Bulldogs Host LSU In Rematch Of January Thriller

Saturday, February 24

Athens, Ga.

2:00 PM

University of Georgia

LSU

Tickets

February 23, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (15-12, 6-9) vs. LSU (16-11, 7-8)
Saturday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. (Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; Satellite: Sirius 138 XM 191; Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, Producer
TV: ESPNU (Taylor Zarzour play-by-play; Barry Booker, analyst)
Video: WatchESPN.com

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mark Fox
160-130 in 9th season at UGA
283-173 in 14th season overall
G	0	William Jackson II	9.1	2.2
6-4; 185; Jr.; Athens, Ga.
G	3	Juwan Parker	8.6	3.7
6-4; 205; R-Sr.; Tulsa, Okla.
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	6.1	4.9
6-8; 227; Fr.; Norcross, Ga.
F	1	Yante Maten	19.3	8.6
6-8; 243; Sr.; Pontiac, Mich.
F	33	Nicolas Claxton	3.7	3.5
6-11; 215; Fr.; Greenville, S.C.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

LSU Tigers
Coach: Will Wade
16-11 (1st season at USC)
107-56 (5th season overall)
G	3	Tremont Waters	15.2	3.5
5-11; 167; Fr.; New Haven, Conn.
G	5	Daryl Edwards	6.8	1.5
6-3; 165; Jr.; Fresno, Calif.
G	4	Skylar Mays	11.1	4.0
6-4; 200; Soph.; Baton Rouge, La.
F	44	Wayde Sims	5.9	3.1
6-6; 217; Soph.; Baton Rouge, La.
F	21	Aaron Epps	9.9	6.1
6-10; 214; Sr.; Ball, La.

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA		LSU
68.3	Points per game	77.5
+1.3	Scoring margin	+4.2
42.6	FG pct.	48.0
39.5	FG defense	45.2
32.1	3FG pct.	35.2
33.2	3FG defense	34.6
6.0	3FGs per game	8.0
71.4	FT pct.	74.2
15.7	FTs per game	13.9
+5.3	Rebound Margin	-0.5
12.3	Assists per game	14.2
0.93	Assists-to-TOs	1.25
4.5	Blocks per game	3.5
4.0	Steals per game	7.4

The Starting 5...

UGA is one of only 13 teams in the nation with 6 or more "Q1" wins in the new NCAA RPI matrix.
Yante Maten is the only player in the SEC's top 10 in scoring, rebounding, FG pct. & FT pct.
UGA leads the SEC and is ranked No. 9 nationally in FG percentage defense at .395.
Juwan Parker, the only DI MBB player with a master's, is now 3rd on UGA's career FT pct. leaders list.
Nicolas Claxton started at Vandy, becoming the 9th current Bulldog to start as a freshman.

Bulldogs Host LSU In Rematch Of January Thriller At the PMAC

Georgia host LSU at Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday afternoon in a rematch of a January 16 thriller at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Bulldogs rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit en route to a 61-60 victory via a Yante Maten hook with 5.7 seconds remaining.

Georgia is currently 15-12 overall and 6-9 in the SEC. The Bulldogs are among a group of 10 teams within two games of each other entering the final three league outings. Those squads occupy spaces 3-12 in the standing.

Maten, a top-10 candidate for both the Senior CLASS and Karl Malone Awards, leads the SEC in scoring by almost a full point per game at 19.3 ppg (Alabama's Collin Sexton and Arkansas' Jaylen Barford are second at 18.4 ppg). Maten is the only player ranked among the SEC's top-10 in scoring, rebounding (No. 3), field goal percentage (No. 7) and free throw percentage (No. 5)...and also is No. 2 in minutes played.

Maten has been a picture of consistency for the Bulldogs.

In 27 games this season, he has 26 double-figure outings, with 14 20-point performances and 11 double-doubles.

Over 90 games since the start of his sophomore year, Maten has 82 double-digit scoring performances, with 36 20-point and five 30-point outings, and 26 double-doubles.

Turtle Jackson is averaging 9.1 ppg and has 14 double-figure games to date. Juwan Parker is scoring at a 8.6 ppg clip overall. He is averaging 9.3 ppg in SEC action, a considerable jump from the 7.4 ppg he averaged prior to league play.

LSU is 16-11 overall and 7-8 in the SEC.

Freshman Tremont Waters leads the Tigers at 15.2 ppg. He also ranks first and second in the league in steals (2.1 spg) and assists (5.9 apg), respectively..

Entering Today's Game Among UGA's Career Leaders

Yante Maten is...

