Mike White stresses "opportunities" after Georgia Bulldogs topple South Carolina amidst tough stretch ahead

Georgia men's basketball head coach Mike White refused to brand the Bulldogs' 71-60 win over South Carolina as a must-win game. The Bulldogs defeated the Gamecocks at the Stegeman Coliseum on Tuesday night.

White pushed back on the narrative that the matchup was a must-win for Georgia during the post-game conference. For him, it was merely a chance for his team to go out there and compete.

“None of them are must wins,” White said. “All of them are opportunities. Our practice here in a couple days is must do well, must grow. But we need to celebrate all of them because they’re so hard to come by for sure.” (2:06)

Meanwhile, Georgia have a demanding schedule ahead, with seven of their remaining 10 games against teams that are ranked in the latest AP poll, including Auburn, Alabama, and Florida.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” White said. “Tough road ahead but a lot of opportunities too. Just go to continue to focus on valuing the basketball, defensive rebounding.. Offensive rebounding needs to continue to get a little better.” (2:24)

Mike White backs Georgia despite four consecutive losses in SEC

The Georgia Bulldogs suffered four consecutive losses, jeopardizing a once-promising 2024-25 campaign. In the 89-59 loss to Florida on Saturday, Jan. 25, the Bulldogs head coach, Mike White, remained optimistic about his team's capability to turn things around. He also argued that those losses were against top-ranked SEC teams.

“We don’t have a bad loss, we just don’t have a bad loss,” White said after the game. “So it’s not — you know if you lose to a couple mid-majors at home, or you lose on the road to a team that’s just an inferior team to you, it’s another story. But we’ve got losses to Quad One teams. We’re not losing to Quad Three teams, or even Quad Two teams." (3:31)

"We’ve got a good team" he added. "These guys will continue to work and stay together. We’ll have a great practice tomorrow, guaranteed. We’ve just got to play better Tuesday night. Got to figure out this turnover problem, because it leads to other things too." (4:26)

Georgia's past losses had been against the AP top 10 teams, including Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, and Arkansas. The Bulldogs came off those losses to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday. They will be looking forward to continuing a winning run against No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, Feb. 1.