The Georgia Bulldogs Play Host to Arkansas State - Georgia resumes the 2010-11 season this Saturday with an afternoon contest against Sun Belt Conference foe Arkansas State. The Bulldogs have taken the past 11 days off from competition for Fall Semester final exams, which ended on Wednesday of this week. Two commencement exercises were held Friday inside Stegeman Coliseum.
Most recently, Georgia defeated its in-state rival Georgia Tech for the second straight year in a 73-72 decision. The win improved the Bulldogs' overall record to 6-2 this season. It also marked just the second time in the 16 years since the series moved back to campus sites that the visiting team won. The Georgia Tech game represented yet another close call in a season full of them so far. All eight games to date featured 2-possession margins inside the final minute of play. Five of them were decided on the game's last possession. Last season, 13 of Georgia's 31 games had such characteristics, and the Bulldogs were 5-8 in those contests. - Today's game starts a busy stretch to close the calendar year for Georgia. The SEC schedule starts three weeks from today at home against Kentucky. Before then, the Bulldogs will play five games, including three over the next five days before Christmas.
Probable Starters | GEORGIA BULLDOGS | | No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Hometown | PPG | RPG | | F | 1 | Travis Leslie | 6-4 | 205 | Jr. | Decatur, Ga. | 14.0 | 8.1 | | F | 33 | Trey Thompkins | 6-10 | 245 | Jr. | Lithonia, Ga. | 17.0 | 7.4 | | F | 50 | Jeremy Price | 6-8 | 270 | Sr. | Decatur, Ga. | 10.1 | 4.9 | | G | 3 | Dustin Ware | 5-11 | 182 | Jr. | Powder Springs, Ga. | 8.1 | 3.4# | | G | 22 | Gerald Robinson Jr. | 6-1 | 180 | Jr. | Nashville, Tenn. | 14.9 | 5.4# | #Assists Per Game Head Coach: Mark Fox
Record at Georgia / Years: 20-19 / 2nd season
Overall Record/Years: 143-62 / 7th season
Assistant Coaches: Kwanza Johnson, Philip Pearson, Stacey Palmore | ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES | | Pos. | No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Hometown | PPG | RPG | | F | 13 | Martavius Adams | 6-8 | 255 | Jr. | Irwinton, Ga. | 12.7 | 6.8 | | F | 15 | Brandon Peterson | 6-7 | 175 | So. | Birmingham, Ala. | 6.9 | 6.5 | | G | 12 | Rashad Allison | 6-1 | 175 | Sr. | Minneapolis, Minn. | 6.6 | 3.7# | | G | 2 | Trey Finn | 6-2 | 205 | So. | Little Rock, Ark. | 7.4 | 4.8 | | G | 23 | Donald Boone | 6-4 | 205 | Sr. | Memphis, Tenn. | 10.2 | 3.0 | #Assists Per Game Head Coach: John Brady
Record at ASU / Years: 33-37 / 3rd season
Overall Record/Years: 314-253 /20th season
Assistant Coaches: Isaac Brown, Richard Williams, Jeff Ciapacs
Georgia vs. Arkansas State - Today's game is the second-ever contest between these two schools. Georgia won the first meeting 80-68 in the first round of the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu on Dec. 20, 2001. Sophomore guard Rashad Wright scored a then-career-high 16 points, including eight of Georgia's last 10, to secure his team's 10th victory of the 2002 season.
Georgia vs. the Sun Belt - Georgia has a modicum of history with schools that comprise the current membership of the Sun Belt Conference. Bulldog teams are 20-6 all-time against Sun Belt teams. Today's game will mark the ninth year in the past 10 that Georgia has played a Sun Belt member. Following are records against all Sun Belt teams: 1-0 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State and Louisiana-Monroe (formerly Northeast La.); 2-0 vs. Florida Atlantic; 1-1 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (formerly Southwestern La.) and Middle Tenn. State; 4-0 vs. Troy; 4-1 vs. South Alabama and 5-3 vs. Western Kentucky.
