University of Georgia Athletics
Men's Hoops To Meet Tech On Friday
December 21, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Overall Conf.
Georgia 8-1 0-0
at Georgia Tech 7-3 0-1
TELEVISION
Live regional telecast by FSN South (Dave Neal and Mike Gminski)
GEORGIA RADIO
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (74 stations for basketball), broadcast by Scott Howard (Play-by-Play), Jeff Dantzler (color)
Local stations: WSB-AM (750) in Atlanta & WPUP-FM (103.7) in Athens.
ON THE INTERNET
For up-to-date stats, notes and other information, log on to: http://www.georgiadogs.com
TICKETS
Home-game tickets are on sale for all games. Reserved seats are $15 and are available by calling 1-877-542-1231, by logging onto www.georgiadogs.com, or by purchasing at Stegeman Coliseum ticket booths 90 minutes prior to tipoff. Visa and MasterCard accepted at all three options.
Georgia vs. Georgia Tech
• Georgia and Georgia Tech meet for the 183rd time Friday night. The Bulldogs arrive at this game with an 8-1 record, winners of their past seven games, which matches the longest such streak of the Dennis Felton era in Athens. Most recently, Georgia defeated Jacksonville on Tuesday night in Athens by a 93-77 score.
• The Jacksonville game was yet another illustration of Georgia’s capabilities on offense this season. It marked the sixth time already that the Bulldogs have tallied at least 90 points in a game, and the eighth time they’ve shot over 50 percent from the field. The most times any Georgia team has gone over the 90-point mark in a season is eight, achieved by the 1986 and 1990 teams. The Georgia record for highest scoring average in a season is the 82.7 mark by the SEC Championship team of 1990.
• Georgia’s good work, especially its dismantling of Gonzaga on national TV, has raised its profile among pollsters, who totaled 33 points (34th-highest total) in the Bulldogs’ favor this week in the AP Top 25. Their newfound status will be tested often over the holiday period, when they play four opponents that are either ranked or, like Georgia, are receiving points in the weekly polls.
Probable Starting LineupsGEORGIA BULLDOGS (8-1 this season)
Head Coach: Dennis Felton (47-50 in fourth season at Georgia)
Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG
F - 15 Steve Newman 6-9 235 Sr. Orlando, Fla. 5.4 2.8
F - 30 Terrance Woodbury 6-7 210 So. Virginia Beach, Va. 8.0 2.9
C - 45 Rashaad Singleton 7-0 255 So. Campbellton, Fla. 5.6 4.3
G - 14 Levi Stukes 6-1 205 Sr. Randallstown, Md. 14.1 2.0
G - 33 Mike Mercer 6-4 185 So. Snellville, Ga. 18.1 4.9
Top Reserves
F - 42 Takais Brown 6-8 250 Jr. Flint, Mich. 15.1 4.7
G - 31 Billy Humphrey 6-2 185 So. Dacula, Ga. 8.9 3.2
GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (7-3 this season)
Head Coach: Paul Hewitt (114-86 in seventh season at Georgia Tech)
Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG
F - Jeremis Smith 6-8 236 Jr. Ft. Worth, Texas 10.1 6.2
F - Thaddeus Young 6-8 217 Fr. Memphis, Tenn. 14.1 5.2
C - Ra’Sean Dickey 6-10 250 Jr. Clio, S.C. 7.0 5.5
G - Lewis Clinch 6-3 195 So. Cordele, Ga. 17.1 2.4
G - Javaris Crittenton 6-5 198 Fr. Atlanta, Ga. 13.9 5.4a
Top Reserves
G - Anthony Morrow 6-5 210 Jr. Charlotte, N.C. 6.1 2.2
F - Zach Peacock 6-8 235 Fr. Miami, Fla. 7.8 3.2
Georgia - Georgia Tech Series
• Georgia Tech is the most frequent opponent in the 101-year history of UGA basketball. The two schools have met 182 previous times, and Georgia Tech holds a 99-83 lead in the series, which began in 1906. They played each other 22 times (11-11 record) as members of the original Southern Conference, another 84 times (GT 55, UGA 29) as charter members of the SEC.
• This series returned to campus sites for the 1995-96 season after 14 straight meetings at the Omni in Atlanta. The home team has won every time since with one exception: Georgia’s 75-70 win on Dec. 6, 2000, which came 20 years to the day after the Bulldogs’ last win at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
• Since the return to campus sites, seven of the 11 meetings have been decided in the final minute of play, and two required extra periods. Three of the 10 games were decided on the game’s final possession.
