home. We're pretty good playing in the friendly confines of the Stegeman Coliseum.

On the other, we just got blown out by Auburn. Auburn is a bad basketball team, and we made them look like world-beaters.

To make matters worse, Mark Fox is dealing this week with the first off-court infraction by one of his players-- that being the arrest of Albert Jackson.

Will the team bounce back?

South Carolina will bring its talented guards to Athens. Devan Downey will likely get his points. The key will be whether we are able to keep their big men off the boards.

I predicted a big Georgia win against Auburn. Maybe the big win was to come, and my prediction fell just a few days early. Gamecocks start slow in the snow, Georgia wins by 14.

Josh Langford Held to 10 Points

Lee wins anyway.

Josh picked up two fouls early in the first half and headed to the bench. The contest seemed to be going in Russellville's favor. However, Lee kept it together and got contributions from other players.

Devin Langford scored 19 points with 14 rebounds.

The final score was Lee, 71, Russellville, 68.

Friday, February 12, 2010

End of the Road for Humphrey?

I had high hopes that Billy would have a successful tenure in New Orleans, get back on his feet physically and mentally. After sitting out his transfer year last year, I know that he must have had a "can't wait" attitude toward getting this season started.

I was happy to learn before the season started that Georgia would kick off the year by playing UNO. Unfortunately, Humphrey reinjured his knee prior to the game. I expected him to miss the contest, but he surprised me by being able to play, not just in Georgia's game, but in thirteen games thereafter.

But the knee issues would not go away. As the season moves through mid-February and on toward the end of the year, Billy Humphrey has had to watch the action from the bench. He has missed nine or ten games, and UNO has been playing poorly in his absence.

UNO has missed its leading scorer. The team will be moving down to non-scholarship Division III in the future, a factor that has perhaps led to less than inspired play for Humphrey's teammates.

To make matters more disappointing for Humphrey, it looks like he will have to have surgery again on his knee. He should consult with his doctors and get the best guidance possible, but it sounds to me that his basketball playing career is coming to a close.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Leslie doesn't get his 20/20

But he came close with 19 points and 17 boards. I think that's the highest number of rebounds for any Georgia player in some years (he'd have to just about double his rebound total to break Bob Lienhard's record of 32 boards in one game). For Leslie to get 17 rebounds from the guard position and at 6' 4" is incredible.

The one thing that I'm concerned about is injury. It seems like teams are working to bump Leslie while he's in the air. That one fall he had tonight was scary.

Hope his wrist is okay. After he put on the tape on his wrist, his free throw shooting seemed to be not as reliable. Fox should make a point of notifying the referees that they will have to keep the game safe and not let teams purposefully undercut Leslie.

Awful.

We should not lose by 20 points to Auburn. I guess the break-away missed layup by Ricky McPhee sort of typified our night. Just not on our game.

We're 10 and 12 on the year, and 2 and 7 in the SEC. Mark Fox will have to help his guys get ready for South Carolina. We've got some potential, but it's tough when you're at the bottom of the SEC East.

Let's stay behind the team. Put this loss behind us. We'll have better basketball this season.

Ricky McPhee doesn't have it today.

He's 2 of 10 from the field, 2 of 9 from behind the arc. Looks like he is twisting his body some instead of squaring up. He's also got to run hard to get open. Defenders will get tired. He's so much better when he has room to shoot.

Shucks, if he keeps driving the ball,

Leslie might end up as a 30/20 guy. He has 17 points and 17 rebounds now, and after the timeout, he will be at the line.

With Trey Thompkins having fouled out, we need Leslie to get the ball on every possession. If Ricky McPhee suddenly gets hot, that's our only possible way we win. Of course, that's also a recipe for losing by 30, but we have to try. There's still 7 minutes left in the game.

Leslie has 15 points, 15 rebounds

Will he be Georgia's first 20/20 guy?

Down 12.

Georgia looks out of sorts. They've taken Trey out of the game by double-teaming him. I think we need to move him up the lane.

Ricky McPhee isn't hitting. Travis is really working hard. Let's make a little run before half-time.

Maybe we can start the second half out with good defense and better ball security.

Auburn leading 8 to 2

Georgia should win this game going away. One of the few teams in the SEC that we should beat handily on the road or at home.

Let's knock it off with the turnovers and get back into this game.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Josh Langford Scores 31

Langford led the Lee Generals to a 92 to 91 triple over-time victory over Butler.

Langford hit the game-winning three-pointer from deep.

http://www.al.com/hsbasketball/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/sports/1265710548244150.xml&coll=1

Good pictures by the Examiner from a recent game.

http://www.examiner.com/ExaminerSlideshow.html?entryid=987272&slide=1