University of Georgia Athletics
Frazier, Maten Named To Olson Award Watch List
November 07, 2016 | Men's Basketball
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ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia's J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten both were named to the Lute Olson Award Preseason Watch List on Monday. The Lute Olson Award is presented annually to the nation's top Division I basketball player who has played at least two seasons.
Georgia was the only team in the SEC and one of only nine programs nationally to have two players featured on the watch list. The other schools with multiple players included were Cincinnati, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, Villanova, Wisconsin and Xavier.
There were five representative of the SEC on the 50-player list, which also featured Isaiah Briscoe from Kentucky, Tyler Davis from Texas A&M and Moses Kingsley from Arkansas.
Frazier, a 5-10, senior guard, averaged a team-high 16.9 points per game last season and is the leading returning scorer in the Southeastern Conference this season. He was a first-team preseason All-SEC selection by league media this fall, after earning second- and third-team All-SEC honors by league coaches and the AP last spring. Frazier also was named to the 2016 All-SEC Tournament team after he averaged 22.3 ppg in three SEC tourney outings.
Maten, a 6-8, junior forward, is the SEC's third-leading returning scorer from a year ago when he averaged 16.5 points per game. Maten also averaged a team-high 8.0 rebounds during the 2015-16. He was the only SEC player named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List, which is given to the top power forward in the nation by the Naismith Hall of Fame. Maten was voted second-team preseason All-SEC. Last spring, he was a second-team All-SEC pick of league coaches and a third-team honoree by the AP.
The recipient of the 2017 Lute Olson Award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on April 31 in Phoenix, Arizona, site of the NCAA Final Four. Olson won 780 games in 34 seasons, 24 of which were spent at the University of Arizona. During that stretch he led the Wildcats to 11 Pac-10 Conference titles, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, four Final Four appearances and a National Championship in 1997.
Frazier and Maten are two of three starters and 11 letterwinners returning from last year's team that finished 20-14 and reached the second round of the NIT. Georgia has reached the 20-win mark in each of the past three seasons, making Mark Fox the first coach to lead the Bulldogs to three-successive 20-win efforts in their 111 seasons of basketball competition.
Georgia will open its 2016-17 this Friday when the Bulldogs travel to Clemson for a 7:00 p.m. matchup televised regionally by Fox Sports South. The Bulldogs' home opener is a week from today on November 14 against UNC Asheville at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Season tickets, mulit-game "flex" packages, single-game and various group/speciality offers such as "all you can eat seats" are currently on sale. Fans can tickets online here or by calling the UGA ticket office at 877-542-1231 on Monday-Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs already have topped their season ticket sales record since the introduction of the Basketball Enhancement Fund (BEF). The season package is $255 for fans and $127.50 for faculty/staff and features all 17 regular-season home games. Contributors to the BEF and faculty/staff season tickets holders also will be able to order tickets to the 2017 SEC Tournament, which will be March 8-12 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
