Home Date With Gators Lies Ahead for Bulldogs

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (12-8, 3-5) vs. Florida (15-6, 6-2)
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. (Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, Producer; Satellite: Sirius: 137, XM: 380)
TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart, play-by-play; Jon Sunvold analyst)
Video: WatchESPN.com

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mark Fox
157-126 in 9th season at UGA
280-169 in 14th season overall
G	0	William Jackson II	9.5	2.6
6-4; 185; Jr.; Athens, Ga.
G	3	Juwan Parker	8.4	3.5
6-4; 205; R-Sr.; Tulsa, Okla.
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	6.6	5.1
6-8; 227; Fr.; Norcross, Ga.
F	1	Yante Maten	19.6	9.2
6-8; 243; Sr.; Pontiac, Mich.
F	34	Derek Ogbeide	7.4	5.9
6-8; 245; Jr.; Atlanta, Ga.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Florida Gators
Coach: Mike White
63-30 (3rd season at UF)
164-70 (7th season overall
G	11	Chris Chiozza	12.6	4.3
6-0; 175; Sr.; Memphis, Tenn.
G	5	Kevaughn Allen	11.4	2.3
6-2; 193; Jr.; Little Rock, Ark.
G	4	Egor Koulechov	14.5	7.2
6-5; 205; Gr.; Volgograd, Russia
F	25	Keith Stone	8.1	3.7
6-8; 245; Soph.; Deerfield Beach, Fla.
F	13	Kevarrius Hayes	5.4	5.4
6-9; 225; Jr.; Live Oak, Fla.

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA		FLORIDA
69.3	Points per game	80.7
+3.3	Scoring margin	+9.0
43.0	FG pct.	44.0
38.7	FG defense	43.3
31.6	3FG pct.	38.7
31.4	3FG defense	37.2
5.9	3FGs per game	9.7
71.8	FT pct.	75.5
16.2	FTs per game	16.6
+6.8	Rebound Margin	-0.6
12.9	Assists per game	13.6
0.94	Assists-to-TOs	1.34
4.9	Blocks per game	4.8
4.4	Steals per game	7.3

The Starting 5...

In stats for league games only, UGA is No. 2 nationally in FG defense among Power 5 teams.
UGA has four top-50 RPI wins, second-most in the SEC behind Florida and LSU with five each.
UF is UGA's most frequent opponent. This eveing's game is the 215th meeting on the hardwood.
Yante Maten is the only player in the SEC's top 10 in scoring, rebounding, FG pct. & FT pct.
Juwan Parker, the only DI MBB player with a master's, is 3rd on UGA's career FT pct. leaders list.

Home Date With Gators Breaks Up Bulldogs' Road-Heavy Stretch

Georgia will host No. 23 Florida on Tuesday in a welcome break from a travel-intensive portion of the Bulldogs' schedule. Georgia is in the midst of playing five road outings in a seven-game span.

Georgia slipped to 12-8 overall with Saturday's loss at Kansas State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Bulldogs are 3-5 in the SEC.

Yante Maten, one of 25 players on the Midseason Watch List for the Wooden Award, leads the SEC in scoring by nearly a full point per game at 19.6 ppg (Arkansas' Jaylen Barford is second at 18.8 ppg). Maten also is second in the league in rebounding at 9.2 rpg and is the only SEC player ranked among the conference's top-10 in scoring, rebounding, FG pct. (No. 7) and FT pct. (No. 7).

Maten has been a picture of consistency for the Bulldogs.

In 20 games this season, he has 19 double-figure outings, with nine double-doubles and 10 20-point performances.

Over 83 games since the start of his sophomore year, Maten has 75 double-digit scoring performances, with 32 20-point and five 30-point outings, and 24 double-doubles.

"Turtle" Jackson is the Dogs' second-leading scorer at 9.5 ppg, with 11 double-figure games. Juwan Parker is UGA's second-best point producer in SEC action at 9.4 ppg.

Florida is 15-6 overall and 6-2 in the SEC.

Jalen Hudson comes off the bench to average a team-high 16.5 ppg for the Gators, while Egor Koulechov (14.5 ppg), Chris Chiozza (12.6 ppg) and KeVaughn Allen (11.4 ppg) contribute a double-figure pace.

Entering Today's Game Among UGA's Career Leaders

Yante Maten is...

17 points from No. 6 Bob Lienhard
37 points from No. 5 Walter Daniels
46 points from No. 4 Dominique Wilkins
49 rebounds from No. 6 Lavon Mercer
97 FTs from No. 3 Litterial Green
126 FTAs from No. 3 Alec Kessler
69 blocks from No. 2 Charles Claxton

Series History With The Gators

Florida enters Saturday's game with Georgia sporting a 113-102 advantage in the all-time series; however, Georgia is 62-39 against the Gators in Athens.

