ATHENS — What if someone told you Georgia would be 3-2 in the SEC against teams ranked 7th in the nation or lower?

That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as the Bulldogs 3-6 league mark looks, and it certainly adds perspective to how Georgia could be so improved without having the SEC record to prove it.

But, yes, Coach Mike White has a home loss to No. 1 Auburn and road defeats at the hands of No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 6 Florida.

In games against other ranked teams, Georgia has beaten No. 12 St. John’s (neutral site), No. 14 Kentucky (home) and lost to No. 11 Marquette (neutral site) and No. 25 Ole Miss (road).

A road game against John Calipari’s Arkansas team represents the Bulldogs only loss to an unranked opponent.

Some might call that spin, but the computers that play a large role in determining the 68-team NCAA tournament field call those metrics.

All that said, Georgia (15-7, 3-6 overall) better take care of business at 9 p.m. on Wednesday at Stegeman Coliseum when it plays host to LSU (12-9, 1-7).

White said after his team’s abysmal shooting performance (11-23 free throws, 4-23 from three) in the loss at Alabama that he’s going to try something different in his approach to free-throw shooting by “talking about it non-stop.”

White might also mention to his players that, collectively, they rank last in the SEC in league play with 26.6-percent 3-point field goal shooting.

The other obstacle is effective ball movement and decision-making, with Georgia last in the league with a meager 0.59 assist/turnover ratio.

Fact is, these Georgia players already know they need to do their part by getting into the gym on their own time to work together and put up extra shots.

There’s no magic free-throw shooting coach or imaginative offensive sets that will make the team’s 3-point shooting better. No shortcuts.

Blaming a basketball coach for missed shots is akin to blaming a football coach for players dropping passes.

At some point, it’s on the athlete to do what they are on scholarship to do — make shots, make plays, go hard.

These Georgia players have pledged they will do that, and more importantly, they have the wins to prove they put in the offseason work in, play with the right attitude and team chemistry and have the talent to get it done.

It’s still a relatively young nucleus, but with the schedule easing up it’s still realistic to think these Bulldogs can grow up fast enough to reach their season goal.

Georgia basketball scoring leaders

(players who have started games)

Asa Newell, 15.2 ppg, 55.0 FG%, 13-51, 25.5 (3FG%)

Silas Demary, 11.1 ppg, 40.0FG%, 27-73, 37.0 (3FG%)

Dakota Leffew, 10.9 ppg, 43.7 FG%, 43-117, 36.8 (3FG%)

Tyrin Lawrence, 8.9 ppg, 42.0 FG%, 19-61, 31.1 (3FG%)

Blue Cain, 8.3 ppg, 36.9 FG%, 28-90, 31.1 (3FG%)

RJ Godfrey, 7.0 ppg, 53.2 FG%, 0-9, 0.00 (3FG%)