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Tuesday, January 20, 2009 [ The Red & Black
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DANIEL SHIREY | The Red a Buck
Kupets back in champion form
Gymnast returns to
the mat after injury
By TYLER ESTEP
The Red & Black
Courtney Kupets is back.
The senior, recovering from an Achilles
tear she incurred mid-last season, has won
the all-around in all three of Georgia’s
meets this year, taking the individual title
in nine of 12 events.
“Just being able to be out there and be
there for my team and compete and be
able to do good routines and make mis
takes is great,” Kupets said.
Kupets, the five-time individual NCAA
champion and 10-time All-American, sat
Athletic director visits with Dogs after loss
By FLETCHER PAGE
The Red & Black
Following Sunday’s
crushing 68-45 loss to
Kentucky, Athletic Director
Damon Evans visited the
Georgia men’s basketball
team in the locker room.
This was the first time
this season reporters
noticed Evans as a visitor
after a game, but guard
Corey Butler said the meet-
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out the latter half of the Gym Dogs’ fourth
straight run for a national championship.
She’s now the nation’s leading all-arounder
and reigning SEC Athlete of the Week, and
looks to be back in championship form.
“It feels amazing. It’s like you can just
relax and take a breath,” junior Grace
Taylor said. “She’s got it under control. It’s
being able to depend on your teammates,
and it’s not just her. It’s everybody in the
lineup. It’s such relief.”
After an awkward landing on her first
vault, and first routine, of the season,
Kupets has now posted eight scores of at
least 9.9. In short, she’s back.
► Senior Courtney Kupets receives
a rose for her 9.975 performance
on the uneven bars in the meet
against Utah on Monday.
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
ing was a common occur
rence.
“Those guys come in all
the time, especially
[Associate] Athletic
Director Arthur Johnson
and those guys, after every
game home and away,” said
senior guard Corey Butler.
“They’re usually there.”
The message from
‘Soft’ Bulldogs lose to Wildcats
By MICHAEL FITZPATRICK
The Red & Black
For a team to be called “soft” by
fans or the media is one thing.
But being publicly called “soft”
by the head coach is quite another.
That is just the position where
the Georgia men’s basketball team
finds itself after its most recent dis
mantling, a 69-45 defeat courtesy of
the Kentucky Wildcats at Stegeman
Coliseum Sunday.
“We did not compete with the
kind of toughness that’s required
and we were very, very soft,”
Georgia head coach Dennis Felton
said. “It was a very soft effort and
that’s the storyline of this game.”
Georgia (9-9, 0-3 SEC) was out
played from the opening tip-off to
the final buzzer as Kentucky (14-4,
3-0 SEC) scored on its first three
possessions and never looked
back.
“As coaches, we are doing every
thing in our power to address [play
ing tougher] but I also think the
players have to commit to it and
our leaders have to lead to a great
degree to achieve that kind of pres
ence, too,” Felton said.
Georgia had hoped to come out
strong against a feisty Wildcat
bunch eager to put the Dogs in
their place, especially after
Georgia’s upset over Kentucky in
.4 Kentucky forward Patrick
Patterson blocks Georgia for
ward Jeremy Price’s shot in
Georgia’s 68-45 loss to
Kentucky on Sunday.
Evans: “Yeah, they always
come through the line,
shake hands with every
player and say keep your
head and keep fighting,”
Butler said.
Players not yet
‘buying’
In the midst of a five
game losing streak, each
loss has exhibited Georgia’s
ability to make other teams
look good.
Whether it is problems
stemming from turnovers,
rebounding or a lack of
offense, the Bulldogs have
yet to correct the prob
lems. And the losses are
piling up.
“Everybody has to take
it personal,” said freshman
Trey Thompkins. “We got
some guys not buying into
the system. Asa team we’re
working on that.”
Georgia is now 9-9 over
all on the year, and looking
up in the SEC East, now
0-3 in conference play.
“It’s just a matter of
committing to the team
concept and doing what we
have to do every single
night and every single play
in order to win,” said senior
Corey Butler. “I don’t know
if we’re exactly doing it
every night.”
The Bulldogs still have
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SPORTS
ON THE WEB:
See game video
last March’s SEC Tournament.
However, Kentucky scored the
game’s first seven points and
jumped out to a 16-4 lead.
“We put a big emphasis on com
ing out in the first half and being
aggressive right out of the gate,”
senior guard Corey Butler said.
“But we didn’t do that offensively
and by the time we started scoring,
they were already up by a lot. We
weren’t aggressive and we didn’t
play Georgia basketball. You didn’t
even need to watch the game to
know that, just look at the score.
“It’s just a matter of committing
to the team concept and doing
what we have to do every single
night, every single play in order to
win and I don’t think we are exactly
doing that every night ... We may
be diving for a loose ball here or
there but we are not doing it every
play and we have to do it every play
to win in this league.”
