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I’m not going to lie to you: I came back from the Yellowhammer State and promptly took sick on Sunday; I think I may be allergic to Auburn, but, in any case, I am under the weather, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Well . . . short, anyway.
The Fox Hounds neither passed well nor shot well nor defended well nor rebounded well nor were effective at avoiding fouls nor were effective at avoiding turnovers. Hosting a team called the Penguins that was led by Steve Urkel Damian Eargle, the Bulldogs fell behind from the outset, trailing 8-0 four minutes into the contest and seldom thereafter narrowing the gap to the single digits.
Charles Mann confirmed the legitimacy of his class standing by turning in a distinctly freshman-like performance, and three-pointers by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were the only thing that even kept Georgia in the game at all. The Red and Black came out much hotter in the second half, cutting into Youngstown State’s eleven-point edge at intermission to narrow the gap to three with 15 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs thereafter went cold once more, failing to score for the next four minutes, by which time the Penguins had moved out in front by nine and the game, effectively, was at an end.
Youngstown State had more rebounds, assists, blocks, and points. Georgia had more fouls. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the game itself. As for the season as a whole, well, one of the arguments for the Athenians’ inclusion in the NCAA tourney field two years ago was that they had no bad losses. We will see how the season plays out, but I suspect the early blemish on the Red and Black’s record placed there by the Penguins already has eliminated the Classic City Canines’ capacity to make such a claim this season. All is not lost, but this team has a lot of improving to do before becoming anything other than an embarrassment.
Go ‘Dawgs!