Georgia basketball will have a decidedly different look at center this season.
The Bulldogs lost their best rim protector in Somto Cyril, who took his talents to South Beach (or Coral Gables to be more precise) to play for Miami.
Cyril led the SEC with 74 blocks, but coach Mike White said a team that was top 20 in the nation in offensive efficiency has room to grow on the other end.
The Bulldogs will be led at center by Ole Miss transfer James Scott.
“We need to be better defensively,” White said. “I’m optimistic that we can be. We’re deep, we’re athletic. Overall, we’re a little bit bigger throughout our entire defense.”
Georgia ranked No. 89 in the nation in defensive rating at KenPom.com. The Bulldogs were 12th in the SEC in field goal percentage defense (44.3) and 324th nationally in scoring defense (79.8).
The 6-foot-11, 225-pound Scott will provide “elite toughness,” White said.
“He’s incredibly smart,” White said. “He’s got a great feel. He plays like a high-thinking, experienced ‘5.’ Probably underrated as a passer but he’s really picked up on what we’re trying to do offensively.”
White said Georgia looks like it will be a faster team this season including at center.
“We’ve got three ‘5s’ that can really move,” White said. “They’re not necessarily making a lot of headlines or ranked this or that, but I like the defensive level of intensity and ability to change ends, ability to switch at times with that three-headed ‘5; we have right now.”
Those include Scott, 6-foot-10, 210-pound sophomore Andrew Osasui from St. Bonaventure and 7-foot, 250-pound Nigerian freshman David Ugonna Ike from NBA Academy Afrcia.
They are part of nine newcomers on a Georgia team that returns four players who were in the starting lineup down the stretch last season: Smurf Millender, Blue Cain, Kanon Catchings and Kareem Stagg.
Scott can be plugged into the starting five.
Ron Slay, the former Tennessee forward who was SEC Player of the Year in 2003, said Scott will bring athleticism to the Bulldogs’ frontcourt.
“That’s what you need when you lose a guy like Cyril,” Slay, now an SEC analyst, told the Athens Banner-Herald. “You need somebody regardless if it’s a guard or a big to be able to kind of fill that void of defending the rim and being able to put in the hole.”
Scott’s numbers may seem pedestrian at Ole Miss where he averaged 3.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season while starting 27 games as a junior. He played at College of Charleston as a freshman and at Louisville as a sophomore when he averaged 7.1 points and 6.5 rebounds a game.
“Sometimes a piece that doesn’t stand out for somebody else, you plug it into your system and 2 points and 2 rebounds goes to 9 and 10,” Slay said. “They know what they’re doing down there.”
White said Scott, Osasui and Ugonna Ike can collectively “be really good in ball screen defense. All three of them have a lot of similarity.”
They offer the chance to do “more blitzing,” and trapping and switching of ball screens.
Osasui was fourth in the Atlantic 10 with 55 blocks coming off the bench. Scott led Ole Miss with 46 blocks.
“Collectively, I think we can block shots, but I think we can people out of the paint with positional defense,” White said. “I think we can extend press and halfcourt pressure with these three 5s. All three of them run really well.”
White said he’s been impressed in summer work how Scott and Osasui have been able to play hard for long stretches.
Cyril averaged 21.2 minutes per game and fouled out of six games last season including twice for flagrant fouls.
He averaged 9.3 points and a team-high 5.4 rebounds.
“Offensively, we’ll be different,” White said. “I think those guys with their activity can be really good on the offensive glass. I think overall we’re going to be better on the offensive glass. We’re a little bigger. We’re a little bit older than we’ve been.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How Georgia basketball plans to replace Somto Cyril at center with newcomers