Worth Noting...
vs. Jacksonville (12/19)
Victory had its price in this affair when point guard Sundiata Gaines went down with a sprained right ankle near the 10-minute mark of the first half...Nonetheless, Georgia survived its largest deficit of the season thus far (12 pts.) with a 18-0 run before intermission...Levi Stukes continued his red-hot shooting with 27 points, the second-highest total of his career.
vs. Gonzaga (12/16)
This was Georgia’s first win over a Top 25 opponent since Valentine’s Day of 2004, when the Bulldogs completed a regular-season sweep of Kentucky...The Zags shot an amazing 59 percent from the field, the highest rate by a Georgia opponent -- that still managed to lose the game -- since January of 1988 (Auburn)...The Bulldogs got five old-fashioned 3-point plays in this game...Levi Stukes hit the 25-point mark for just the third time in 91 collegiate games. It was his twelfth 20-point game. He scored 19 of his 25 points in a sterling first half.
vs. Gardner-Webb (12/5)
Georgia has now shot at least 50 percent from the field in six of seven games, an incredible mark no matter the caliber of competition...Three of Georgia’s guards -- Humphrey (8), Gaines (7) and Mercer (7) -- combined to pull down almost half of the Bulldogs’ 50 rebounds...Georgia sank double-digit 3-point shots for the third time already this season, and for the highest percentage since Game 3 of last season (vs. Eastern Ky.).
vs. Wake Forest (12/2)
This marked the second straight year that Georgia has won its first true road game of the season...Georgia’s two wins against the Demon Deacons in recent history have been decided by one point. Prior to this season’s 87-86 victory, the Bulldogs topped Wake Forest 68-67 in Atlanta on Dec. 11, 1999...For the fifth time in six games four or more Georgia players have posted double-digit scoring efforts.
vs. Alabama A&M (11/24)
Georgia shot over 50 percent on FGs for the fourth time in five games...It had a negative AST/TO ratio for just the second time this season...Georgia shot at least 43 percent on its 3-point shots for the third time this season...Rashaad Singleton struggled with eight turnovers in 18 minutes.
vs. South Carolina State (11/21)
The Bulldogs went over the 100-point mark for the second straight game, the first time in almost 13 years Georgia has done so...It was the Dogs’ best offensive effort thus far, with 32 assists (most in 7 years) to just 11 turnovers...Mike Mercer had a career-high 26 points and added six assists.
vs. Valdosta State (11/18)
Takais Brown made his Georgia debut with a strong, 23-point outing...The Bulldogs went over the 100-point mark for just the second time of the Dennis Felton era...Dave Bliss (14 pts. in 14 min.) and Terrance Woodbury (career-high 17 pts.) were superb on this afternoon.
vs. Western Kentucky (11/14)
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Levi Stukes became the 36th player in Bulldog annals to cross the 1,000-point scoring barrier. The milestone was eclipsed as Stukes hit a layup with 8:06 remaining in the second half....For the third straight year in this 4-game series, the visiting team won.
vs. Southern (11/10)
The Bulldogs are now 2-2 in season openers during the Felton era...Southern’s 35 turnovers marked the most by a Georgia opponent since Mercer committed 40 miscues against the Bulldogs on Dec. 8, 1990...Billy Humphrey’s seven 3-pointers were the third highest total ever by a Georgia player and the most since Levi Stukes made eight treys in 2004.
Random Facts...
Sundiata Gaines was named the SEC’s Player of the Week on Monday for his outstanding all-around game against Gonzaga last Saturday. It was the first such honor of his career but the second time this month a Georgia player has won the award. Mike Mercer got the league’s P-O-W trophy after he led the Bulldogs to a win at Wake Forest on Dec. 2...Gaines’ 10-assist effort in the season opener against Southern was the first time since Dec. 28, 2002 that a Georgia player got double figures in assists. Rashad Wright, who did so three times en route to becoming the school’s all-time leader...
...All 10 Georgia players on scholarship currently average at least 13.8 minutes per game...Eight of them are shooting over 50 percent from the floor, the only two under that mark being Mike Mercer and Terrance Woodbury both at 49 percent...Mercer has attempted almost twice as many shots (141) as any other Bulldog. He received his fair share of ribbing from teammates in the post-Gonzaga game euphoria for launching a career-high 22 shots...Against Jacksonville, Mercer came within two rebounds of becoming the first player in UGA history to achieve a triple-double.
