Mike White answers if being in postseason conversation is weighing on Georgia
After a 12-3 start to the season, Georgia will now be fighting for their lives for a shot at the NCAA Tournament this month after going 2-5 over their last seven. It’s a position that’s an unfavorable one but is a spot that they now find themselves in after not seeming to handle the pressure well as of late.
Mike White discussed the Bulldogs’ potential issue dealing with the tension following their latest, 72-62 loss to South Carolina on Saturday. He admitted that it might very well be an issue with his team considering how they’ve let go of lead after lead recently.
“I’m not sure,” said White. “Potentially. Yeah.”
Handling pressure has been a problem for Georgia after earning quality leads over the past seven games. They led by as much as 11 over Tennessee, 16 over Alabama, and 10 over South Carolina. All three ended up being losses and losses on their home floor after leading by double-digits as they crumbled in some form or fashion late.
With that being the case, White is asking his players to, in a sense, relax so that the moment stops looking too big for them. Their opportunities are there and they just need to control the controllable in order to start turning some of them into wins on their resumé.
“I thought late game today? Just like late game (vs.) Tennessee, late game (vs.) ‘Bama? We looked like the weight of the world was on our shoulders. We don’t look the same. I’ve got to figure that out,” said White. “I’ve got to help these guys. Because if you just play to your identity? If you play to the way you played the first 15 minutes of the game for 40? Better things are going to happen, right?
“What I keep preaching to these guys is let’s stop looking at the scoreboard. Let’s stop with all of the distractions. There’s 90,000 in here screaming for us. We’re not used to the decibel level of this building. Let’s embrace it but let’s not rest on it. Let’s control what we can control,” White continued. “We’ve done that at times. We did that in the first 20.”
At 14-8, Georgia is going to need a much better month in February than they had in January. That will then need to continue into the SEC Tournament when they get to Nashville in the first full week of March.
However, luckily for them, conference play is littered with chances for them to rebuild their case in order to get back into the conversation for Selection Sunday once it comes.
“In this league in 2024? You’ve got a bunch of great opportunities,” said White. “Every night is a great opportunity so we’ve just got to get back to work on Monday.”
“We’ve got to reevaluate and thank goodness that we’ve got nine more. Then we’ve got the SEC Tournament,” White said. “We’ll see where it goes.”