After a scorching 16-3 start to the season, Georgia basketball has hit a serious snag in SEC play. The Bulldogs have now dropped five of their last six games, including a 16-point loss to Oklahoma - a team that’s been firmly planted near the bottom of the conference standings.
With Selection Sunday looming just a few weeks away, Georgia finds itself teetering on the NCAA Tournament bubble. And tomorrow’s game?
It’s shaping up to be a pivotal moment in their season.
A big reason for the recent downturn? The absence of their offensive engine, Jeremiah Wilkinson.
Wilkinson, Georgia’s leading scorer, has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury - both of which ended in losses. The sophomore point guard, who transferred in from Cal, has been a revelation in Athens this season.
He’s averaging 17.1 points per game and has reached double figures in all but four contests. He’s also the team’s leader in steals (41) and made threes (52), making his absence felt on both ends of the floor.
The news of Wilkinson being out came abruptly. He was listed as unavailable on the SEC Availability Report just before Georgia’s matchup with Florida. He traveled with the team to Oklahoma but didn’t suit up, and head coach Mike White didn’t have much clarity to offer afterward.
“I have no idea. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind today.
I was just locked in on Oklahoma,” White said after the 94-78 loss. “If I knew, I’d let you know.
Obviously, he would make a difference whenever he’s on the court for us. But we didn’t defend it at a high enough level to give ourselves a chance.”
There’s no overstating Wilkinson’s impact. When he’s on, Georgia looks like a different team.
He dropped 31 points in the Bulldogs’ thrilling 104-100 overtime win over Auburn to open SEC play. He followed that up with 22 points and four triples against Arkansas.
Even in his last game before the injury, he poured in 18 points in a solid win over LSU.
But when he’s not right? The offense sputters.
In back-to-back losses to Tennessee and Florida before his absence, Wilkinson managed just eight points combined. And without him entirely, Georgia has struggled to find rhythm.
Against Florida, they managed only 66 points. At Oklahoma, even with junior Blue Cain stepping up for 20 points, the Bulldogs still fell short at 78.
That’s a far cry from the team that once led the nation in scoring during non-conference play, averaging a blistering 98.3 points over their first 10 games. That number has dipped to 90.3 overall - still strong, but now only good for seventh nationally. In SEC play alone, they’ve dropped to eighth at 80.9 points per game.
Cain has done his best to shoulder the load, scoring 17 and 20 in Wilkinson’s absence. But Georgia’s offense is clearly missing its most dynamic threat - particularly when it comes to breaking down defenses in isolation and finishing at the rim.
“He’s probably our best isolation player,” White said of Wilkinson. “He’s our best guy, especially against teams that are super extended like that, that force you to put your head down.
His speed, of course, getting to the rim and just getting layups. He’s got a unique ability at 6-foot-1, even at this level.
It’s just very rare to just put his head down and go for a layup, right? Maybe he gets three or four of those in a game.
When you get off to a tough start, he’s also a guy who just plays with an incredible level of confidence, too.”
That confidence - and that ability to create something out of nothing - is exactly what Georgia’s been missing. With the postseason picture tightening, the Bulldogs need Wilkinson back on the floor and back in rhythm. Tomorrow’s game could be the turning point - one way or the other.