Georgia basketball

ATHENS — Georgia basketball will tip off against Wake Forest on Friday night intent on responded and defending its home court, per team leader Jabri Abdur-Rahim.

The Bulldogs are a 2-point favorite over the Demon Deacons to do just that at 7 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum (TV: SEC Network) and even their season record at 1-1.

It’s a Georgia team that had the benefit of a 10-day trip to Italy last summer, where they played international competition and had the chance to learn one another better.

Still, second-year coach Mike White said the Bulldogs are trying to sort things out as they look to avenge last season’s 81-71 loss to the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“We’re playing big and we’re playing small, you’re playing freshman guards, and you’re playing veteran guards,” White said.

“It’s a process every team in the country is going through, especially the teams that have got nine new players like we do.”

Oregon exposed Georgia’s rebounding deficiencies in an 82-71 win over the Bulldogs in Las Vegas on Monday, out-rebounding UGA 63-41.

“I think the glaring thing was we just got outrebounded, so we’ve got to be a little tougher on that end,” said Abdur-Rahim, who led Georgia with 18 points in the loss to the Ducks.

“(Friday) is all about responding, defending home court, and taking the positive and the negative and learning from it and then implementing it.”

White, whose team signed 7-foot South Florida transfer Russel Tchewa this year and Syracuse 6-10 transfer Frank Anselem the year before, said his big men need help.

“We got to do it by committee, (and) we’ve got to gang rebound with all five guys that are out there,” White said. “We have got to be committed to doing it. We can’t have a weak link out there.”

It’s a Georgia team that yearns for a postseason berth, and that’s part of the reason why White is having the Bulldogs play solid competition in the opening games.

The UGA schedule will lighten up considerably when the team plays host to North Carolina Central at 5 p.m. on Sunday before heading to the Bahamas next week for games against Miami (3:30 p.m. next Friday) and either Kansas State or Providence on Sunday, Nov. 19.

First things first, Georgia aims to get a win over a Demon Deacons team coached by Steve Forbes, who was once on UGA’s head coaching wishlist.

Wake Forest is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2009 and opened the season with a 101-78 win over Elon and 88-80 exhibition victory over Alabama.

The Demon Deacons start a pair of big men in 7-foot-1 post Matthew Marsh and 6-10 power forward Andrew Carr.

“They are similar (to Oregon) in that they have two bigger guys at the four and five,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I think they do a lot of different things, though. They like to drive a little more. They’re different than Oregon, but they definitely do have two bigger people.

“Just like Oregon, I think I know their emphasis is going to be rebounding, and we’ve got to respond the right way and come out with that mentality.”