Georgia Hosts Alabama in Men's Hoops on Saturday

Saturday, January 6

Athens, Ga.

12:00 PM

University of Georgia

Alabama

Tickets

January 05, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (10-3, 1-1) vs. Alabama (9-5, 1-1)
Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. (Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta, Sirius: 145; XM, 190); (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, Producer)
TV: SEC SEC Network (Matt Stewart, play-by-play; Antoine, analyst)
Video: SECN+

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mark Fox
154-121 in 9th season at UGA
277-164 in 14th season overall
G	0	William Jackson II	10.8	2.5
6-4; 185; Jr.; Athens, Ga.
F	13	E'Torrion Wilridge	1.7	1.4
6-6; 220; Jr.; Beaumont, Texas
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	7.5	4.8
6-8; 227; Fr.; Norcross, Ga.
F	1	Yante Maten	19.5	9.3
6-8; 243; Sr.; Pontiac, Mich.
F	34	Derek Ogbeide	7.5	5.7
6-8; 245; Jr.; Atlanta, Ga.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Alabama Crimson Tide
Coach: Avery Johnson
46-35 (3rd season at Alabama
46-35 (3rd season overall
G	2	Collin Sexton	20.4	3.5
6-3; 190; Fr.; Mableton, Ga.
G	23	John Petty	12.5	2.5
6-5; 195; Fr.; Huntsville, Ala.
G	12	Dazon Ingram	11.1	6.6
6-5; 207; Soph.; Theodore, Ala.
F	25	Braxton Key	3.3	5.0
6-8; 225; Soph.; Charlotte, N.C.
F	0	Donta Hall	11.7	7.3
6-9; 232; Jr.; Luverne, Ala.

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA		ALABAMA
73.4	Points per game	76.9
+6.6	Scoring margin	+5.9
45.1	FG pct.	47.2
38.8	FG defense	41.3
32.6	3FG pct.	34.2
31.8	3FG defense	32.2
5.9	3FGs per game	6.4
70.7	FT pct.	68.5
17.5	FTs per game	17.2
+6.5	Rebound Margin	+0.8
14.2	Assists per game	13.4
1.05	Assists-to-TOs	0.98
4.8	Blocks per game	6.3
4.7	Steals per game	6.8

Game Promotion

First 1250 UGA students receive a Yante Maten t-shirt

The Starting 5...

UGA is 7-0 at home this season and has 73 wins at Stegeman since the start of the '12-13 season.
Derek Ogbeide is averaging 13.5 ppg in SEC play while shooting 80.0 percent from the floor.
Yante Maten joined UGA's career top-10 rebounders vs. GT and career top-10 scorers vs. Temple.
Juwan Parker, the only DI MBB player with a master's, is 4th on UGA's career FT pct. leaders list.
Turtle Jackson had four career-best scoring outputs in the first five games - 11, 13, 16 & 17 points.

Bulldogs vs. Tide - Episode I

The Georgia Bulldogs host the Alabama Crimson Tide in a noon matinée on Saturday, the first of two matchups between the two schools in a three-day span.

And while the basketball contest may not carry the weight of Monday's College Football Playoff Championship game in Atlanta, it does have distinct postseason implications.

The Bulldogs and the Tide are among a slew of SEC teams with serious NCAA Tournament aspirations. And those hopes are well warranted. The league is extremely well represented in the NCAA's RPI. Through mid-week action, no less than six SEC teams were included in the top-25 of the RPI. Another five are featured in the top-65, including Alabama at No. 39 and Georgia at No. 50.

Georgia is 10-3 on the year - including a perfect 7-0 mark at Stegeman Coliseum - and 1-1 in the SEC. UGA's win total includes Ws over a trio of 2017 NCAA Tournament teams - No. 21 Saint Mary's, Marquette and Winthrop.

Yante Maten, a National Player of the Year candidate and preseason SEC Player of the Year honoree, leads Georgia with averages of 19.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Those efforts ranks second and first, respectively, among league leaders.

Maten has been a picture of consistency for the Bulldogs since the beginning of his sophomore year. Over the 76 games during that span, Maten has produced 69 double-digit scoring performances, with 28 20-point and five 30-point outings and 21 double-doubles.

