University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Travel to South Carolina
February 06, 2009 | Men's Basketball
GAME 23
Georgia 9-13 0-7
at South Carolina 16-5 5-3
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Columbia, S.C.
Tip-off Time: 5:06 p.m. (EST)
TELEVISION
Live regional telecast by FSN South (Dave Neal and Eddie Fogler)
GEORGIA RADIO
Georgia Bulldog Radio Network: Scott Howard (Play-by-Play), Jeff Dantzler (Color)
Local stations: In Atlanta: WSB (750 AM) In Athens: WPUP-FM (100.1 FM) & WRFC (960 AM).
SATELLITE RADIO
The majority of Georgia basketball games in 2007-08 can be heard on XM Satellite Radio. Tonight’s game will appear on XM Channel 199. For up-to-date SEC programming information, log on to:
http://www.xmradio.com/schedule/sport/get_ schedule_servlet.jsp'sub_cat_id=187
ON THE INTERNET
For up-to-date information, log on to:
http://www.georgiadogs.com
Online radio broadcasts of Georgia games can be found on the GeorgiadogsXtra web site (subscription required).
Today’s game can also be seen on ESPN360.com by logging onto the following link: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/index?id=290240061
Bulldogs Travel to South Carolina
Georgia returns to the road this weekend for the first of two regular-season games against South Carolina. The Bulldogs arrive at this game with a 9-13 overall record, 0-7 in SEC games, and will be trying to stop a losing streak that has reached nine games. It is the longest such streak since a string of games that ended the 1973 season.
Most recently, the Bulldogs -- in their second game under interim head coach Pete Herrmann -- dropped an 80-62 decision at home to Western Division leader LSU on Wednesday night. Georgia trailed by only four at halftime, but was unable to stem the onslaught of the Tigers’ Marcus Thornton and Tasmin Mitchell, who combined for 58 points on the night.
The Alabama game on Jan. 31 marked the first time in nearly 17 years that Herrmann had roamed a sideline from the lead chair. He had served as head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy from the 1987-1992 seasons. In his first season at Annapolis, the David Robinson-led Midshipmen went 26-6 and played in the NCAA Tournament. Now, he’ll serve as the Bulldogs’ interim head coach after he had been their Associate Head Coach since 2003.
Saturday’s game is the 91st all-time meeting between Georgia and South Carolina in basketball. Georgia leads the series by a 46-44 margin. These two teams split a pair of meetings last season: 62-56 on Jan. 30 in Columbia, 82-64 in Athens two weeks later.
Probable Starting Lineups
GEORGIA BULLDOGS (9-13 overall, 0-7 in SEC games)
Interim Head Coach: Pete Herrmann (0-2 as head coach at Georgia)
Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG
F - 30 Terrance Woodbury 6-7 221 Sr. Virginia Beach, Va. 13.3 4.3
F - 33 Trey Thompkins 6-9 247 Fr. Lithonia, Ga. 13.0 6.7
C - 50 Jeremy Price 6-8 264 So. Decatur, Ga. 6.5 3.6
G - 23 Corey Butler 6-3 195 Sr. Decatur, Ga. 6.8 4.2
G - 3 Dustin Ware 5-11 182 Fr. Powder Springs, Ga. 6.6 2.9*
Top Reserves
G - 5 Zac Swansey 6-1 175 So. Dunwoody, Ga. 5.0 3.5*
F/C - 34 Albert Jackson 6-10 265 Jr. Earlington, Ky. 4.0 3.9
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (16-5 overall, 5-3 in SEC games)
Head Coach: Darrin Horn (16-5 in first season at South Carolina)
Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown PPG RPG
F - 44 Sam Muldrow 6-9 216 So. Florence, S.C. 5.3 5.1
F - 21 Dominique Archie 6-7 200 Jr. Augusta, Ga. 11.5 6.7
C - 24 Mike Holmes 6-7 230 So. Bishopville, S.C. 11.1 7.8
G - 2 Devan Downey 5-9 175 Jr. Chester, S.C. 20.4 4.2*
G - 20 Zam Fredrick 6-0 203 Sr. Matthews, S.C. 16.0 3.2
Top Reserves
F - 31 Evaldas Baniulis 6-7 210 Jr. Vilnius, Lithuania 7.2 2.9
G - 5 Brandis Raley-Ross 6-2 193 Jr. Gastonia, N.C. 6.2 2.9
*Assists Per Game
Georgia vs. South Carolina
Saturday’s game is the 91st all-time meeting between Georgia and South Carolina. Georgia leads the series, which began in 1922 and has been renewed annually since 1992, by a 46-44 count.
Since Carolina joined the SEC in time for the 1992 season, Georgia has won 18 of the 35 meetings. That total includes regular-season sweeps by Georgia (1994, 2003, 2006, 2007) and by Carolina (1998, 2001, 2004, 2005).