The Dogs’ focus defensively was
to contain the high-scoring Meeks
in his Georgia homecoming and his
first game since his Kentucky
record setting 54-point perfor
mance against Tennessee on
Tuesday.
Butler set a goal of containing
Meeks to under 20 points.
“I looked up in the first half and
saw he had 15, and I was kind of
disappointed,” Butler said. “But
the first half altogether was a dis
appointment for our program
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DANIEL SHIREY | The Red a Buck
13 conference games
remaining and have an
opportunity to turn the
season around.
“We definitely just have
to stay together,” Butler
said. “It’s a long season and
I have complete faith in the
guys that we’re going to
keep fighting.”
Swansey’s second
time for stitches
Sophomore Zac Swansey
briefly left Sunday’s game
in the first half after collid
ing with a Wildcat defend
er.
Swansey managed to
catch an inbounds pass
and dribble up-court before
play was stopped as offi
cials noticed blood running
from the Dunwoody
native’s eye.
Swansey had a tempo
rary bandage put over his
cut, and re-entered .the
action, wearing an over
sized No. 24 jersey, as his
No. 5 had blood stains.
After the game, Swansey
was ushered from the lock
er room to receive stitches.
This is the second time
this season Swansey has
required stitches. The first
incident was a cut on his
knee acquired during a
98-68 victory over North
Carolina A&T.
GYM: Rivalry deepens
with Gym Dogs’ win
► From Page 1
said junior Grace Taylor
“And it’s so much more
fun that way.”
“They competed so
well on floor exercise,”
Yoculan said. “They
weren’t thinking about
the score and how close
the competition was. They
got so distracted with
that on balance beam.”
The Gym Dogs found
themselves down a tenth
of a point after the first
rotation, but regained the
momentum with a very
strong showing on bars.
Taylor, Tolnay and Kupets
charted consecutive 9.9s
or better to give the Gym
Dogs the 98.750-98.475
margin at the halfway
point.
After Paige Bums fell
in her leadoff spot, Taylor
was the lone bright spot
on beam for the Gym
Dogs, posting a 9.900.
Kupets took the all
around title for the third
time in three meets, post
ing a 39.600, including a
9.95 on vault and a 9.975
on bars.
“It can’t feel better [to
get a 197],” Kupets said.
“It’s showing we are pro
gressing, but we still have
a lot of work to do, which
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because we didn't come out and
execute like we should have.”
Meeks hit 6-of-8 shots in the
first half as his individual scoring,
15 points, nearly equaled Georgia’s
team total of 19 points. Meeks, who
said he had 15-20 family members
and friends in the stands, finished
the game with 22 points.
“We got the win coming back
home so I was happy about that,”
Meeks said. “I just concentrated on
taking smart shots. I think I did
force some shots early on because I
was hyped up playing at home, but
I just tried to concentrate on being
smart and [relaxed].”
Butler said one of Georgia’s few
successes of the night was relative
ly containing Meeks as “we did a
really good job limiting his touches
and forcing him into some tough
shots and I don’t think he felt very
comfortable out there.”
But after Georgia’s 40-point
effort to Vanderbilt, the Dogs fol
lowed it up by shooting 31.1 per
cent, a season low. The Bulldogs
shot an abysmal 3-for-16 from
3-point range and 4-for-ll from the
free-throw line, which raises ques
tions regarding Georgia’s confi
dence, especially on the offense.
“It’s going to show if our team
has heart or if we are going to lay
down,” freshman Trey Thompkins
said. “But in my eyes, I see a team
that wants to win. Guys that have
confidence in each other and guys
who are willing to do whatever it
takes to win ... But it’s going to
make us grow up, the freshman
class, we need to grow up.”
is good, because we can
still get a lot better.”
Utah has finished run
ner-up to the Gym Dogs
in their last three national
title runs, and has now
lost its last three meets at
Stegeman Coliseum.
“I feel like we’re still
pretty even teams,”
Yoculan said. “On another
night they could come out
the winner. But tonight
we definitely had better
landings and better con
trol on our landings on
vaulting and on our tum
bling and more difficulty.”
“This is what athletics
is all about,” Utah coach
Greg Mardsen said. “I love
this environment, I love
these kinds of meets, I
love bringing our team in
and challenging ourselves
to see how we handle
these kinds of environ
ments.”
The Utes were the first
gymnastics team to ever
claim nine national titles,
a feat Georgia matched
last season. It’s still a
heated battle no doubt,
but Mardsen’s good-na
tured comment upon see
ing Yoculan after the meet
sums up recent happen
ings in the rivalry.
“This is getting a little
old, Suzanne.”