7 points from No. 3 Vern Fleming
18 points from No. 2 Alec Kessler
341 points from No. 1 Litterial Green
1 rebound from No. 5 Charles Claxton
28 rebounds from No. 4 Jerry Waller
45 FGs from No. 5 Bob Leinhard
94 FGAs from No. 4 Dominque Wilkins
65 FTs from No. 3 Litterial Green
85 FTAs from No. 3 Alec Kessler
63 blocks from No. 2 Charles Claxton

Derek Ogbeide is...

14 rebounds from No. 20 Nemanja Djurisic
16 rebounds from No. 19 Jumaine Jones
20 rebounds from No. 18 Shandon Anderson
21 rebounds from No. 17 Dominique Wilkins

Series History With LSU

LSU sports a 64-46 edge in the all-time series with Georgia; however, the Bulldogs are 27-22 against the Tigers here in Athens.

Last month in Baton Rouge, Yante Maten's bucket with 5.7 seconds remaining lifted Georgia to a 61-60 victory at LSU.

The Bulldogs rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit. Georgia opened the second stanza on a 14-3 run to grab a 38-37 lead with 14:24 remaining.

A back-and-forth second half featured five ties and 13 lead changes, including three in the final minute. Georgia took a 59-58 lead on a Juwan Parker 3-pointer with 57 seconds left, but LSU responded with a Duop Reath baseline jumper at the 41-second mark.

Parker's offensive rebound with 23 seconds left set up Maten's game-winner.

Tremont Waters missed a long 3-pointer with two seconds on the clock, and time expired before either team secured the rebound.

Last season in Athens, J.J. Frazier hit two free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining against LSU to secure an 82-80 victory over the Tigers at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Bulldogs opened up a 33-16 lead with just over eight minutes left in the opening half, but LSU chipped that margin down seven at the intermission.

The Tigers eventually tied the game at 69-69 with 6:21 remaining, but Georgia surged back to a 77-71 lead moments later.

A 9-0 LSU run gave the Tigers an 80-77 edge with 52 seconds left before Frazier took charge. He drove the ball the length of the court into the lane and passed to Ogbeide, who laid it in and make the score 80-79. LSU grabbed two offensive rebounds on the next possession, but could not finish at the basket.

Frazier collected an inbounds pass with 6.7 seconds left and was fouled on a drive. His free throws gave Georgia the victory.

Last Time out

South Carolina used a late surge in the first half and withstood several Georgia rallies following intermission in defeating the Bulldogs, 66-57, on Wednesday night in Columbia.

Turtle Jackson led Georgia with 14 points, while Yante Maten added a double-double of 13 points and 10 boards.

The Gamecocks outscored the Bulldogs, 13-3 over the final 3:00 of the first half to gain a 42-27 edge at halftime. Georgia opened the second period with a 15-6 surge to close the gap to five with 12:46 remaining.

South Carolina answered with a 5-0 run and never let the Bulldogs closer than six points thereafter.

Maten Approaches Dogs' Top Two

Yante Maten enters Saturday's game within striking distance of the No. 2 spot among Georgia's career scoring leaders.

Maten has scored 1,770 points in 122 games played for the Bulldogs. That's seven points shy of the current No. 3, Vern Fleming, with 1,777 points in 125 games. Alec Kessler is No. 3 with 1,788 points in 123 games.

Maten is 341 points away from Georgia's career scoring leader, Litterial Green with 2,111 points.

Bulldogs' 'D' Reappears

For much of the season, Georgia has been one of the nation's best defensive teams.

Entering their Feb. 3 game at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs led the SEC and ranked No. 6 nationally in field goal percentage defense at .386. UGA was holding league opponents to an even more impressive .373. At that point, only three teams had shot 50.0 percent or better against Georgia in 21 games.

Over the next three outings, State, Vanderbilt and Auburn all shot better than 50 percent....a combined 83-of-159 (.522) from the field.

The Bulldogs' defense was much more solid in the last three outings, victories over Florida and No. 18 Tennessee and a loss at South Carolina. Georgia held the Gators to .379 field goal shooting and then kept the Volunteers to a .349 clip. The Gamecocks shot .309.

After slipping to No. 19 nationally in FG defense, the last three outings have lifted the Bulldogs back to No. 9 in Thursday's edition of NCAA statistics at .395.

Dogs Drawing At Home

Today's game will provide the Bulldogs with their fifth Saturday sellouts during the 2017-18 season. The only seats that remained were 2,000 student tickets to be distributed on game day.

The Bulldogs have averaged 8,252 fans over 13 home games to date, the highest since Georgia averaged 8,619 during the 2003-04 campaign.