In the most recent matchup between the interstate rivals last Feb. 7 at Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia dropped a 72-60 decision to the No. 17-ranked Gators.

After the Bulldogs scored the game's first five points, the Gators raced to a 29-14 lead just under the midway point of the first half.

Georgia responded with a 15-0 surge of its own and tied the game at 31-31 on a Yante Maten jumper with 3:05 left in the period. The Bulldogs' momentum was thwarted, however, when Maten suffered a cut on his lip during that play which forced him to miss the rest of the half while receiving stitches.

The Gators gradually expanded a two-point lead at halftime to 50-40 with 13:39 remaining. A J.J. Frazier free throw with 7:42 left trimmed the lead to five at 54-49, but that was the closest the Bulldogs got.

Last season on Jan. 14 in Gainesville, Georgia fell 80-76 to No. 23 Florida in a back-and-forth contest that eventually spilled into overtime in the Exactech Arena at the O'Connell Center.

The Bulldogs led for the majority of regulation and 35:11 of the game's 45 minutes overall but could not pull off the upset.

Last Time out

Kansas State rallied from a five-point deficit to top Georgia 56-51 at Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday, one of 10 games in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Dean Wade scored six of his game-high 20 points in the final 6:11 to lead K-State to victory. Yante Maten posted 14 points to pace the Bulldogs. Maten notched his 19th double-digit output of the season and led Georgia on the offensive end for the 16th time in 20 games.

Georgia led for just over half of the first half and for more than 24 minutes of the game overall before the Wildcats surged ahead in the waning moments.

Ratin' Maten A Popular Task

Preseason recognition was consistent and plentiful for Yante Maten.

Maten was ranked as one of the nation's top-25 players by three different online preseason ledgers. CBSsports.com put him No. 22, ESPN.com listed him No. 23 and NBCsports.com tabbed him No. 24.

Maten was tabbed preseason SEC Player of the Year by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and a panel of SEC and national media. The media named Maten, Texas A&M's Robert Williams and Missouri's Michael Porter, Jr. as co-player of the year.

Maten was included on watch lists for the Wooden Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Naismith Trophy and Senior CLASS Award.

Maten also received a good bit of preseason All-America recognition.

He also received preseason All-America recognition. Jay Bilas included Maten on his first-team All-America ledger. Among others, Maten also earned All-America props from the Blue Ribbon Yearbook (third team), www.collegesportsmadness.com (fourth team) and NBCsports.com (honorable mention).

Gators Are Most-Frequent Foe

Georgia has faced Florida more than any other opponent in the Bulldogs' 113 seasons of intercollegiate competition on the hardwood. The Bulldogs and Gators have met 215 times. Georgia Tech is second-most at 193.

UGA and UF first met 94 seasons ago on Feb. 8, 1924, with Georgia securing a 43-24 victory in Athens.

There have been only two seasons when Georgia and Florida didn't meet at least twice since 1930-31 – 2013-14 and 2014-15.

With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC in 2012, the league moved to an 18-game conference slate. That schedule was originally reached by having five designated two-time opponents, including one permanent "geographic" rival. For Georgia, that was South Carolina and for Florida that was set as Kentucky.

The Bulldogs and Gators did meet twice that season but did not do so the next two.

The following year, the league revised the determination of the five two-time opponents to include three permanent geographic rivals, with Georgia and Florida together again.

Dogs' 'D' Among the Nation's Best

Georgia has traditionally been one of the SEC's – if not the nation's – most consistent defensive teams under Mark Fox.

The Bulldogs finished in the SEC's top-3 in field goal percentage defense – both overall and in SEC action – during five of Fox's first eight seasons in Athens. Georgia led the league in FG defense in stats for SEC games only during both 2013-14 and 2015-16.

This season, Bulldogs lead the SEC overall and, as of Monday, ranked No. 6 nationally in field goal percentage defense (.387).

Georgia's defensive performance during conference play has been among the best in the nation among Power 5 conference teams.

In statistics for league games only, the Bulldogs not only pace the SEC in both scoring defense (65.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.374) but they also rank among the top-5 teams nationally among Power 5 conference schools.

Through games on Jan. 28, Georgia's FG percentage defense was second-best in the nation among Power 5 schools in league play, while the Bulldogs were fifth in scoring defense as outlined below.