Noteworthy... - One former Bulldog particiated in the Fall Semester commencement exercises that were held at Stegeman Coliseum yesterday. Corey Butler, a one-time walkon who earned a scholarship for his senior season in 2009, completed his undergraduate degree in Microbiology this fall. Butler was one of three co-captains of the '09 Georgia team...Two of Arkansas State's coaches have extensive records against Georgia. ASU head coach John Brady went 6-6 with his LSU teams, including a 1-4 mark in Athens. Assistant Richard Williams went 10-10 overall against Georgia while coaching Mississippi State from 1987-98, including a 3-5 record in Athens.
Dogs Perfect in Two Road Tries - After going through the entire 2010 season without a true road victory, this year's Bulldogs are perfect in their first two tries this year. Georgia won at St. Louis in Game 3 and again in its most recent outing at Georgia Tech on Dec. 7.
Georgia's wins on the road distinguish it from six of its SEC brethren. The Bulldogs are one of six SEC schools to have already picked up a road victory in the 2010-11 season; Kentucky, Ole Miss, LSU, South Carolina and Florida are the others. Three schools (ARK, MSU & AU) have yet to play a true road game. One additional note along this theme: Georgia and Kentucky have played the fewest home games (3) of all SEC schools to date. Conversely, SEC West leaders Arkansas and Miss. State have played a combined 15 of 16 total games at their respective home arenas. Starters Carrying the Load - The closeness of Georgia's eight games thus far has put a heavy burden upon its most prominent players. In those eight games, Bulldog starters have logged 74 percent of the team's minutes. By comparison, last year Georgia starters played 64 percent of the team's total minutes through the same early stage of the season. Another comparative note: Georgia is currently the only SEC school to have four starters averaging over 30 minutes per game. Just two others (Kentucky & Miss. State) have three starters playing more than 30 minutes.
Brantley Contributions Growing Sophomore guard Sherrard Brantley has emerged as the Bulldogs' most dependable backcourt sub. The junior-college transfer comes off consecutive strong outings in wins over UAB and Georgia Tech. He scored eight points against the Blazers and a season-high nine in 20 minutes at Tech. Thompkins Approaching 1,000 Nolte Takes One on the...Nose - Junior Connor Nolte suffered a broken nose during a first-half collision with teammate Travis Leslie in the St. Louis game Nov. 20. He finished the game unprotected, but that has since changed. Nolte was fitted last week for a mask that he'll wear during practice and games. He underwent surgery Nov. 29 to have his nose re-set and he'll wear the mask indefinitely.
Trio Signs with Bulldogs The early national signing period went from Nov. 10-17, and the Georgia staff took full advantage. Head coach Mark Fox announced that day the signing of three prospective student-athletes -- two high schoolers and one junior-college transfer -- to national letters-of-intent to attend Georgia and play for the Bulldogs next season: Tim Dixon of Columbus, Ga., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of Greenville, Ga., and John Florveus of Fort Myers, Fla. Dixon, a 6-10, 215-pound forward, is currently starting his senior season at Oldsmar Christian School in Oldsmar, Fla. He transferred to Oldsmar after starring for three seasons at Kendrick High School in Columbus. Dixon averaged 16.1 points, 11 rebounds and 6.4 blocks per game as a junior in 2010 for the Cherokees. Caldwell-Pope is beginning his senior season at Greenville High School, where he has built a reputation as one of the nation's top backcourt scorers. Last season the 6-6, 185-pound guard averaged 29.7 points per game in leading the Patriots to a 20-7 record and the second round of the Class AA state playoffs. He is rated as the third-best shooting guard in the country, 11th-best prospect overall by Rivals.com recruiting analysis. Florveus, a 7-0, 215-pound center, is a sophomore at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla. He played as a prepster at Dunbar High School in Fort Myers before heading to Hillsborough. As a freshman last season, he averaged 4.0 points and 3.5 rebounds, but also 2.5 blocks per game, which ranked him 24th nationally in junior-college statistics. "Two of our needs that we wanted to address with this class were length and scoring ability," Fox said. "We feel like we've certainly addressed those needs well with two long, athletic players in Tim Dixon and John Florveus, and we also added a great shooter who can score from the perimeter in Kentavious. We believe they will all fit our system very well." from great families and we're looking forward to having them join our program." |
