Hoops: Dawgs beat Virginia Tech

The Georgia men's basketball team desperately needed a victory, and they got it in Athens 67-66 over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The team played tough defense, rebounded lights out (as they have most of the season) and turned the ball over only 12 times. That's 15 fewer turnovers than the last game.

More importantly, they sucked it up and played big boy basketball after getting undressed by Illinois in Chicago.

On the downside, the Dawgs were putrid from the free throw line going 10-21. The half court offensive sets were their usual dicey endeavors, and the substitution patterns involving Chris Barnes (who played very well) were puzzling.

At the end of the day, it's a win over an ACC team. Or as Felton said, "The best 5-4 team in America." The Bulldogs now face four tomato cans before entering an early January five game swing that will go a long way towards deciding what the future of this program really looks like.

From January 3-18, the Bulldogs have consecutive battles with:

Home - Missouri (Jan. 3rd)
Away - Georgia Tech (Jan. 6th)
Home - Tennessee (Jan. 10th)
Away - Vanderbilt (Jan. 14th)
Home - Kentucky (Jan. 18th)

Given Felton's problems with road games and the talent of the teams involved, I think a 2-3 record at the end of that swing would be a reasonable goal. That would put Georgia at 12-6 exiting the MLK holiday weekend with 13 conference games remaining. A 1-4 run would be tough sledding given that the Bulldogs hit the road for 4 out of 5 shortly there after.

Georgia needs 17 wins to ensure a winning season.

PWD