Bulldogs Open Season Against Bryant

Friday, November 10

Athens, Ga.

7:00 PM

University of Georgia

Bryant

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November 09, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia Bulldogs vs. Bryant Bulldogs
Friday, November 10, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. Flagship: AM 750 (Atlanta); (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)
Video: SEC Network + (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Jarvis Hayes, analyst)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mark Fox
145-118 in 9th season at UGA
268-161 in 14th season overall
G	0	William Jackson II	5.0	0.5
6-4; 185; Jr.; Athens, Ga.
G	13	E'Torrion Wilridge	1.5	1.0
6-6; 220; Jr.; Beaumont, Texas
G	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	9.5	6.0
6-8; 227; Fr.; Norcross, Ga.
F	1	Yante Maten	28.5	7.0
6-8; 243; Sr.; Pontiac, Mich.
F	34	Derek Ogbeide	11.5	7.5
6-8; 245; Jr.; Atlanta, Ga.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Bryant Bulldogs
Coach: Tim O'Shea
93-183 in 10th season at BU
213-278 in 17th season overall
G	0	Ikenna Ndugba	3.0	3.0
6-0; 190; Soph.; Boston, Mass.
G	11	Adam Grant	6.0	1.0
6-1; 170; Soph.; Franklin, Va.
G	1	Hunter Ware	3.0	6.0
6-2; 170; Sr; Powder Springs, Ga.
F	3	Bosko Kostur	20.7	7.0
6-7; 215; R-Sr.; Melbourne, Australia
F	20	Gus Riley	9.0	4.0
6-8; 225; Sr.; Nelson, New Zealand

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The Starting 5...

Yante Maten was tabbed the nation's top-25 players by both NBCsports.com & espn.com.
Juwan Parker is the only active D-I MBB player who has already earned a master's degree.
Mark & Cindy Fox will donate $1 to charity for every fan at UGA's 3 Nov. home dates.
A UGA vs. MSU exhib. on 10/29 raised over $350,000 for Red Cross hurricane relief.
Stegeman Coliseum underwent $8 million in renovations during the summer.

Georgia Open Season Vs. Bryant

A Bulldog battle is on tap for Georgia as it christens the 2017-18 season at Stegeman Coliseum on Friday night. Georgia will host the Bryant Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. in the regular-season opener for both teams.

Georgia split a pair of preseason exibition outings, falling to No. 2 Michigan State, 80-68, on Oct. 29 and racing past Division II Valdosta State, 112-74, last Thursday.

Yante Maten, who was tabbed preseason SEC Player of the Year and is on virtually every ranking of the nation's top players, paced the Bulldogs in both outings to the tune of 28.5 ppg. That included a 33-point outburst against the Spartans that would have equaled his scoring career-high output.

Derek Ogbeide and Tyree Crump also averaged double digits during the exhibitions. Ogbeide scored 11.5 ppg and grabbed a team-high 7.5 rpg, while Crump chipped in 10.5 ppg.

Bryant dropped its only preseason exhbition to Boston College, 87-59, on Oct. 21.

Bosko Kostur, one of three returning starters from last year's 12-20 squad, led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Kostur connected on 6-of-8 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, and 4-of-4 trips to the line against the Eagles.

First Meeting With Bryant

Friday's game will be the first ever between the Bulldogs of Georgia and Bryant.

Georgia is 5-1 all-time against schools currently competing with Bryant in the Northeast Conference – 2-0 vs. LIU Brooklyn and Robert Morris and 1-1 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson.

Ties To The Bryant Roster

While Georgia and Bryant have never played each other prior to Friday's season opener, the schools do have a couple of roster connections.

Most notably, Hunter Ware, a senior guard for Bryant, is the younger brother of former Bulldog Dustin Ware. Dustin played for UGA from 2009-12, including a trio of seasons under Mark Fox. He scored 1,007 points in 128 games played. Among Georgia's career statistical leaders, Dustin ranks No. 5 in free throw percentage (80.4), No. 6 in assists (400) and No. 7 in both 3-pointers made (194) and attempted (536).

