University of Georgia Athletics
Lady Bulldogs To Face Rutgers In Jimmy V Classic
December 07, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Georgia Lady Bulldog Basketball
Georgia vs. Rutgers
Jimmy V Classic
Monday, December 8 at 7:00 p.m.
Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,000) in New Brunswick, N.J.
TV: ESPN2
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network (AM 960 The Ref in Athens)
The basics
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs complete a physically taxing, NBA-style portion of their non-conference schedule when they travel to New Brunswick, N.J., to take on Rutgers on Monday night in an ESPN2 nationally televised matchup.
The outing will be Georgia’s seventh game in 13 days. During that span, three of the Lady Bulldogs’ six “off” days were spent traveling...to and from Las Vegas and to New Brunswick.
The contest also is part of the Jimmy V Classic, an event which benefits the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research which features a men’s basketball doubleheader of Davidson versus West Virginia and Texas taking on Villanova at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Georgia arrives looking to bounce back from Friday’s loss to arch-rival Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets used an 18-6 surge to open the second half en route to just their third win in 31 meetings between the intrastate foes.
Rutgers is the first ranked foe for the Lady Bulldogs this season. The Scarlet Knights are 3-2; however, those setbacks were at Cal and Stanford, which are currently ranked No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
Monday’s matchup also features two of women’s basketball’s pioneer coaches in Georgia’s Andy Landers and Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer. Between them, Landers and Stringer have a combined 1,603 wins at the collegiate level...an explanation of why the NCAA recognizes only 714 of Landers’ 796 wins can be found in "Our take on Landers' 'career'" later in these Game Notes.
Landers and Stringer have averaged 22.8 wins per season in their combined 70 campaigns as collegiate head coaches. During their tenures you’ll also find cumulative tallies of: 56 20-win seasons, 46 NCAA Tournament bids; 19 “Elite Eight” appearances; 9 Final Four bids; and two NCAA runner-up finishes.
Ashley Houts paces a balanced Lady Bulldog offensive attack with her 13.1 points per game average, while four other Georgia players are chipping in between 8.8 and 11.6 points per game. No less than seven of nine players in the Lady Bulldogs’ regular rotation have recorded double-digit scoring performances this season.
All 12 players on Rutgers’ deep roster generally see action, led by the double-digit averages of Epiphanny Prince (17.4 ppg) and Brittany Ray (10.2 ppg).
Series history with Rutgers
Georgia sports a 7-2 lead in its all-time series with Rutgers, with the series tied 1-1 in games played in New Brunswick.
A majority of the contests have been neutral site affairs. In the first meeting, Georgia topped the defending AIAW national champ Scarlet Knights in Chicago to christen the 1982-83 season a campaign that eventually produced UGA’s first of five Final Fours.
In the most recent meeting, Georgia secured a 78-69 victory in the season openr for both teams at the 2006 State Farm Tip-off Classic in Norman, Okla.
Due to a series of injuries and occurrences, Georgia only suited up seven players for that contest...and only had one player in uniform on the bench for a brief stretch of the second half when Janese Hardrick retreated to the locker room due to a stomach illness.
Hardrick and Ashley Houts, playing in her collegiate debut, scored a game-high 18 points to lead Georgia, while Kia Vaughn and Essence Carson led Rutgers with 16 points apiece.
That afternoon also was memorable in that the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced its class of 2007 inductees, which included Georgia’s Andy Landers.
Landers vs. Stringer matchups
Andy Landers owns a 4-3 edge in matchups against C. Vivian Stringer-coached teams. In all but one of those games, both teams were ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll at tip-off.
Georgia vs. the Big East
The Lady Bulldogs are 28-9 all-times against teams currently competing with Rutgers in the Big East Conference.
In addition to its 7-2 mark against Rutgers, Georgia also is: 5-0 vs. Cincinnati; 1-3 vs. Connecticut (thanks again, Barbara Turner); 2-2 vs. DePaul; 2-0 vs. Louisville; 1-1 vs. Marquette; 2-1 vs. Notre Dame; 1-0 vs. Pittsburgh; 4-0 vs. South Florida; and 1-0 vs. St. John’s, Syracuse and Villanova.
