Q&A: Katie Abrahamson-Henderson sees Lady Bulldogs progressing ahead of LSU meeting

Head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said Georgia is getting closer to 'the top of the hill' in regular season's final month.

Photo courtesy of Tony Walsh — Georgia Sports Communications

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson began to speak about the recent uptick in her team’s performance through the heart of conference play. Suddenly, she looked down and came to a realization.

It’s the beginning of February.

It’s the final stretch before the beloved month of March when all eyes turn to basketball. It’s when the grind of a full season of hoops might get tiring. It’s when games matter the most.

History shows, too, it’s when the first-year Lady Bulldogs coach has her teams playing the best. Over Abrahamson-Henderson’s last three seasons at Central Florida, the Knights combined for a 17-1 record in February with the only loss coming at UConn.

“Do I think we're going to be really good? We'll see,” Abrahamson-Henderson said Wednesday. “This is where a lot of teams get really tired. I really want our team to keep moving forward. Hopefully, we aren't peaking, but close to the top of the hill.”

Georgia enters a Thursday showdown at No. 3 LSU (8 p.m., SEC Network+) to open up the February slate. The Lady Bulldogs headed to Baton Rouge with a 4-5 record in SEC play and tied for sixth in the league standings with four losses to the teams sitting above them (South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama).

Georgia finds itself in the midst of a two-game surge with wins over Missouri and Mississippi State, in which it held the opposing Bulldogs to 34 points in an effort that Brittney Smith said “our defense clicked” against a strong offense led by star forward Jessika Carter.

The Lady Bulldogs rebounded from a slump in which they fell at Texas A&M and the aforementioned road losses at Tennessee and Alabama.

“We’re in a good spot,” senior guard Diamond Battles said. “We hit a rough patch, and we had to find our team confidence. We have to build each other up, because every game in the SEC is going to be a battle. We have to realize that and that we have to play Georgia basketball no matter what the circumstances are.

“We have some good momentum, so it's about continuing to play how we have over the past couple of games.”

Before Georgia tips off against the powerhouse Tigers, here’s a Q&A session with Abrahamson-Henderson.

Q: What was the message to the team to regain confidence?

A: It was the coaches and I. It's a long season and everybody is really good. We have to come into every game ready to go. This team that I currently have, I feel like we play really good at home, but we have to do a better job on the road. We kind of lean on our captains a lot -- (Jordan Isaacs), Diamond and some of the upperclassmen. This is your senior year. The seniors either really fight through it, or they quit by this time. We don't have any quitters. Every senior really wants to fight through and end up good for their senior year. 

Q: What are the challenges in playing in a raucous atmosphere in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and how does LSU star Angel Reese (23.4 points and 15.6 rebounds per game) make game planning difficult?

A: That environment is awesome. That's the way every women's basketball game should look like. Kim Mulkey has that place rocking. I tell our kids that back when they were 11 and 12 years old, you wanted this for women's basketball. These are your dreams. These are the games you should be getting super excited about. You have to look at the crowd as a positive for women in sports. 

That's the best thing about our matchup (zone). Nobody has to guard (Reese) individually, but everybody has to guard her. That helps. It's hard to guard her individually. She's a great player. We have to do a really good job of knowing where she is, kind of like we did with (South Carolina’s) Aliyah Boston. 

Q: You mentioned not playing as well on the road as in Stegeman Coliseum, so how do you overcome those challenges?

A: It's hard. We make sure to get in their gym earlier, shoot more in their gym and feel the atmosphere. It's like you. You're more comfortable in your house. When you're in a hotel room, it's different. You're sleeping in a different bed. It's about getting comfortable in a place where you aren't comfortable. I think the first four minutes are big for our team. I'm going to challenge our starters -- which I did in the Mississippi State game -- that it's their job to set the tempo. Then, for whoever comes in next, you have to keep that going. 

Q: Is it a luxury to have so much depth?

A: At UCF, it was a matter of do you want to sub out Diamond? Do you want to sub out Brittney? No. We didn't sub out Diamond as much, but we really need to. She is keyed on all of the time. She has to get a break a little bit. It's great (to have depth) and it really depends on what we need. Do we need somebody like Chloe who is quick and can push the tempo? Do we need a shooter with the passing of (Allisha Lewis)? Do we need a spark off of the bench like DeMauri? Do we need size with Javyn and Malury in at the same time? It's kind of fun, to me, to mix it up. 

Q: How have Diamond Battles and Brittney Smith stood out in their leadership roles?

A: Believe it or not, she wasn't our leader at UCF. It was Masseny Kaba. This year, she has had to take that on and it's a new role. Jordan has been a really big part in helping her. Jordan has the same type of personality as Diamond. They're bouncing off of each other all of the time. Brittney Smith is our other captain. She's the calm leader, the sweet leader. Diamond and Jordan are the fire on our team. Diamond knows her role, and it's more of her and Jo. If Jo can't lead the team, Diamond will step up. If Diamond has to take over with scoring, Jordan will step up with the leadership part. 

Q: How do you discuss your place on the NCAA tournament bubble with your team? (In the latest projection, ESPN’s Charlie Creme had Georgia as one of the last four teams into the field as a No. 12 seed).

A: We don't. We take one game at a time. It's too much. We need them thinking about the present, and we can't worry about the past. We are all beating up on each other. You never know where you're going to land. You focus on one game at a time. That is it. They need to enjoy this. If they think about what's coming in the future, they won't enjoy what's going on right now. It's too much, overwhelming.