In addition, Georgia's Connor O'Neill and Bryant's Ryan Layman are both products of the Tilton School in New Hampshire.

Keeping an eye on...

Entering the 2017-18 season, among UGA's career Leaders

Yante Maten is...

3 points from No. 24 Lavon Mercer
9 points from No. 23 Bob Healey
11 points from No. 22 Eric Marbury
24 points from No. 21 Charles Claxton
74 points from No. 20 Kenny Gaines
17 rebounds from No. 15 Ray Jeffords
1 FT from No. 9 Terry Fair
8 FTs from No. 8 Bob Lienhard
11 FTs from No. 7 Sundiata Gaines
2 FTAs from No. 13 James Banks
33 FTAs from No. 12 Terry Fair
19 blocks from No. 3 Terrell Bell

Last Time Out...

Double-doubles from Yante Maten and Rayshaun Hammonds paced Georgia en route to a 112-74 victory over Valdosta State in the Bulldogs' final preseason exhibition outing last Thursday.

Maten poured in 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. Hammonds added 17 points and a game-high 11 boards. Five Bulldogs posted double-digit scoring outings, as Derek Ogbeide chipped in 17, Tyree Crump put up 14 and Turtle Jackson posted 10.

With the score tied 8-8 just over seven minutes in, a Nicolas Claxton 3-pointer ignited a 20-7 surge that put the Bulldogs up 28-15 with 8:06 remaining in the opening period.

Georgia began the second half with a 15-2 run that expanded the margin to 66-36 at the 15:34 mark.

Hammonds Celebrates On Opener?

Friday is a big day for freshman Rayshaun Hammonds. Not only will he play in his collegiate debut, Hammonds also will celebrate his 19th birthday.

Hammonds' opens a busy birthday stretch for the Bulldogs' freshman class. Three of Georgia's four freshmen will celebrate birthdays during a dozen-day span. Isaac Kante's birthday is Nov. 15, while Teshaun Hightower's is Nov. 21.

Hopefully, all four Bulldog freshmen will enjoy in-season birthdays. Nicolas Claxton, the fourth member of Georgia's freshman quartet, has a March 17 birthday.

A Fresh Starter For The Opener

Rayshaun Hammonds started both of Georgia's preseason exhibitions, including a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds last Thursday versus Valdosta State.

If Hammonds is on the floor for the opening tip on Friday, he would become the first Bulldog freshman to start a season opener since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Caldwell-Pope put up a game-high 15 points to lead Georgia in a 62-49 win over Wofford on Nov. 11, 2011.

Six members of the Bulldogs' 10 returning letterwinners started as freshmen – seniors Yante Maten and Juwan Parker, juniors Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide and sophomores Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris.

Foxes Donating From Nov. Games

Head coach Mark Fox and his wife Cindy are donating $1 to charity for every fan who attends the Bulldogs three November home games. The amount will be split equally between the Boys and Girls Club of Athens and the Clarke County Mentor Program.

Fox announced their effort in an Oct. 12 tweet and was later asked about his decision to make the donations.

"I just think that no matter where you turn somebody's complaining about something," he said. "I meant what I said. People in positions like I have, we have an obligation to try and make things better. We're fortunate to have great opportunities to impact the world and we should do that, we should try to do that. I think we have too many people complaining and not enough people trying to make a difference, if you want my honest opinion."

Cindy Fox is on the board for Clarke Mentors, which recruits community volunteers to mentor children who attend the Clarke County School District. Derrick Floyd, director of operations for the Athens Boys and Girls Club, was a letterwinner for the Bulldogs from 1980-83 and today serves as the official scorer for Georgia basketball games and the SEC Tourney.

"Those groups are working to try and make the next generation better and to make society better," Mark Fox said. "If we can give them a little help, that's great."

Maten Big-Time Vs. Top-10 Foes

Yante Maten poured in 33 points in an Oct. 29 exhibition game against No. 2 Michigan State. While those numbers won't count, that would have equaled his career-high scoring output established against Belmont in the opening round of the 2016 NIT.

Maten has displayed a knack for playing extremely well against top-ranked opponents.

