ATHENS -- With Georgia and the SEC’s statistical dig into Sahvir Wheeler’s scintillating start now complete, the Bulldogs’ sophomore point guard was asked Monday about being the first SEC player this century to record three consecutive games of double-figure scoring and assists.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about that,” he said, adding that he was “very blessed and very fortunate” to have done it. Then he proceeded to talk about all that he and the Bulldogs need to improve on.
Georgia (3-0) will find out if it has made any strides in that regard as it plays host to Montana (0-3) on Tuesday night (7 p.m., SECN) at Stegeman Coliseum. It will be the Bulldogs’ fourth game in nine days.
Wheeler, it seems, is his best critic.
“The double-doubles are great, but I think I’m averaging about five turnovers right now and I think that’s something I need to improve on,” said the 5-foot-10 guard, who indeed is averaging 5.3 turnovers per game. “They aren’t mistakes that the other team is necessarily (forcing). It’s just me sometimes trying to make a play that’s not there or making an unforced error. So I’m watching that on film and seeing how I can be better on those situations. Obviously, my shot isn’t falling right now.”
To be clear, Wheeler’s 3-point shots aren’t falling at moment. He’s currently 1-for-9 (.111) from beyond the arc. But rest of his shots are going in at a 53 percent clip, primarily on incredibly quick, defense-splitting drives to the bucket. That’s also where all the assists are coming from as well.
When the left-hander finds his path to the goal blocked, he has been dumping the ball off to Georgia’s wings either cutting to the basket themselves or standing unguarded on the perimeter. Hence, the Bulldogs are shooting 51 percent from the field as a team.
All of this is great, of course. But Georgia knows it has to tighten up its game considerably before moving into the next stretch of games.
After the Grizzlies, competition ratchets up. The Bulldogs’ final four games of 2020 are against Samford, Cincinnati, Northeastern and Mississippi State.
But Georgia appears to be trending up. The Bulldogs played their best game of the season this past Friday when they defeated Jacksonville 98-65. In that contest, Georgia recorded 67 deflections, which is a team best under third-year coach Tom Crean.
But the Bulldogs continue to struggle in areas that plagued them last season. They’re committing an unacceptable number of turnovers – 56 in three games, or 18.7 per – and are shooting just 30.5 percent from 3-point range.
That those are the same areas in which Wheeler wants to improve is probably not a coincidence.
“It’s trying to make plays that aren’t quite there,” Crean said. “I think it’s trying to be unselfish. When you have a guy that passes the ball like Sahvir, you know, everybody else wants to get in on that part of it. That’s not a bad thing, but you’ve got to recognize what’s there. And we’re going to run, so there’s going to be some turnovers. But we can’t have the careless ones.”
In the meantime, the Bulldogs know that they have a special player in their midst in Wheeler. That, in itself, is something around which to build.
It’s early yet, and the competition will stiffen considerably when Georgia’s steps into all-conference play on Dec. 30. But the Bulldogs are excited about their offensive potential with a dynamic play-maker like Wheeler at the helm, which has helped them average 89 points a game so far.
As it is now, Wheeler leads the nation in assists at 10.7 per game. He is the only SEC player with back-to-back points/assists double-doubles in the last five seasons.
As for the research that’s being done behind the scenes, UGA box scores dating back through the 1969-70 season did not reveal a Bulldogs posting three, Wheeler-style double-doubles. There were a couple of close calls: Gino Gianfrancesco twice in a three-game span at the end of the 1971-72 and start of the 1972-73 seasons; Donald Hartry covering a four-game period in 1986-87; Rashad Wright over a five-game stretch over the end of 2001-02 and opening of 2002-03; and G.G. Smith over a six-game time frame during the 1998-99 campaign.
Only time will tell if Wheeler’s wondrous work is the result of lax competition or fluky circumstance. But know this: The sophomore is not sitting idle and satisfied with what he has done. He believes he can play even better.
“The ball is going to start falling eventually,” Wheeler said. “I have a continuous routine that I’m doing every day and I’m sticking to it and trusting it.”
Ominous news for Georgia’s opponents.
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