Georgia will take on the St. Louis University Billikens in the night cap of this evening’s Midwest Regional, tipping at roughly 9:40 p.m. Athens standard time.
Georgia is the higher seed and a slim 2.5 point favorite according to Fan Duel’s odds, but the #9 seeded Billikens are a dangerous team. They finished as the top team in the always tough Atlantic Ten conference, logging an impressive 27-4 regular season record. How can Mike White’s Hoop Hounds knock out the Billikens? I have some ideas.
Five Keys To A Bulldog Win
Show up: No, Georgia can’t win this one just by showing up. But as we saw last year against Gonzaga it’s easy to lose in the tournament when you don’t get off the bus on time. A slow start in this one feels like not only a sure way to get sent home, but a good reason to ask exactly why Mike White’s teams come out flat in tournament games.
Contain Robbie Avila. Steph Blurry. Larry Blurred. Looks like the manager of a Jiffy Lube but makes it rain from inside and out. Avila averages 12.9 points a game for a very balanced St. Louis attack. If the 6’10 big man can be bottled up (and if Georgia’s bigs don’t get in foul trouble trying to stop him) it will take a major cog out of the Billiken scoring machine.
Break serve. Both of these teams score a lot of points. And this Georgia team, when it has struggled, has just flat out given up a lot of points in only a little bit of time. If the ‘Dawgs can get a couple of stops and force the Billikens to play from behind, however, I like our odds.
Turnovers, both ways. A big part of breaking the Billikens scoring flow is going to be creating some turnovers. At. Louis, like the Red and Black, pushes the ball up the court, and that should create some turnover opportunities. Likewise, Georgia absolutely cannot give up easy baskets to a high octane Billiken offense that averages 87.2 points per game.
Know thy enemy. What is a Billiken? According to Wikipedia, the most trusted source on the Internet for totally reliable reference information:
The Billiken is a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream.
Why is that important? Honestly I’m not sure it is. I just found it interesting. And now you can add that knowledge to your quiver of useful data.
We’ll be back this evening with an actual Georgia basketball live thread. Because why not? Until then…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