All told, Maten has averaged 17.8 ppg and 7.2 rpg in five "games" versus top-10 opponents while at Georgia. In those contests, he has connected on 61.2 percent of his shots from the floor and converted on 76.5 percent of his trips to the line.

A year ago, he poured in 30 points and grabbed 13 boards against No. 5 Kansas in the championship game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.

In three outings against top-10 foes his freshman year – one versus No. 10 Gonzaga and two against No. 1 Kentucky in the regular season – Maten was a combined 10-of-17 (58.8) from the field and 6-of-9 (66.7) at the charity stripe.

Bulldogs Are HomeGrown

More than half of Georgia's roster – eight of 15 Bulldogs to be exact – played high school hoops in the Peach State.

That list features Tyree Crump (Bainbridge HS), Rayshaun Hammonds (Norcross HS), Jordan Harriss (Seminole County HS), Christian Harrison (Woodward Academy), Teshaun Hightower (Collins Hills HS), "Turtle" Jackson (Athens Christian), Connor O'Neill (Blessed Trinity) and Derek Ogbeide (Pebblebrook HS).

SEC Hoops Moving Forward

SEC Basketball enters 2017-18 attempting to continue its upwardly trending reputation.

The SEC received the fifth-most bids of any conference to the 2017 NCAA Tournament but then proceeded to tie the ACC (which had nine NCAA teams) for the most wins during "March Madness" with 11.

Three league schools reached the "Elite Eight," including an All-SEC East Regional final between South Carolina and Florida.

Homecoming With A Cause

Georgia's October 29 exhibition game against Michigan State was a homecoming for Yante Maten and Mike Edwards.The Spartans topped the Bulldogs 80-68, but the real winner was the Red Cross.

While Michigan State hosted the game, the two teams split the proceeds evenly to donate to their charities of choice – Georgia to the American Red Cross of Georgia and Michigan to the Red Cross – International Services.

"When you do something for a cause greater than yourself, you need help to really make an impact, and this couldn't have happened without Michigan State University and the great support that their fan base and the city of Grand Rapids provided," Mark Fox said. "I thank you from the bottom of our hearts from the Deep South."

The contest came together in less than a week when the NCAA approved a waiver to allow teams to play a charitable exhibition.

A pregame presentation included a check for $339,447 for Hurricane Irma relief efforts by the Red Cross in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,699 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. That amount eventual grew slightly to $368,111.61, and this evening Georgia will hold a second presentation for its proceeds.

Maten was the 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year at Bloomfield Hills High School. He averaged 19.8 ppg and 15.2 rpg in leading the Black Hawks to a runner-up finish in the Michigan A state tournament in the school's first year of existence. BHHS was formed by the merger of Lahser High, which Maten attended for three years, with Andover High.

Edwards was named captain of the Detroit Free Press' Class A All-State team in 2015 after averaging 18.8 ppg and 10.3 rpg as a senior at John Glenn High School.

Dogs Debut Renewed Stegeman

Stegeman has undergone thorough renovations in the last few years, receiving a 21st Century face lift of at a cost of more than $20-million.

This summer, the arena received a massive center-hung scoreboard, new black seats, an improved LED lighting system, a state-of-the-art sound system and graphics above the horseshoe end celebrating past teams and retired jerseys. All told, the Coliseum went from having roughly 1,000-square feet of HD/LED signage to more than 4,000-square feet as broken out below.

The renovations in 2017 followed work in the summer of 2016 which provided a dramatic mural covering the Coliseum's distinctive end wall.

"Obviously, we're extremely excited about Stegeman not only for our fans, but also for our players," head coach Mark Fox said. "This is going to have a tremendous impact on our program and our university. It's beautiful inside. It's very well done. I have to compliment the architects and the construction companies. They did a terrific job. I think it will change the energy in the building because we have more tools to create atmosphere. I was in there with Dominique Wilkins and his statement was pretty good. This is now an arena, and it feels like an arena."

In 2010, Stegeman's concourses received a similar makeover, upgrading the graphics, enhancing spectator access to concessions and restrooms and adding 5,000-square feet of concourse space on each side of the arena. That work won awards from the American Institute of Architects and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.

Center-hung scoreboard