You've got to spike it in that situation. Give yourself a little time. Then throw it into the end zone. Hats off to Alabama for running it down our throats. I thought we had enough magic left to eke out a win.
Great season for the football Dawgs, but we didn't get it done.
We're 2 and 5 on the season. I said in my earlier post today that I refused to believe that we are as bad as we have played. Well, I guess I believe now. Hopefully there are no more directional schools on our schedule. They're killing us.
No offense to USF, but if we can't stay within 10 points of them, what's going to happen when we play Billy Donovan's Florida squad?
They shot 23 free throws. We shot just 9. I'll say it again: We're not going to win launching shots from 3-point range, folks.
Fox gave Brandon Morris 1 minute. Nemi got 32 minutes and shot 3 for 13. Our starters are 2 guards and 3 power forwards. That's a recipe for disaster on the offensive end.
It's not just shot selection and use of his roster, although I strongly disagree with what Fox is doing in those two areas. His game planning seems to be lacking. Point: You don't press a team with good three-point shooters and a short point guard. You're playing right into their hands if you do. I could go on, but I'll stop here.
Frustrated.
Cannon is in early after Donte Williams picked up an early foul.
Maybe.
So far this year USF is averaging less than 4,000 in attendance per home game. Students are likely to be in the midst of preparing for exams, so perhaps their home court advantage will be muted by empty seats ('bout like the Steg' has been lately).
Although USF and UGA have not faced each other before in hoops, South Florida has somewhat of a recent connection to UGA basketball. Back in 2009, USF and coach Stan Heath took a chance and gave Mike Mercer a basketball scholarship after he was dismissed by UGA coach Dennis Felton. While at South Florida, Mercer recovered from two torn ACL's, but it seemed that his other challenges stayed around a bit longer.
At any rate, USF was 22 and 14 last year and is 4 and 2 so far this year, while Georgia had a losing record last year and comes into the game at 2 and 4 this season. USF's big men shoot the ball well from deep, but they can also take it to the rim and finish. Their leading scorer, Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, a 6' 9" senior, shoots 50 percent from the floor and over 40 percent from behind the arc.
Despite how things look on paper, in my way of thinking, the two teams are about evenly matched. I refuse to believe that UGA is as bad in basketball as their recent play suggests. Kenny Gaines will sooner or later hit his first bucket and emerge as a big scorer. Donte Williams got a slow start after his suspension, but has started to play better of late. We're not a good three-point shooting team, so I keep waiting for Fox to rein in the guys that keep firing away from long range, and give more time to the guys who can take it to the basket, like Gaines and Brandon Morris. Maybe the ETSU game was an indication that he is doing exactly that.
In any case, if Georgia is to turn around its season, now would be a great time to start. Dawgs 67, USF 64.
Must have brought back memories for Sundiata, since he did the same thing in one of his first NBA games. Blog readers probably recall that Sundiata beat LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2010 (Gaines was then playing with the Utah Jazz after being called up from the D-League). As a matter of fact, Gaines' shot was predicted by a Utah Jazz sports announcer. Perhaps we should have been expecting more late-game heroics from Gaines.
Sundiata's last-second shot this time around was set up when he tied the score on a strong drive to the basket. After hitting that acrobatic two-pointer, the Fujian Sturgeons had to keep Tracy McGrady from dribbling the ball until there was just time for T-Mac to try a last-second shot.
McGrady was too casual with his dribbling, however, and one of the guards for the Sturgeons stole the ball, then called a quick time-out. They in-bounded the ball to Yada and he rose up from well beyond the three point line and drilled a jumper.
Yada's teammates were so excited, it looked like they were trying to put him in one of those MMA submission holds.
