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Olivia Sayer
Georgia teammates on defense during a women’s NCAA college basketball game between Ole Miss and Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia, on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024. Georgia lost 69-59. (Photo/Jessica Lin, @j.lin321_media)
Defense.
It’s a word that can get certain head coaches fired up — none more so than Georgia women’s basketball head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. Abrahamson-Henderson, throughout her two seasons as Georgia’s head coach, has taken pride in her defenses, which is evident the moment she speaks about the type of defense she runs.
“It’s not really a zone, it’s a matchup,” Abrahamson-Henderson said in 2022. “All my life I’ve been playing this matchup and it’s really hard to simulate, it’s really hard to play against. … It’s a defense I’ve been running for a long time and it’s why we’ve been [a strong defense] for a long time because it’s just hard to simulate every single day in practice.”
An old adage in the world of sports is that “defense wins championships,” but as basketball has evolved through the years, it’s an adage that has somewhat fallen out of fashion. Defense isn’t exactly the game’s selling point, as fans are much more interested in the flashy, offensive side of the sport. The offense sells tickets, after all.
Abrahamson-Henderson’s Bulldogs take a different approach. For the past two seasons, they’ve prioritized defense and are currently ranked third best in the SEC in field goal percentage allowed, after ranking 12th in the nation earlier this season.
Construction of this defense started on the recruiting trail — an ever-evolving process in the era of NIL and the transfer portal, but still as crucial to the game as ever.
Abrahamson-Henderson noted the difficulty of scouting players’ defensive abilities, noting that defense is about more than what appears on the stat sheet.
“It’s not actually about playing defense, it’s about the desire,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “If you go watch and you are recruiting, you see a kid dive on a loose ball, and the toughness, and the energy and that kind of thing.”
Many good teams have rosters full of highly recruited, big-name players. However, what separates good teams from elite ones is consistent execution — especially when it matters most. If players don’t execute in games, no one cares how talented their team is projected to be.
This consistency is built in practice, and fifth-year senior Javyn Nicholson said the team puts in the work with “all of our defensive days.” When asked about specific focuses, Nicholson kept it straight and to the point.
“Just being one of the best defensive teams in the SEC,” Nicholson said. “That’s just our main focus right now.”
Nicholson’s rebounding ability has opened up opportunities for her on the offensive end. She has 11 double-doubles this season, and her eight straight were the most in a row by a Georgia player since Janet Harris, a Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, in 1982-1983.
Although talent is a substantial part, Georgia’s success relies just as much on the defensive game plan. Abrahamson-Henderson said the Bulldogs look at the ways a team is most efficient in scoring when determining the best way to defend.
“This team scores in transition,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “This team scores with offensive rebounds, this team scores in the paint. So, that’s kind of what we look at.”
Georgia plays a matchup defense, combining certain elements of man-to-man and zone defense. This allows the Bulldogs to thoroughly scout their opponents while tailoring the game plan to what they see in the film room.
For instance, following Georgia’s game against Ole Miss, Abrahamson-Henderson said Georgia sought to halt the Rebels’ success from within the paint.
“Because they just really wanted to score in the paint, we just packed it in,” Abrahamson-Henderson said.
This approach of defending the paint differed from Georgia’s game plan against Alabama, where the Crimson Tide torched the Bulldogs from beyond the arc, and shot 55% on 20 attempts.
“That’s what they do, they hit threes,” Abrahamson-Henderson said following the game.
Despite solid defensive play from some key contributors, Georgia has had a rocky season. After starting 10-4, a lack of consistency on offense led the Bulldogs to drop five straight, as they currently sit at the bottom of the SEC.
If Georgia is to get back on track, it will likely be due to its defense, an aspect of the game the players take great pride in.
“It starts with us and our mentality,” junior Asia Avinger said. “We take pride in our defense, especially one-on-one, so if we can handle our job one-on-one and make sure our person doesn’t score, that leads to our success.”