Can they keep it up?
‘Tis a strange sight indeed, seeing Georgia at or near the top of the current SEC statistics in many categories. For much of the past three seasons, the Bulldogs had ranked on the opposite end of these same stats.
Of the 19 statistical categories kept by the SEC, Georgia ranks among the top three in 12 of them. It leads the SEC in scoring offense (91.8 ppg), three-point FG% (45.3), rebounding margin (+10.0) and steals (11.4/game).
Individually, Sundiata Gaines currently leads the SEC in steals per game with 3.33. Teammates Levi Stukes and Billy Humphrey rank 1-2 in 3-point shooting percentage, while Mike Mercer ranks fourth in scoring, fourth in steals and seventh in assists. Takais Brown ranks third among all SEC players in FG percentage at 63.8 percent...
Just wondering...
...Granted, blowout margins lend themselves to more even playing time, but never before in the Felton era has court time been better divided. Sundiata Gaines, for example, is currently averaging 10 fewer minutes per game as a junior than he did as a freshman in 2005...Three-year starter Levi Stukes is also averaging 10 fewer minutes than his busiest season of 2005... Here’s an indication of how important the Gonzaga game was to the Bulldogs...Before last Saturday, just three times this season had a Georgia player played 30 or more minutes in a game: Gaines twice (37 vs. Wake Forest, 30 vs. Valdosta State) and Mercer (34 vs. Western Ky.). Four Bulldogs hit the 30-minute mark against the Zags, including Steve Newman, who did so for just the 12th time of his career...Here’s another indication of just how valuable Gaines is to these Bulldogs. His absence from the last 3/4 of the Jacksonville game no doubt led to a career-high 38 minutes logged by Mike Mercer.
...Georgia’s 62 percent shooting Nov. 21 against S.C State was the program’s best effort since a 62 percent game vs. Ga. Southern in Nov. of 2001...Just twice last season the Bulldogs shot over 50 percent in consecutive games...Not since the 2002-03 season, however, has Georgia shot over 55 percent in two straight games like the Bulldogs did in those contests.
...Gonzaga shot superbly (58.9%) in losing by 13 points to Georgia last Saturday. That’s the highest percentage by a team that lost to the Bulldogs since Auburn shot 60% in losing to Georgia in 1988. That was 570 games ago!
...Heading into the weekend, the combined W/L record of Georgia’s next four opponents is 38-6 and includes a pair of Top 5 teams. The last time Georgia played Top 5 opponents consecutively was in 2003, when the Bulldogs played No. 2 Kentucky and No. 3 Florida within 48 hours of each other.
Georgia on the Road
On their first road trip of the season the Bulldogs topped the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 87-86.
Last season’s squad, which went 15-15 overall, went 3-7 in true road games, winning at Western Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina. It represented a vast improvement over the previous year, when the 2005 Bulldogs were winless in nine road games.
The 2004 team won just once in 11 tries on the road, its lone victory coming at Kentucky. In 2003 Georgia went 5-6 on the road.
Loaded with Experience...
How much is experience worth to a college basketball program? Georgia will certainly be the litmus test for the 2006-07 season. Following are the amounts of statistics that return for the Bulldogs from last season:
Minutes...................... 4,442 of 6,025 (74%)
Scoring....................... 1,602 of 2,110 (76%)
Field Goals....................... 582 of 773 (75%)
3-Pointers......................... 177 of 209 (85%)
Rebounds.................... 695 of 1,045 (67%)
Assists.............................. 299 of 377 (79%)
Steals............................... 221 of 272 (81%)
Blocks................................. 83 of 134 (62%)
Big Year for UGA Hoopsters of Yore
This has been a momentus year for the Georgia program and two of its alumni.
Dominique Wilkins, perhaps the school’s most visible hoops figure, became its first inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September. Wilkins played in Athens for three years (1980-82) before turning pro and being taken third in the ‘82 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. He was subsequently traded to the Atlanta Hawks, for whom he played 12 of his 17 years in the league.
Last spring, Shandon Anderson, who lettered at Georgia from 1993-96, became the Bulldogs’ first alum to play on an NBA championship team as a reserve on the Miami Heat. A veteran of 10 professional seasons, Anderson played for Utah, Houston and the New York Knicks before reaching the championship in Miami. He had played in the NBA finals once before (1998) for the Jazz.
