Bulldogs Travel To Tennessee

Georgia Bulldogs (11-12, 3-7) vs. Tennessee Volunteers (18-6, 6-4)
Date / Time	Wednesday, February 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET
Location	Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.
Television	SEC Network (Dave Neal and Charles Davis).
Radio	Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network (Atlanta: 750AM, Athens: 100.1 FM & 960 AM)
Internet	Live audio on GXtra (subscription required), Live Video on ESPN360.com

Click here to download the complete game notes (.pdf)

Georgia vs. Tennessee
Wednesday’s game is the 142nd all-time meeting between Georgia and Tennessee in basketball. Tennessee leads the series, which began in 1913 and has been renewed annually since the 1951 season, by an 89-52 count.

Georgia’s win in Athens on Jan. 23 of this season stopped a Tennessee win streak in this series at 10 games. The Bulldogs’ previous win came in February of 2004 in Athens. Their last win in Knoxville came on Feb. 21, 2001 (88-76). The program’s most recent consecutive wins there came in the 1993-95 seasons.

About The Game...
Georgia travels to Tennessee for its mid-week SEC contest. The Bulldogs head to this game with an 11-12 overall record, 3-7 in SEC games.

Most recently, Georgia posted a 66-61 victory over South Carolina in Athens last Saturday. The Bulldogs had to overcome a 10-point, second-half deficit to defeat Carolina and get their third SEC victory. In each of their of their past two wins, they’ve been forced into late comebacks.

The win over South Carolina enabled Georgia to match its SEC victory total from last season. It also featured Georgia’s first lineup change since late November. In his first start of the season, junior Jeremy Price tallied 16 points in 33 minutes, including a pair of critical scores in the final two minutes.

These two teams met in Athens 25 days ago on the third weekend of the SEC schedule. Coming off its “bye” date, Georgia controlled this game virtually from the outset, led by 15 at halftime and posted a 78-63 win. The win stopped a 10-game Tennessee victory streak in the series.

Georgia shoots for a second straight SEC win at a venue that yielded little success in recent years. The Bulldogs haven’t won in Knoxville since 2001, having dropped the past eight meetings there by an average margin of nearly 15 points.

UT is the fourth most frequent opponent in the history of UGA hoops. Florida ranks first (191 meetings), Georgia Tech is second (185) and Auburn is third on that list (171).

A geographical breakdown of the series follows:
Games in Athens: UGA leads 34-32
Games in Knoxville: UT leads 53-13
Neutral-Court Games: UGA leads 5-4

Noteworthy...
• Georgia’s next win will equal its 2009 victory total, as well as surpass its total number of SEC wins from ‘09. The biggest difference in this comparison is the difficulty in the respective schedules. The 2009 slate was rated the 74th most difficult among 348 Division I schools. The current schedule is rated the 12th toughest in the country and has been as high as 9th. • There are currently six sophomores among the SEC’s top 20 scorers. Of those six, only no one has upped his freshman-year scoring average greater than Travis Leslie. Additionally, Trey Thompkins has pushed himself into the leaders on this list, which follows:

	2010	2009	Incr.
Travis Leslie, UGA	14.5	6.3	+8.2
Rotnei Clarke, Ark.	16.1	12.2	+4.9
Trey Thompkins, UGA	17.2	12.6	+4.6
JaMychal Green, Ala.	14.8	10.3	+4.5

Leslie also has the second-highest improvement among the SEC’s top 20 rebounders. His +3.1-rpg increase is second only to LSU’s Storm Warren (+5.5).

A couple other notes about Leslie: of the top 20 rebounders in the SEC, he is the shortest at 6’4” and the only one listed as a guard. His career-high 17 boards last week at Auburn were the highest total by a Georgia player since Jumaine Jones pulled down 17 vs. Arkansas in 1998.

The entire Bulldog team, in fact, is a comparative juggernaut on offense during the SEC schedule. The Bulldogs’ per-game scoring average through 10 SEC games (70.8 ppg) is actually 2.9 points higher than their overall average. That’s a rarity indeed; not since 2001 has a Georgia team’s final SEC-games average been higher than its final overall scoring average.

Additionally, the Bulldogs lead the SEC in FG percentage, 3-point FG percentage and assists during the conference schedule. Last Saturday against South Carolina, 15 of Georgia’s 21 baskets were assisted (71%). The NCAA Staticians’ Manual estimates that 50-60 percent of all field goals are assisted by a pass.

Getting effective minutes from his bench has been a season-long challenge for coach Mark Fox. The South Carolina game was just the latest example. Against the Gamecocks, Georgia reserves played just 28 of 200 minutes and tallied three points, one assist and one steal.

A couple of other stats that merit a mention: the 3-point shot is not the preferred weapon of choice for this Georgia team. In fact, the Bulldogs don’t average enough 3-pointers to qualify for national rankings in accuracy. However, the Bulldogs do lead the SEC in 3-point shooting in the SEC schedule, having made 53-for-135 (39 percent) in their 10 league games.

Trey Thompkins’ current overall average of 17.2 points is the highest by a Georgia player in seven years, going back to Jarvis Hayes’ mark of 18.3 in the 2003 season. Thompkins’ combined scoring & rebounding averages of 17.0 / 7.6 are the best by a Bulldog since Jumaine Jones posted 18.8 and 9.5 at the end of the 1999 season.

Along that same theme, the combined scoring punch of Thompkins and Travis Leslie (31.5 ppg) is Georgia’s best by a twosome since Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams teamed up to average 34.9 points in 2003.

Georgia Probable Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	PPG	RPG
1	Travis Leslie	F	6-4	202	So.	14.5	7.0
33	Trey Thompkins	F	6-10	247	So.	17.2	7.7
50	Jeremy Price	F	6-8	264	Jr.	6.9	4.3
10	Ricky McPhee	G	6-1	184	Sr.	9.9	2.3
3	Dustin Ware	G	5-11	182	So.	8.3	3.0#
Head Coach: Mark Fox Record at Georgia / Years: 11-12 / 1st season Overall Record/Years: 134-55 / 6th season Assistant Coaches: Kwanza Johnson (Tulsa '95), Philip Pearson (Alabama '93), Stacey Palmore (Livingstone '93)

Tennessee Probable Starters
No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	PPG	RPG
0	Renaldo Woolridge	F	6-8	208	So.	3.9	3.4
4	Wayne Chism	C	6-9	246	Sr.	13.1	6.9
30	J.P. Prince	G	6-7	205	Sr.	8.2	3.3#
32	Scotty Hopson	G	6-7	200	So.	13.0	3.3
3	Bobby Maze	G	6-3	195	Sr.	9.0	2.8
Head Coach: Bruce Pearl Record at Arkansas / Years: 116-43 / 5th season Overall Record/Years: 433-127 / 18th season Assistant Coaches: Tony Jones (Assoc. Head Coach), Steve Forbes, Jason Shay

#Assists per game

University of Georgia Athletics

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