Just once have these two programs ever met in the post-season SEC Tournament. That occurred in the 1997 tourney in Memphis, where Georgia won a semifinal matchup, 78-63.
Before 1992, these two schools were annual opponents -- mostly once a year, other times twice and occasionally thrice -- from 1938 until 1964.
Carolina is one of just two SEC schools against which Georgia has a winning all-time record. Ole Miss is the other.
A geographical breakdown of the series follows:
Games in Athens: UGA leads 26-15
Games in Columbia: USC leads 27-16
Neutral-Court Games: UGA leads 4-2
Georgia Bulldog Minutiae...
Last week Georgia ranked 10th nationally in 3-point FG pct defense. Two games last week in which their opponents combined to shoot 46 percent from beyond the stripe, and the Bulldogs now rank 38th nationally...
...Trey Thompkins’ 14 rebounds against Alabama last Saturday were the most by a Georgia player since Chris Daniels pulled down 16 boards against South Alabama on Dec. 18, 2003...Thompkins’ total also marked the most rebounds in a game by a UGA freshman since Jumaine Jones had 15 against Penn State in the NIT Final Four in 1998...
...Assuming his current scoring pace, Terrance Woodbury will become the 39th player in UGA history to score 1,000 career points. Sundiata Gaines was the last Bulldog to do so. Seven Georgia players have reached that milestone during this decade.
Still rounding into shape after a high ankle sprain in October, freshman Trey Thompkins has nonetheless managed to emerge as the Bulldogs’ leading offensive threat and their top rebounder. Were he to maintain his team-high pace, Thompkins would be the first UGA freshman to lead the Bulldogs in those two categories since Jumaine Jones in 1998. Thompkins also leads the Bulldogs in blocked shots (21)...
...Thompkins has accrued his impressive numbers while playing catch-up with his teammates. A stress fracture and then a knee sprain kept him inactive throughout the summer and early fall.
...Corey Butler joined the Georgia program through on-campus tryouts in October of 2005. Academic commitments prevented him from joining the team until the following January, after which he played in one minute of one game. Three years (and an athletic scholarship) later, Butler now leads the Bulldogs in playing time at 30.8 minutes per game.
...Rarely-used walk-on transfer Ricky McPhee has now scored 54 points this season. Forty-five of those came in five games, including 27 over the past four, during which he’s made nine of 15 tries from 3-point range. Scoring ability was never a shortcoming for McPhee, who pumped in 21 points in his collegiate debut at North Carolina, playing for Gardner-Webb in the 2006 season.
...Georgia’s improbable run to the SEC Tournament championship last March ranked as the 7th most memorable college hoops story of 2008, according to a recent story by Mike Huguenin of Rivals.com. Kansas’ miraculous rally in the NCAA title game ranked No. 1 on Huguenin’s list.
...Georgia ranks 11th in the SEC (and 309th nationally) in free-throw percentage at 61 percent, but it’s not because of Terrance Woodbury or Trey Thompkins, who have made 76 percent of their combined 115 attempts from the line. The 10 other Bulldogs who have tried free throws this season have a combined accuracy rate of 56.7 percent (159x280)...
...Along a similar theme, Georgia’s two young point guards, soph Zac Swansey and freshman Dustin Ware, have a combined assist/turnover ratio of +1.64/1. The other 11 Bulldogs have a A/TO ratio of 0.58/1 or 1.78 TOs per 1 assist...Georgia ranks 12th in the SEC in that statistic.
...Terrance Woodbury’s absence from the Wofford game Dec. 20 ended a string of 59 consecutive straight games played for the Virginia Beach native. He had also started the previous 43 games before that day.
...Small wonder that the Bulldogs are struggling to produce on offense this season. Only two returning players -- Terrance Woodbury and Albert Jackson -- are filling roles that even remotely resemble those from last season. Senior Corey Butler has doubled his playing time from last season, from 13 to 31 minutes per game. In addition, the rookie trio of Thompkins, Leslie and Ware combine to average over 63 minutes of court time...
...Is there any greater testament to Georgia’s predominant youth than this tidbit? Terrance Woodbury is the Bulldogs’ top career scorer with 920 points before tonight’s game. The next highest number is that of Jeremy Price, who has 419 career points before today. Both Zac Swansey (so.) and Corey Butler (sr.) scored their 200th career points Dec. 20 against Wofford.
...A few notes about the schedule & RPIs: > Georgia is 1-8 in games against teams with RPIs of 100 or better: win vs. Va. Tech, losses vs. Western Ky., Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, MSU, Florida and LSU...
> Still, UGA’s’ RPI has risen slightly, and its Strength of Schedule rating has jumped dramatically since SEC play began..their Dec. 9 win over Virginia Tech has begun to look better still, with the Hokies winning at No. 1 Wake Forest and Miami two weeks ago.
