WICHITA, Kan. — Tyrin Lawrence knows Silas Demary Jr. better than most.
In addition to being his teammate this past season, Lawrence competed against Demary when the former was at Vanderbilt.
Lawrence knows Demary’s game well. And he saw Demary elevate his play during the closing run of the season.
“He works every day, I see it, on a daily basis, and if he keeps his head on and stays in the right direction, he’ll continue to get better,” Lawrence said of Demary.
If Demary can perform like he did in the last month over the course of next season, Georgia basketball could have a good chance of finding itself back in the NCAA Tournament.
The sophomore Georgia guard had 15 points and four assists Thursday in an 89-68 loss to Gonzaga. The defeat ends Georgia’s season in an ugly fashion.
Demary was frustrated with how things ended. When speaking at the podium following the loss, you could see him trying to hold back tears.
He put a lot into this team to get it where it was. Even as Georgia fell behind 27-3 early in the game, Demary kept flinging his body into Gonzaga defenders to draw fouls and chip away at the deficit. He finished with a game-high eight fouls drawn.
“Silas Demery, in the past month, has played as well as just about any guard in college basketball,” Georgia coach Mike White said. “He decided to elevate his play, be more aggressive offensively. He probably should have been all-league, should have been All-SEC defensive team.”
Georgia wouldn’t have make the NCAA Tournament without Demary. In the final 10 games of the season, he averaged 19.3 points per game, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He upped his game when Georgia needed it most.
“He felt more confident,” RJ Godfrey said of Demary. “He’s in the gym every day. Seeing the shots that he takes, he works on it. I’d probably just say he felt a little bit more aggressive. That’s what I really saw from him. He had an awesome season. The way he closed out the season, especially the big games like Florida, Vandy, at Texas.
“Like, he really saved us a couple of games. I’m just so glad I got to be his teammate.”
If he comes back to play for Georgia — far from a given in today’s transfer portal age — he figures to be the face of the program next season. One that’s worth celebrating and following not just when football season ends.
Asa Newell almost certainly played his final collegiate game Thursday. He led Georgia in scoring and rebounding this season, doing so again versus Gonzaga. He won’t be easy to replace.
But Georgia has talent to play with around Demary. Even if Newell leaves for the NBA, Georgia could bring back four starters from Thursday’s game to go with big man Somto Cyril.
Georgia currently has the No. 19-ranked recruiting class for the coming cycle. The Bulldogs also will have to be active in the transfer portal to replace some players.
Having someone like Demary though should make Georgia more attractive as a transfer portal option.
“Everyone in our locker room is better than they were in June,” White said. “They just are. Not because we’re doing something special; because it’s the type of people they are. They continue to come to work every day and just get better and battle, compete with one another, challenge each other every day. We’re going to continue to do that at Georgia, and good things will happen.”
Demary knows getting Georgia to this point is an accomplishment, even if it may not feel that way following an ugly end to the season.
He got better as a sophomore. Georgia did, too.
And if makes a sustained leap next season, Georgia could be better set up to win an NCAA Tournament game, rather than just play in one.
“Our main goal is March Madness, but like we said, our mindset has been growth every day, one day at a time,” Demary said. “And I think if we can incorporate that next year and not looking ahead, I think that helped us a lot this year. So that’ll help us in the near future, too.”
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