| Georgia vs. LSU - Georgia wraps up the home portion of its 2011 schedule Wednesday night when it entertains LSU. The Bulldogs arrive at this game with a 19-9 overall record, 8-6 in the SEC. Most recently, they defeated South Carolina 64-48 on Saturday in their most one-sided win over an SEC East team this season.
- The win over USC moved Georgia one step closer toward its best season in several years. A win on Wednesday would give the program its first 20-win season since 2002. It would also boost the Bulldogs' SEC victory total to nine, the most since 2003.
- There's still much uncertainty for Georgia as the league schedule reaches its final week. The Bulldogs could still finish anywhere between second and fifth place in the Eastern Division standings.
- Tonight's game also marks the final home contest for a pair of Georgia seniors: Chris Barnes and Jeremy Price. The two will honored in a pre-game recognition just before tipoff. Price and Barnes are the only members of the current squad that played on the 2008 SEC Tournament championship team.
- This game holds particular significance on a personal level for three participating coaches. Mark Fox and Trent Johnson have coached together at two different schools: Washington (1992) and Nevada (2000-04). Lynn Nance, the Washington head coach who hired them in 1992, is now an assistant coach for LSU.
Probable Starters | GEORGIA BULLDOGS | | No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Hometown | PPG | RPG | | F | 1 | Travis Leslie | 6-4 | 205 | Jr. | Decatur, Ga. | 14.3 | 7.0 | | F | 33 | Trey Thompkins | 6-10 | 245 | Jr. | Lithonia, Ga. | 16.1 | 7.6 | | F | 50 | Jeremy Price | 6-8 | 270 | Sr. | Decatur, Ga. | 9.4 | 5.1 | | G | 3 | Dustin Ware | 5-11 | 182 | Jr. | Powder Springs, Ga. | 8.0 | 3.7# | | G | 22 | Gerald Robinson Jr. | 6-1 | 180 | Jr. | Nashville, Tenn. | 12.4 | 3.9# | #Assists Per Game Head Coach: Mark Fox
Record at Georgia / Years: 31-26 / 2nd season
Overall Record/Years: 154-69 / 7th season
Assistant Coaches: Kwanza Johnson, Philip Pearson, Stacey Palmore | LSU TIGERS | | Pos. | No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | Hometown | PPG | RPG | | F | 24 | Storm Warren | 6-7 | 230 | Jr. | Monroe, La. | 7.1 | 5.7 | | F | 5 | Malcolm White | 6-9 | 225 | Jr. | Baton Rouge, La. | 8.1 | 5.3 | | G | 10 | Andre Stringer | 5-9 | 170 | Fr. | Jackson, Miss. | 11.6 | 2.8a | | G | 21 | Matt Derenbecker | 5-7 | 185 | Fr. | Metairie, La. | 6.7 | 2.1 | | G | 22 | Ralston Turner | 6-6 | 193 | Fr. | Muscle Shoals, Ala. | 12.9 | 2.8 | #Assists Per Game Head Coach: Trent Johnson
Record at LSU / Years: 49-46 / 3rd season
Overall Record / Years: 208-167 / 12th season
Assistant Coaches: Donny Guerinoni, Lynn Nance, Brent Scott
Georgia vs. LSU - Wednesday's game is the 101st all-time meeting between Georgia and LSU in basketball. LSU leads the all-time series by a 60-40 count.
- LSU has accrued this fairly large lead in the series despite a run by Georgia since 1992, when the SEC expanded, was pared into divisions and interdivisional play took place just once per season. Since that year, Georgia has won 14 of 24 meetings.
- Also during that time, Georgia is 7-2 in home games and 5-5 in Baton Rouge.
- A geographical breakdown of the series follows:
Games in Athens: UGA leads 24-21
Games in Baton Rouge: LSU leads 33-12
Neutral-Court Games: LSU leads 6-4
SEC Tournament Games: LSU leads 4-3 Noteworthy... - Seniors Jeremy Price and Chris Barnes will be recognized in a brief, pre-game ceremony Wednesday night at their final home contest. They are the last remaining Bulldogs to have played on the 2008 SEC Tournament championship team. Price, however, is the only one to have participated in the fateful tournament in Atlanta and, in turn, the NCAA Tournament game vs. Xavier. Barnes missed the final 11 games of the season with a knee injury.
- Of RPIs and such...Georgia's own RPI rating has varied widely as the season has progressed. It began in the mid-100s and has reached as high as its current position of 35. > Average RPI of the 18 teams that Georgia has beaten: 160 [high of 16 (Kentucky) and low of 270 (Manhattan)]. > Average RPI of the seven teams that have beaten the Bulldogs: 20 [high of 9 (Notre Dame) and low of 29 (Temple)].
- Last season, 13 of Georgia's 31 games were considered "close" by either of the following definitions: either an overtime period or a 2-possession game inside the final minute of play. The Bulldogs were 5-8 in those games. This season, 15 of Georgia's 27 games thus far fit those definitions, including the first eight, and the Bulldogs are 12-3 in those contests. Additionally, nine of Georgia's games thus far have been decided on the final possession. The Tennessee game on Jan. 18 was the only one to NOT go Georgia's way.