> On Jan. 10, the Bulldogs played their only Top 25 opponent to date (#15 Tennessee).
> Just five of Georgia’s 15 non-conference opponents currently have winning records...
...Georgia’s loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ended an 8-game winning streak in overtime contests, a span that stretched back to the 2004 season...
...Georgia has now dropped its past five home games, something that hasn’t happened since the 1975 season, when the John Guthrie-coached Bulldogs lost nine straight at home in an 8-17 season.
What Georgia Has Replaced in 09
Terrance Woodbury is Georgia’s lone returning double-figure scorer from the 2008 SEC Tournament championship team. Its leading rebounder coming back is junior Albert Jackson at just 4.3 boards per game.
The 2009 Dogs have just 13 letters earned between them, counting walk-on Ricky McPhee’s two letters at Gardner-Webb. If all 14 players were 4-yr. seniors, there would be 42 letters among the entire squad.
The Bulldogs lost just three contributors to their 08 squad, but they loomed significantly in their absence as the season began:
> Sundiata Gaines, Pt. Guard, 14.8 ppg (1st on team), 6.0 rpg (1st on team), 4.2 apg (1st on team). Finished career as the school’s all-time leader in steals and ranks 9th in scoring, 11th in rebounding and 2nd in steals. Currently playing professionally for the Pallacanestro Cantu team in Italy.
> Billy Humphrey, Guard, 12.2 ppg (2nd on team), 37% 3-pt. FG (1st on team), 1.7 apg (2nd on team), 32.3 mpg (2nd on team).
> Dave Bliss, Center, 7.6 ppg (5th on team), 5.6 rpg (2nd on team), 34 blks (1st on team).
Georgia and the SEC
Following are a few tidbits about Georgia’s history in the SEC:
Georgia’s all-time record in SEC games, covering 74 years, is 467-687 (.407). That ranks 10th of the 12 current SEC members.
Georgia can claim one SEC regular-season championship (1990), one regular-season divisional title (2002) and two SEC Tournament crowns (1983, 2008).
Georgia has had just one Associated Press SEC Player of the Year: Dominique Wilkins in 1981 and no POY, as voted by the league’s coaches since 1987.
Wilkins was the first of four Georgia players to lead the SEC in scoring at season’s end. He averaged a league-best 23.6 points per game in 1981. Others to follow him have been Vern Fleming (19.8 ppg in 1984), Jumaine Jones (18.8 ppg in 1999) and Jarvis Hayes (18.6 ppg in 2002).
Georgia has an all-time SEC Tournament record of 36-46. The 2008 tournament marked the first time since 1997 that Georgia has reached the semifinals, and also the finals.
Since the league expanded and was pared into East and West Divisions in 1992, Georgia has a 122-156 (.442) record. Eight times since 92 Georgia has had a league record of .500 or better (1993, 95, 96, 97, 01,’03, 07).
Since the league’s expansion, Georgia has a 65-109 record (.374) record against the Eastern Division, a 57-48 mark (.543) against SEC Western Division teams. Bulldog teams have had winning records against the West in 12 of 16 years. Georgia’s only undefeated season against the West came in 2003.
In the 16-game SEC schedule format, Georgia’s most wins came in 2003, when it compiled an 11-5 mark. The Bulldogs’ timing, however, left much to be desired. That same year, Kentucky won the East with a perfect 16-0 mark and Florida placed second at 12-4. Georgia’s 11-5 mark would’ve won the West by two games.
Woodbury Tapped 2nd team All-SEC
Senior forward Terrance Woodbury was named to the Coaches’ Pre-Season All-Southeastern Conference 2nd team. The 6-7 swingman was a key figure in Georgia’s run to the SEC Tournament championship last March, averaging 15.8 points over the 4-game weekend, including a career-best 25 points against Ole Miss in the first round.
In other pre-season picks, the Georgia team was predicted to finished 6th in the SEC East by selected media in the league.
Georgia Gets Two Early Signees
In the early national signing period that began Wednesday, Nov. 12 and concluded a week later, Georgia signed a pair of two local prospects:
DeMario Mayfield, Guard, 6-4, 190, Carnesville, Ga. (Franklin County High School) Regarded as a combo guard prospect in the college ranks. Averaged 24.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game last year for Franklin County. Rated the No. 17 point-guard prospect in the nation by espn.com’s recruiting service.
Daniel Miller, Center, 6-11, 240, Loganville, Ga. (Loganville Christian Academy)...Rated the ninth-best prospect at center in the country, according to Rivals.com...Averaged 28.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.0 blocks per game in leading LCA to the 2008 championship of the Independent Christian Schools of Georgia-Alabama (LCSGA). It was LCA’s second straight title.