Georgia gorged on turnovers

DULUTH, Ga. – Twenty-one and sixteen.

Those were the two numbers that stood out rather dramatically Saturday afternoon following Gonzaga University’s 96-83 men’s basketball loss to the University of Georgia.

The 16th-ranked Zags, in front of a national ESPN2 television audience and a Gwinnett Center Arena crowd of 6,812, did a lot of things wrong. But few were as damaging as committing a season-high 21 turnovers and letting Georgia muscle down 16 offensive rebounds, 13 of which came in the second half.

In this instance, those two numbers equaled 20 more shots than Gonzaga took for a Georgia team that outplayed the Zags from opening tip to final buzzer in running its early-season winning streak to six games.

Afterward, GU coach Mark Few and his players were hard pressed to explain the ball-handing indifference and lack of rebounding passion that cost them so dearly.

Few called the 21 turnovers “pathetic,” noting that nine of them were committed by starting guards Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin.

“It was just a case of guys trying to do too much,” he said. “Our problem all year has been unforced errors – serving the ball right into the net. But when nine of them come from two of your guards, that’s not a very good sign.”

Senior forward Sean Mallon, who finished with 11 points and five rebounds in one of his most inspired efforts of the season, said Georgia’s suffocating half-court defensive pressure had something to do with all of the turnovers.

“So you’ve got to give them some credit,” he said. “But a lot of it was us just being stupid. We had too many offensive fouls, myself included, and just kind of fell into what they wanted us to do.”

“We need to take care of the ball better,” said sophomore forward Josh Heytvelt. “Not turning the ball over is more of a mind thing. It’s about being mentally tough and executing your offense.

“They did get up into us and deny out a lot, and they’re kind of long. But most of those turnovers are on us.”

Georgia came into the game leading all Southeastern Conference team in steals with an average of 12.1 per game, and came up with 10 against the Zags – a number that seemed to surprise coach Dennis Felton.

“We’ve been really, really good at creating turnovers all year,” Felton said. “We’ve had some games where we’ve been blistering in that area, the way we’ve turned people over. But to be honest with you, the 14 in the first half were just shocking, because Gonzaga has terrific guard play. They’re very poised and confident as a team and they don’t normally turn it over that much.

“But that’s been a big part of our success. We’re a very attack-oriented team, and we’re getting better and better at playing that way as we add more talented guys to our roster and start to get a grip on how we want to play.”

Bouldin, who was responsible for five turnovers and seemed a bit startled by Georgia’s defensive athleticism, admitted the Bulldogs were as aggressive as any team they Zags have played this winter.

“But it was really a case of us just not handling it very well,” he said. “We came out flat and gave up way too many offensive boards and too many second-chance shots – along with all of the turnovers.

“Overall, it was just a poor night defensively.”