Rk.	Team	PPG
Scoring Defense
1.	Virginia	52.3
2.	Ohio State	63.5
3.	Syracuse	64.0
4.	Purdue	64.2
5.	Georgia	65.4
6.	Notre Dame	65.5
7.	Ga. Tech	66.1
8.	Oregon State	66.1
9.	Michigan State	66.4
10.	Nebraska	66.8

Rk.	Team	Pct.
FG Pct. Defense
1.	Syracuse	.317
2.	Georgia	.3739
3.	Virginia	.3740
4.	Michigan State	.380
5.	Alabama	.385
6.	Louisville	.398
7.	Nebraska	.398
8.	Ohio State	.401
9.	Kentucky	.407
10.	Oregon State	.414

A little More On The Dogs' SEC 'D'

Georgia's defensive performances dominate the "opponent low" information in SEC superlatives for conference games.

Alabama's 46 points are the fewest by any SEC team in league action to date.

Georgia has induced three of the four lowest field goal totals in SEC play – 16 by South Carolina (second fewest) and 17 by both Kentucky and Alabama (third fewest).

Georgia also forced the lowest field goal percentage in SEC play to date – .271 by South Carolina.

Bulldogs' Bench Producing

Last season, Georgia's bench outscored its opponents' reserves just nine times in 34 total games.

This season, the Bulldogs' non-starters have produced more points than their counterparts in 14 of 90 outings.

Georgia's bench finished 2016-17 with a -95 scoring margin.

This year, the Bulldogs are +53, a massive swing of 148 points.

SEC Hoops Moving Forward

This season, the SEC has certainly continued its upwardly trending national reputation.

That increased respect was front and center at the end of the last season.

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

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

What began last March has continued from November through January. The league is extremely well represented in the NCAA's RPI.

In Monday's edition, 11 teams were in the top 70 – No. 6 Auburn, No. 12 Kentucky, No. 13 Tennessee, No. 21 Arkansas, No. 29 Alabama, No. 36 Florida, No. 37 Texas A&M, No. 46 Missouri, No. 53 South Carolina, No. 60 Georgia and No. 70 Mississippi State.

All told, 13 of 14 teams were included in the top-85.

Bulldogs Sport Quality "Ws"

Georgia's NCAA resume is bolstered by some solid victories.

The Bulldogs' own four top-50 NCAA RPI wins – No. 29 Alabama, No. 31 Saint Mary's, No. 44 Temple and No. 47 Marquette.

Georgia's tally of top-50 wins ranks second in the SEC behind Florida and LSU with five each. Alabama, Auburn and Texas A&M all also sported four top-50 wins as of Sunday.

Hightower Shines In First Start

Freshman Teshaun Hightower certainly made the most of his first career start at LSU, producing career-high efforts for points (8), rebounds (3), steals (2) and minutes played (27) in Baton Rouge.

Eight of the 15 players on the Bulldogs' current roster secured starting spots as freshmen – seniors Yante Maten and Juwan Parker, juniors Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide, sophomores Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris and freshmen Rayshaun Hammonds and Hightower.

Parker Sets Standards High

Juwan Parker has enjoyed an extremely productive five years in Athens.

The redshirt senior from Tulsa is "America's Most Educated college basketball player." He is the only D-I player who has earned a master's degree. He secured his bachelor's degree in two and a half years and received his master's last summer. He is working on a second master's in family financial planning.

Parker produced the best outing of his Georgia career on Jan. 3 against Ole Miss, when career highs of 18 points and 11 boards resulted in his first career double-double.

This Turtle Starting Quickly

William "Turtle" Jackson entered the season with two double-digit scoring performances in 66 games played at Georgia.

He has done so in 11 of 20 outings during the 2017-18 campaign.

Jackson produced a quartet of career-high scoring outputs in the first five games (from 10 points entering the season to 11 to 13 to 16 to 17). In fact, he reached double figures in the scoring column in the first half alone of the first two games.

Jackson had 11 points – all in the first half – against Bryant. Against USC Upstate, he scored first-half 10 points and added three more following the break.

That mark lasted two games until Jackson put up 16 points versus Cal State Fullerton...and then topped that with 17 points less than 24 hours later against San Diego State.

While his scoring has increased from 2.8 ppg entering the season to 9.5 ppg, Jackson continues to do much of his damage from behind the 3-point arc.

This season, 35 of his 63 field goals (55.6 percent) have been 3-pointers. For his career, 71-of-124 (57.3 percent) of Jackson's makes from the floor have been 3s.

