Georgia basketball won its exhibition opener against a completely overmatched West Georgia squad by a 96-52 mark on Friday night, so here a few quick thoughts on the performance.
The starting lineup consisted of Mike Mercer, Levi Stukes, Steve Newman, Terrance Woodbury, and Rashaad Singleton. Without Takais Brown in the lineup, it’s no surprise the senior Newman got the start. And because point guard Sundiata Gaines was out, Mike Mercer was left to run the point, with Terrance Woodbury getting the start as a result.
What was surprising was Dave Bliss’ absence from the starting lineup, as he has started every game of his career at Georgia. I don’t know if his back troubles were the reason for this, because he showed little signs of pain when he was out there. Singleton, while still a long way from where he'll eventually be, showed marked improvement, so maybe he’s being rewarded for his hard work in the off season.
After a slow start (which is to be expected), Georgia completely layed it on the Wolves, scoring in the paint, hitting a ton of threes in the second half, and generally shutting down the West Georgia offense.
Levi Stukes’ shooting was on, which isn’t that big of a surprise. Mercer and Woodbury’s long-range shooting, well, I didn’t expect to see that. If those two can get anywhere close to the production they had Friday night for most of the season, the Bulldogs will be greatly improved.
The nicest surprise of the night, though, was freshman forward/center Albert Jackson. His game, offensively and defensively, was much more polished than I expected, and he’s about a million times more athletic than I’d first anticipated. The biggest thing is that he looks like he can give Georgia some very solid minutes in the frontcourt this season, which is huge. Maybe it won’t be this year, but this guy just looks like, eventually, he’s going to be a player.
A couple of asides:
- the new paint job on the floor at Stegeman is such an improvement
- the band should never play the Family Guy theme song again
- more people need to come to basketball games this year
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