- Just three Georgia teams in the past 20 years have finished their regular seasons with winning records on the road: 1991 (8-5), 1995 (7-5) and 2002 (6-5). The current squad -- with its 7-3 mark in road games and one more to play -- has now assured itself of becoming the fourth team to earn that distinction.
- This year's Bulldogs became just the third Georgia squad in 30 years to go undefeated in December. The other two? Perhaps the two best teams in UGA history: 1982-83 and 2002-03.
- Another comparison to the 2003 season: Georgia sold out its first four games of the SEC schedule, its most consecutive sellouts since '03. That year, the final nine contests of the home schedule (Pitt + eight SEC games) sold out. With three home games remaining, Georgia's current average home attendance of 8,224 is the program's best since the 2004 season.
- Georgia's defensive FG percentage of .395 ranks just third in the SEC, but it is one of the best in UGA history. Only one other Bulldog team of the past 50 years (1997...final record of 24-9) held its opponents under 40 percent shooting for an entire season. No Georgia opponent in 28 tries thus far has shot over 50 percent from the field.
- Georgia guards Gerald Robinson and Dustin Ware recently reached 100 assists this season. The last time a Georgia team featured two 100-assist men was in 2001 (D.A. Layne & Rashad Wright). This year's duo marks the ninth time in UGA history two teammates reached 100 assists. One additional note about this: Travis Leslie enters the LSU game needing 14 assists to reach 100 for the season. No Georgia team has ever featured three 100-assist men.
- Georgia is one of just two SEC teams (Miss. State is the other) to have four starters averaging over 30 minutes per game.
- Dustin Ware could make a strong, credible case as Georgia's MVP of the conference schedule. The junior guard averages 0.7 points per game higher scoring in league games, but the efficiency of his contribution is what stands out. Through the 14-game SEC schedule, Ware ranks 2nd in the league in 3-point percentage (44.8%) and, by a wide margin, assist/turnover ratio (4.0/1). He also is 24 of 28 on free-throw attempts during league play.
- Trey Thompkins recently became one of nine Bulldogs all-time to have amassed 1,200 points and 600 rebounds in a career. Just two of these luminaries, however, have done it in three years' time: Thompkins and career rebounding leader Bob Lienhard, who played before the dawn of freshman eligibility in 1972.
- This year's Georgia team has already won more true road games (7) than Georgia had won in the previous three seasons combined. The 2010 Bulldogs' road struggles appear to be an anomaly among teams coached by Mark Fox. In his 6+ years as a head coach, his teams have won an impressive 61 percent of their road games (53-34), and that mark includes last year's 0-11 record.
- Georgia is on track to have a positive Assist / Turnover Ratio for the first time since 2003. Leading the way is junior Dustin Ware, who currently ranks 3rd among all NCAA Division I players in this category in the most recent national rankings. Ware now has 103 assists and has committed just 30 turnovers this season (ratio of +3.4/1).
- The snow and ice that crippled the Southeast in mid-January also caused Georgia to improvise most of its travel during a 2-game road swing. First, the Bulldogs bused to Nashville on Jan. 11 because no plane could land in Athens. After their game at Vandy, they were stranded for two extra days because a plane still could not land in Athens. By the time they bused to Oxford on Friday, all systems were go on a return flight home. Distance traveled by bus: approx. 550 miles.
- Even more travel troubles: in the first week of February, Georgia spent over 20 hours traveling to its mid-week game at Arkansas. The Bulldogs first bused to Augusta because fog prevented a plane from landing in Athens. Next, they spent three hours on the tarmac in Augusta while examining their options for landing in a snowstorm-stricken Arkansas. Finally, after spending Tuesday night in Augusta, the Bulldogs arrived in Fayetteville early Wednesday afternoon.
- Georgia leads the SEC in rebounding margin through the 14-game league schedule. The Bulldogs have been outrebounded just twice during that span. In their eight SEC wins, they have an average margin of +13.3, highlighted by +25 and +18 margins in wins over Miss. State and Auburn.
Thompkins, Leslie Reach 1,000 Points - This season Trey Thompkins has become the 40th player in UGA history to reach 1,000 for his career. The most recent Bulldog to reach that milestone was Terrance Woodbury in 2009. Already, Thompkins has climbed over 22 people on Georgia's career scoring chart with 1,306 points. Travis Leslie reached the milestone in the Florida game last week. His career total of 1,022 becomes more impressive when you consider that he scored just 165 points (6.3/game) as a freshman and missed the final five games of the season.
Robinson a Difference Maker - Last season head coach Mark Fox noted that Gerald Robinson, who sat out the 2010 year after transferring from Tennessee State, would have tilted the balance in Georgia's favor in several of its close games. Through December this season, Robinson has delivered clutch plays that directly resulted in three Bulldog victories:
11/20 at St. Louis: Robinson drove the lane, drew three defenders and, in heavy traffic, fed Jeremy Price for a game-winner with :01 left.
12/2 vs. UAB: Robinson scored four points and had a key rebound in the final 14 seconds of perhaps the Bulldogs' best win of the season thus far.
12/7 at Georgia Tech: Robinson scored a key basket and assisted Dustin Ware on the biggest bucket of the game, a 3-pointer that broke a 70-all tie with 18 seconds left. |