Maten Earns SEC Accolade

Yante Maten was named the SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 26, after leading Georgia to decisive victories over Georgia Tech and Temple. The senior forward from Pontiac, Mich., averaged 27.0 points and 9.0 rebounds while connecting on 56.7 percent of his shots from the floor in those contests.

Those performances had historic implications. Maten joined Georgia's top-10 career rebounding leaders in the outing against Tech and then ascended into the Bulldogs' top-10 career scoring leaders versus the Owls. Maten is one of only four Bulldogs included on both of UGA's career top-10 ledgers for points and rebounds.

The performance against Temple represented Maten's third 30-point, 10+ rebound outing of his career. Since 1996-97, Bulldogs have posted six such performances – three by Maten and one each by Trey Thompkins, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jumaine Jones.

The SEC Player of the Week honor was Maten's second, joining Jan. 2 last season.

Crump's Career Night Lifts Dogs

Tyree Crump's career-high 17 points against No. 21 Saint Mary's all came during the second half and overtime.

Crump knocked down back-to-back 3s in a 37-second span early in the second half and went on to connect on 6-of-10 shots overall and 4-of-6 3-pointers the rest of the way.

Much like "Turtle" Jackson, Crump has done most of his damage from 3-point range.

This season, 19 of his 29 makes (65.5 percent) have been 3-pointers, and 38-of-62 field goals (61.3 percent) have come from behind the arc.

Dogs Go Viral...In A Bad Way

Georgia played through a stomach ailment that plagued 11 of 15 players on the Bulldogs' roster during the Wooden Legacy.

The illness originally hit around 2:00 a.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 24 following the win over Cal State Fullerton. About half the team, including multiple starters, were among the original group. Even more became ill after the San Diego State game.

Georgia entered its matchup with Saint Mary's with five unaffected players; however, Turtle Jackson, one of those, became ill in the first half and was forced to the locker room.

Still, the Bulldogs battled to force overtime against the Gaels and eventually win.

"It was a team win," Mark Fox said. "We've had a tough couple of days. We had 10 guys get the stomach flu up until tip time today, and we turn around in the first half and our point guard, who hadn't had it, gets sick. To battle through that the last couple of days and to compete tonight like a unit like we did and beat a very good Saint Mary's team, I'm extremely proud of our players."

Parker Heats Up In Cali

Redshirt senior Juwan Parker put together three solid outings over the Thanksgiving holiday at the Wooden Legacy.

In Georgia's first three games of the season, Parker averaged just 2.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 12.0 minutes while shooting 20.0 percent from the floor.

In California, Parker averaged 12.0 points, 3.3 boards and 20.3 minutes and connected on 52.6 percent of his field goal attempts.

Hammonds Gets Nod For Opener

Rayshaun Hammonds became the first freshman to start the opener for Georgia since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in 2011-12.

Hammonds was expected to do so after he got the nod for both of the Bulldogs' exhibitions, including a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds versus Valdosta State.

Hammonds also enjoyed an impressive "official" debut versus Bryant, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor.

That was the highest output by a UGA freshman in an opener in a decade and a day - since Jeremy Price scored 18 points against Jacksonville State on Nov. 9, 2007.

FYI, Caldwell-Pope, who signed an $18- million contract to play for the Lakers this season, had 15 points in his debut vs. Wofford.

While Hammonds became the first freshman to start an opener in six years, freshman starters is nothing new under Mark Fox.

Six members of 10 returning letterwinners also started as freshmen - seniors Yante Maten and Juwan Parker; juniors Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide; and sophomores Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris.

Foxes Donate Almost $20K

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

The Foxes contributed $18,976 to those groups ($9,488 to each). Georgia drew 7,387 fans for the opener against Bryant - UGA's biggest crowd for a season opener in a decade - as well as 5,369 for the Upstate date and 6,220 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Mark Fox announced their effort in an Oct. 12 tweet.

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."

Bulldogs Are HomeGrown

More than half of Georgia's roster played high school hoops in the Peach State - Tyree Crump (Bainbridge High School), Rayshaun Hammonds (Norcross High School), Jordan Harriss (Seminole County High School), Christian Harrison (Woodward Academy), Teshaun Hightower (Collins Hill High School), "Turtle" Jackson (Athens Christian), Connor O'Neill (Blessed Trinity High School) and Derek Ogbeide (Pebblebrook High School).

University of Georgia Athletics

Players Mentioned

Tyree Crump

Mike Edwards

J.J. Frazier

Rayshaun Hammonds

Jordan Harris

Teshaun Hightower

William Jackson II

Yante Maten

Connor O'Neill

Derek Ogbeide

Juwan Parker

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