Turtle Jackson provides a second a double-figure scoring average at 10.8 ppg. Jackson entered the season with two double-digit productions in 66 games but has scored 10-plus points in nine of Georgia's first 13 outings. He also upped his career high four times in the first five games, from 10 points entering the season to 11 to 13 to 15 to 17 points against San Diego State.

Alabama is 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the SEC.

Freshman Collin Sexton leads both the Tide and the league in scoring at 20.4 ppg. All told, four Alabama starters are scoring at a double-digit pace, with John Petty chipping in 12.5 ppg, Donta Hall adding 11.7 ppg and Dazon Ingram contributing 11.1 ppg.

Entering Today's Game Among UGA's Career Leaders

Yante Maten is...

13 points from No. 8 Shandon Anderson
124 points from No. 7 J.J. Frazier
12 rebounds from No. 8 Carlos Strong
36 rebounds from No. 7 Chris Daniels
49 FTs from No. 4 J.J. Frazier
22 FTAs from No. 5 Charles Claxton
3 blocks from No. 3 Terrell Bell
82 blocks from No. 2 Charles Claxton

Series History With The Tide

Alabama leads the overall series, 94-51; however, that margin is a much tighter 32-30 advantage here in Athens. Georgia has won four of the last five meetings.

The Bulldogs and the Tide met twice last season, with the road team winning each time. Most recently, on Feb. 23 in Tuscaloosa, J.J. Frazier scored 17 of his 28 points in the second half as Georgia took down the Tide, 60-55.

That contest was that Bulldogs' first outing since leading scorer Yante Maten suffered a knee sprain just 95 seconds into Georgia's outing with No. 13 Kentucky five days earlier.

"We have great character on this team, and it showed today," Mark Fox said, "Obviously, we had a very difficult loss at home versus Kentucky, and lost Yante, but we got together and decided that there will be a solution. We figured out a couple of new wrinkles and maybe a new rotation to try and patch it together, and they bought in and competed their tails off tonight."

The Bulldogs grabbed a lead at the 18:25 mark in the first half they never surrendered.

A 15-4 run by Alabama early in the second stanza cut a 12-point margin to two, but consecutive 3-pointers by Tyree Crump on got the lead back to six. Though the Tide pulled within a single possession numerous times, the Bulldogs withstood each rally.

A Frazier free throw with 29 seconds to go put Georgia up by four, and Juwan Parker hit one from the charity stripe with four seconds left to seal the victory.

Last Jan. 25 at Stegeman Coliseum, Yante Maten scored 20 points as Georgia dropped an 80-60 decision to the Tide.

The Bulldogs trailed 41-27 at the half, and Alabama jumped out to 54-34 lead with 14:25 left. Georgia was then able to hold the Tide to just two field goals until under a minute to go, but was unable to cut the lead to less than 10.

Last Time out

Georgia beat Ole Miss, 71-60, in the Bulldogs' SEC home opener on Wednesday night in Stegeman Coliseum.

Juwan Parker had his first career double-double, with a career-high 18 points and a career most-tying 11 rebounds.

Yante Maten posted his 13th consecutive double-digit output in as many games this season with 15 points, while Derek Ogbeide and Jordan Harris bested their season-highs in points with 14 and 12, respectively.

Defensively, Georgia held Ole Miss to 60 points, the Rebels' second-lowest output of the season.

An emphatic dunk from E'Torrion Wilridge that turned into a three-point play put the Bulldogs up for good at 29-26 with 3:29 left in the first half.

Georgia pushed that advantage to 39-31 by the intermission and led by double figures most of the second half.

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 ledgers. CBSsports.com put him at No. 22, ESPN.com listed him at No. 23 and NBCsports.com tabbed him at 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 and the Naismith Trophy. In addition, he was on the list for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award and the Lute Olson Award, which is awarded to the top Division I player who has played at least two seasons.

He also received preseason All-America recognition. Jay Bilas, in an obvious plot to prove he's the wisest college hoops analyst in the nation, 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).

Parker Checks Off Another Item

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

The redshirt senior from Tulsa earned his bachelor's degree in two and a half years, received his master's last summer and - perhaps most importantly - became engaged to Aliyah Johnson, an All-American jumper for the UGA track & field team, last fall.

Parker produced the best outing of his 96-game at Georgia career on Wednesday against Ole Miss, when career-high outputs of 18 points and 11 boards supplied him with his first career double-double.