Last time out...
Georgia Tech used an 18-6 run to open the second half and break open a tight game en route to a 57-42 win over the Lady Bulldogs in Atlanta last Friday.
Jaleesa Rhoden scored a career-high 13 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs, while Danielle Taylor chipped in 12.
The Yellow Jackets pushed a 28-25 halftime edge to 46-31. Though Tech would go nearly 12 minutes of the second half without a field goal, the Jackets maintained their advantage by connecting 14-of-21 free throws.
“We did not deserve to win,” Andy Landers said. “It’s as simple as that. We missed easy shots inside. We just did not execute. They took the ball away from us. It’s frustrating.”
More than a game
Like virtually every other program, Lady Bulldog Basketball unfortunately has a close association with cancer.
Ann Smith, Andy Landers’ administrative associate for nine seasons, is a breast cancer survivor. Smith was diagnosed in December 2004 during a regular mammogram. Following three surgeries, Smith has been cancer free since March 2005. She takes medicine monthly as a preventative measure and has check-ups every six months.
First-time Family viewings
A pair of Lady Bulldog paternal grandmothers will be seeing their granddaughters play in person for the first time ever during the Rutgers game.
Much of the family of Jaleesa Rhoden’s father, Tony, lives in Brooklyn. Included in that group is Olive Campbell, Tony’s mother, who has never seen Jaleesa play live.
Angela Puleo’s father, former Major League pitcher Charlie Puleo, is a native Bloomfield, N.J., and still has a great deal of family in the area. Angela’s grandmother, Angelina Puleo, is planning on attending the Rutgers game.
The Lady Bulldog family ties for tonight don’t stop there.
Several relatives of Charlie Mobley, Angel Robinson’s father, are traveling from Trenton for the contest.
Looking for an edge
The Lady Bulldogs entered this busy slate which includes seven games over a 13-day period looking to bounce back from a shocking loss to previously winless Detroit Mercy on Nov. 22.
“We need a competitive spirit and intensity,” Landers stated as his goals immediately following the initial setback of the campaign. “I’m looking for a basketball team that understands that when it walks inside those lines, it has to compete.”
The Lady Bulldogs have gone 5-1 during the stretch, dispatching North Carolina Central, Cal State Fullerton, Eastern Washington, East Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech by an average of 29.0 points per game before falling to Georgia Tech.
“I think we’re making baby steps in the right direction,” Landers said early last week. “Often times, the process starts that way. Have we moved very far down that road? Probably not. Are we headed in the right direction? Yes. But everybody has to be on the same page and make the same consistently great effort.”
So this is what the league’s like
All told, 19 former Lady Bulldogs have gone on to play in the WNBA.
If any members of the current roster add to that ledger, they’ll have the previous two week’s experience of seven games in 13 days as a solid point of reference as to the rigors of the professional game.
There have been six “off” days during the stretch, but three of those were spent traveling to and from Las Vegas for UNLV’s Lady Rebel Round-up and to Rutgers for this evening’s date with the Scarlet Knights.
The Lady Bulldogs’ reward for the seven games in 13 days stretch? Following the on-court tests of the past two weeks, UGA’s Final Exams begin on Thursday.
Better boarding Bulldogs
Georgia has garnered the rebounding advantage in each game to date this season...on most occasions by a wide margin. The Lady Dogs have posted double-digit board count advantages in five of nine games.
The Lady Bulldogs ranked No. 6 nationally in rebound margin in the latest NCAA statistics with the +14.3 mark they owned as of Nov. 30. The new stats were to be released Monday.
Lady Dogs 10th to 750 wins
Last Monday’s 77-57 win over East Tennessee State made the Georgia Lady Bulldogs just the 10th NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to secure 750 all-time victories.
