The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from Georgia's win over Montana
Georgia basketball imrpoved to 4-0 Tuesday night with a 63-50 win over Montana. Toumani Camara registered his first double-double of the year, scoring 15 and grabbing a whopping 17 rebounds. He also grabbed three steals. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly from Tuesday's win:
The Good
18 offensive rebounds, eight by Toumani Camara
Four games in and rebounds, especially offensive boards, continue to be the strength of the Georgia basketball team. Tuesday, the Bulldogs pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, led by Camara's eight. Georgia outperformed Montana on the glass 49-30 overall.
It's disappointing that Georgia wasn't able to consistently convert. The Bulldogs scored only 14 points off those 18 offensive rebounds. To make matters worse, Georgia committed five turnovers following offensive rebounds.
The Bad
Three-point shooting
This would clearly be in the ugly category if not for the offensive boards (six boards on 18 misses). Still, four games into the 2020 season, Georgia hasn't shown any improvements in its perimeter shooting. The Bulldogs actually moved backward from a pretty good three-point shooting night against Jacksonville last Friday.
P.J. Horne and Justin Kier accounted for all five of Georgia's three-pointers. Horne was 2-of-3 from long range, while Kier sunk two of his five shots. Jonathan Ned missed each of his three shots, while Tye Fagan and Christian Brown missed both of their shots.
But the misses that stung the most came from Camara and Sahvir Wheeler. Camara missed both attempts while Wheeler went 1-of-6 from behind the arc. Those are the stalwarts of this Georgia basketball team. They're just freshmen, but they're the returning full-time starters. Both had exceptional games in other categories, but Georgia needs them to consistently make open shots.
The Ugly
Scoring woes affecting offense as a whole
This is without a doubt the biggest issue affecting the Bulldogs. Until Georgia fixes this issue, it is not an NCAA tournament team.
Georgia couldn't have asked for a better start on offense. The Bulldogs took a 9-0 lead in the first minute-and-a-half of the game and extended their advantage to 21-7 by the 12:57 mark. The Bulldogs were rolling, sinking 10-of-12 shots including their only three-point shot by Horne. Georgia committed only two turnovers in the first seven minutes of the game.
Georgia couldn't maintain that hot start and didn't score a point for the next six minutes. When the Bulldogs struggle to score, they let the drought affect the entire offense. Ball movement and off-ball movement suffer and Georgia becomes indecisive with shot selection. Those issues lead to turnovers.
During the six-minute drought, Georgia committed three turnovers. Montana made Georgia pay for its errors and scoring woes by going on a 10-0 run.
The Bulldogs recovered to outscore the Grizzlies 11-7 in the last seven minutes to go into halftime upahead2-24. However, turnovers became an even bigger issue as Georgia committed five more before the break.
Fortunately for Georgia, Montana was just as turnover-prone. But had the Bulldogs performed like that against Tennessee, Kentuckly, Florida or Auburn, they would have lost by a wide margin.
After going 10-of-12 from the field in the first seven minutes, Georgia made only 17 of 56 shots (30 percent) in the last 33 minutes. After committing just two turnovers in the first eight minutes, the Bulldogs turned the ball over 16 times over the last 32 minutes. Better teams will make Georgia pay for those numbers.