Parker did much of his damage from 3-point range. He made more 3-pointers against the Rebels (four) than he did in the first dozen games combined (three).

Parker was 4-of-4 on shots from behind the arc and scored three more points after being fouled on another attempted trifecta. He entered the contest just 3-of-15 on 3-pointers (.200) this season and 24-of-132 (.182) for his career.

Harris, Ogbeide Tally Too

In addition to Juwan Parker's career-high 18 points against Ole Miss, Derek Ogbeide and Jordan Harris notched season-high outputs of 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Ogbeide posted his second-straight season-best performance, following a 13-point outing at No. 16 Kentucky. He is scoring at an extremely efficient pace in SEC play, shooting 80.0 percent (12-of-15) from the floor.

Harris has been solid in each of Georgia's last three home outings. Including games with Georgia Tech and Temple, Harris is averaging 10.6 ppg while shooting 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the field and 50.0 percent (4-of-8) from 3-point range over that span.

Dogs' 'D' Solid In League Play

Georgia has traditionally been one of the SEC's - if not the nation's - most consistent defensive teams during Mark Fox's tenure with the Bulldogs.

Early this season, Georgia was certainly not living up to those lofty standards. In non-conference play, the Bulldogs ranked sixth in the SEC in scoring defense (67.5 ppg) and field goal percentage (.397).

Though a small sample size, Georgia leads the SEC in scoring defense (63.0) and field goal defense (.339) in stats for league games only. The Bulldogs held No. 16 Kentucky to 66 points and Ole Miss to 60. Those tallies represented the second-lowest point production of the season for each team.

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 nine of the Bulldogs' first 13 outings of 2017-18.

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, Jackson scored first-half 10 points and added three more following the break.

That mark lasted two games until Jackson knocked down 16 points versus Cal State Fullerton in the Wooden Legacy...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 10.8 ppg, Jackson continues to do much of his damage from behind the 3-point arc.

This season, 26 of his 46 made field goals (56.5 percent) have been 3-pointers. For his career, 57.9 percent (62-of-107) 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 a pair of decisive victories over Georgia Tech and Temple the previous week.

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 recognition is Maten's second of his career. He also was honored on Jan. 2 last season.

Bulldogs' Bench Producing

Last season, Georgia's bench outscored its opponents' reserves nine times in 34 games. This season, the Bulldogs' non-starters have produced more points than their counterparts in nine of 13 outings.

Georgia's bench finished 2016-17 with a -95 margin. This year, the Bulldogs are +51.

Dogs Flip Script with Starting 5

Four-guard lineups are a relatively common fixture in college basketball. Georgia has utilized a four-forward starting quintet for eight games this season...the first five and the last three.

William "Turtle" Jackson was the only starter in those outings labeled as a "G" on the Bulldogs' roster.

In addition, Georgia started 6-6 E'Torrion Wilridge at the '2,' 6-8 Rayshaun Hammonds at the '3,' 6-8 Yante Maten at the '4' and 6-8 Derek Ogbeide at the '5.'

SEC Hoops Moving Forward

The SEC has certainly continued its upwardly trending reputation. That increased respect was front and center last March.

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

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

In the Jan. 4 edition of the NCAA RPI, six SEC teams were featured in the top 25 and 11 were included in the top 65.

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 had struggled mightily up until that point, connecting on just 8-of-32 (.250) shots from the floor and 5-of-24 (.208) from 3-point range through the first five and a half games.

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, 15 of his 22 makes (68.2 percent) from the floor have been 3s. In his career at Georgia, 34-of-55 field goals (61.8 percent) are trifectas.

#TechWrecked...Again

Georgia has won the last three editions of basketball's version of "Clean Old-Fashioned Hate" by an average of 17.3 points per game.

This year's 21-point margin topped last season's 17-point win - the most decisive road victory over the Jackets since 1909 - and a 14-point "W" two years ago.

The last time the Bulldogs had three-consecutive double-digit wins in a row over Tech was in 1913-14.

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.

Parker, who started 31 of 32 games played last season, moved back into Georgia's starting five against No. 21 Saint Mary's. He got the nod at the '2' after E'Torrion Wilridge was hindered by a stomach ailment and remained there for five games until Wilridge was on the floor for the opening tip against Temple.

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 (to the left).

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 Harris (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).