Georgia has been rapidly climbing the ledger listing the nation’s winningest programs. The Lady Dogs were the 22nd program to 500 wins on Dec. 1, 1998; the 17th to post 600 victories on Feb. 21, 2002; and the 15th to 700 “Ws” on Nov. 29, 2006.
Milestone watch II
In addition to the Lady Bulldogs reaching their 750th win, Andy Landers is approaching a significant victory tally as well.
Landers has recorded a 796-248 mark in 33 campaigns as a collegiate head coach. Only three women’s hoops coaches have topped 800 career wins, Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, retired Texas coach Jody Conradt and current Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
Our take on Landers’ “career”
As Andy Landers approaches his 800th career win, the question comes up.
“Hey, the 2008 NCAA Records Book has Andy Landers with a 707-225 record entering this season. What gives?”
Well in our mind, that total is not quite accurate. Georgia politely disagrees with the NCAA on what constitutes Landers’ complete “collegiate” coaching record.
Prior to UGA, Landers compiled an 82-21 record in four seasons at Roane State Community College, a junior college in Harriman, Tenn. By the way, that’s the same school that received national headlines for having 73-year-old Ken Mink on its men’s basketball team this season.
The NCAA does not recognize Landers’ Roane State wins because they were not earned at a four-year institution.
Therefore, the NCAA says Landers’ “career” record includes only his efforts at Georgia. UGA chooses and has since in 1979 to include Landers’ Roane State results.
In fact, more than a third of Landers’ victories at Roane 33 wins, or 40.2 percent to be exact came against four-year schools. Roane compiled a 33-1 record versus four-year schools during Landers’ tenure.
Some “Madness” In December
While Andy Landers does not think games versus quality opponents 2008 NCAA Tournry teams ETSU, Georgia Tech and Rutgers during early December will make or break Georgia’s season, he knows those foes all have a winner’s swagger.
“There’s no question when you play an NCAA Tournament team it’s an attention getter,” Landers said. “You’re talking about teams that know how to win, the process it takes to win and what it takes to do just that. You don’t make it to the NCAA Tournament without that understanding. In order to qualify, you’ve had to win games at home, win games on the road, win games against teams you’re supposed to beat and beaten your chief rivals or competitors. That’s the only way to qualify for the NCAAs.”
Out of my way, coach!
Angel Robinson swatted three shots at Oakland to inch past current assistant coach La'Keshia Frett into the No. 10 position among Georgia’s career leaders.
Robinson has since climbed to No. 8 and is 14 away from No. 7.
Houts stealing the show
Ashley Houts is four steals shy of joining the Lady Dogs’ top-10 career leaders.
Up next:
Following a 12-day break from competition, the Lady Bulldogs will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 20 when the travel to Birmingham, Ala., to face UAB.
Georgia is 1-1 all-time against the Blazers. UAB won the initial meeting in the series, 82-70, during the 1981 AIAW Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs advanced to the AIAW regional tourney after winning the Georgia state title for the first time in their history in Andy Landers’ second season in Athens.
Following that loss, Georgia accepted a bid to the WNIT in Amarillo, Texas, where the Lady Bulldogs topped Pittsburgh, 100-69; Cal, 80-68; and Arizona State, 75-73 in overtime to capture the WNIT title.
Georgia defeated UAB 76-75 in the opening round of the 1999 Preseason NWIT in Athens. The No. 3-ranked Lady Bulldogs, who were coming off a trip to the Final Four the previous season, went on to defeat No. 17 Virginia Tech, 65-60; No. 20 Boston College, 78-70; and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, 85-44, en route to the championship.
Georgia went on to record a school-record 32 victories that season before falling to tonight’s opponent, Rutgers, 59-51 in the NCAA West Regional final in Portland.
The Lady Bulldogs conclude their pre-Christmas schedule by “hosting” Clemson at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Monday Dec. 22.
Georgia will host first- and second-round games of next spring’s NCAA Tournament at that Duluth, Ga., venue on March 21 and 23, 2009.
