Terry Roberts gets positive update from coach, teammate
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball is in the midst of a three-game losing streak and has dropped six of its last seven. Good news for the Bulldogs though, it appears there’s a good chance they’ll have leading scorer Terry Roberts back for Saturday’s contest against Kentucky.
Georgia head coach Mike White spoke with reporters on Friday afternoon and said that Roberts returned to practice for the first time since his concussion suffered against Auburn over a week ago. He remains “day-to-day,” but the update from White seemed on the optimistic side while teammate Kario Oquendo might have let it slip that he’s expected back.
“He went today for the first time. He’s day-to-day, so we’ll see. I’ll get with him and Lance [Schuemann], probably have some conversations here this evening,. Obviously tomorrow we’ll have shootaround in the morning, and we’ll take it from there.”
“Getting everybody back, we’ll have Terry back for the next game, and just not thinking about it as much,” Oquendo said when asked how the team returns to playing the better basketball it was playing just a matter of weeks ago. “At that point in time, I don’t know if we weren’t sure about ourselves, but that’s how it felt when we were playing. Getting back to playing with confidence and being the same team that we were, we know we can get back to that.”
Roberts, who leads the team in scoring this season averaging 15.0 points per game, missed outings at Texas A&M and against Ole Miss. As you can tell in Oquendo’s answer, his absence has certainly been felt. Georgia lost by 25 in College Station last Saturday before falling by four to Ole Miss. Coming into Athens, the Rebels had a losing record overall on the season and just one win in the SEC.
Justin Hill has scored in double-figures both outings since moving into the starting lineup for Roberts, and Braelen Bridges exploded for a career-high 26 points against Ole Miss. Meanwhile, Oquendo got back on track a little bit with 19 after scoring just two at A&M. Still, things have seemed like a struggle.
“We’re not as good without our best player. He’s our best player,” White said before the Ole Miss game when asked about Roberts. “He’s been our best defensive player this year. He’s got one of the highest usage rates offensively in our league. He’s had a really good year. Arguably, in my opinion, I love him, an all-league-type year. I would think he would need to be in that conversation depending on how he finishes this season and how we finish of course. He’s a really good player.”
“First of all, he creates for himself, and secondly, he creates for other guys,” White continued. “Whether that means his pass is leading to a shot or leading to an attacking of a closeout, leading to the defense being somewhat behind, he puts defenses in those positions because of his ability, especially with his prowess in middle ball screens. He’s been really good in middle ball screens, getting downhill, finishing for himself and others, and he’s been really good in transition too. He’s had certain games where he’s putting a lot of pressure on the defense in transition, getting other guys shots. He’s as competitive of a guy as we have too. We’ve got three or four high-level competitors, and he’s one of those guys when he’s not on the court, we miss that. And then again, he’s been really good defensively. I think he’s one of the more underrated defenders. I don’t know what’s talked about outside of our circle. He’s one of the best defensive guards that I’ve coached.”
Tip time for Saturday against Kentucky is set for 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Wildcats are currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a 16-8 record overall and a 7-4 mark in the SEC, good for fourth place.