Georgia is well on its way to topping 8,000 fans per game for the sixth time in the 2000s. Previously, the Bulldogs averaged a school-record 9,857 in 2002-03; 9,064 in 2001-02; the aforementioned 8,619 in 2003-04; 8,250 in 2010-11; and 8,026 in 2000-01.

Georgia Sports "Q"uality Wins

Georgia has secured more quality victories than just about every team in the nation.

The Bulldogs own six "Q1" victories, which is quantified as wins over teams in the RPI at: 1-30 at home, 1-50 at neutral sites or 1-75 on the road. Georgia was one of only 13 nationally with six or more "Q1" victories.

Bulldogs Balanced In Ws

Five Bulldogs reached double figures in the scoring column during Georgia's wins over Florida and No. 18 Tennessee last week.

Yante Maten scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Florida. Derek Ogbeide also notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Tyree Crump chipped in 13 points to go along with career-high tallies of five rebounds and five assists. Rayshaun Hammonds and Juwan Parker also scored 10 points apiece.

Versus Tennessee, Maten led the Bulldogs with 19 points, the 22nd time he's paced Georgia offensively this season. Ogbeide produced his second-straight double-double with a season-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Crump added 11 points, and Turtle Jackson and Juwan Parker chipped in 10 points each.

Claxton Joins Freshman Starters

Nicolas Claxton earned his first career start at Vanderbilt on Feb. 7.

Claxton, the son of former Bulldog and All-SEC center Charles Claxton, became the ninth of Georgia's 13 scholarship players on the 2017-18 roster to start at least one game during their freshman season.

Claxton joined seniors Yante Maten and Juwan Parker, juniors Mike Edwards and Derek Ogbeide, sophomores Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris and freshmen Rayshaun Hammonds and Teshaun Hightower as the Bulldogs' freshman starters.

Dogs Win Thrilla In Gainesvilla

We loved the way Georgia defeated Florida at Exactech Arena on Feb. 14.

A pair of Yante Maten 3-pointers in the final 16 seconds helped the Bulldogs rally from a six-point deficit to tie the game at 59-59 and force overtime. Georgia eased to a 72-69 win.

The victory was Georgia's first over the Florida in Gainesville since 2002 and, combined with their win in Athens 15 days earlier, provided the Bulldogs with their first season sweep of Florida since 1997.

Maten Tabbed to Top-10 Lists

Yante Maten was named a top-10 candidate for both the Senior CLASS Award and the Karl Malone Award on Feb. 8.

The Senior CLASS Award is given to a student-athlete who makes a positive impact as a community leader. The Karl Malone Award honors the top power forward in the nation.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders. The recipient will be announced during the Final Four.

The other finalists are: Shawn Anderson, Navy; Vladimir Brodziansky, TCU; Jevon Carter, West Virginia; Angel Delgado, Seton Hall; Rob Gray, Houston; A.J. Jacobson, North Dakota St.; Justin Johnson, Western Kentucky; Luke Morrison, Army; and Johnathan Williams, Gonzaga.

The Karl Malone Award, named after Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, is one of five position player of the year honors administered by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The winner will be honored at ESPN's College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles on April 6.

Joining Maten in the top 10 candidates for the Malone Award are: DeAndre Ayton, Arizona; Gary Clark Jr., Cincinnati; Marvin Bailey III, Duke; Wendell Carter Jr., Duke; Nick King, MTSU; Jordan Murphy, Minnesota; Luke Maye, N. Carolina; Mike Daum, South Dakota St.; and Robert Williams, Texas A&M.

Dogs Take Part In CVC Challenge

Georgia is teaming up with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the American Cancer Society to take part in the Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge.

During Georgia's last nine regular-season games, every 3-pointer the Bulldogs make will help raise money to beat cancer.

Fans can pledge their donation per 3-pointer made at https://pledgeit.org/cvc18-georgia. Fans have the choice to donate retroactively beginning with the Mississippi State contest on Feb. 3 or just for the remaining games at the time of their donation.

Contributions of $100 or more will earn an exclusive Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge T-shirt. Fans also can earn an exclusive t-shirt by creating a personal fund raiser profile on the Bulldogs' page and collecting 10 pledges ($1+ min pledge).

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. Jay Bilas included Maten on his first-team ledger.

Bulldogs' Bench Producing

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

This season, the Bulldogs' non-starters have produced more points than their counterparts in 17 of 27 outings.

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

This year, the Bulldogs are +41, a massive swing of 136 points from a year ago.

Diatta Returns to Rotation

A significant ankle sprain last summer stymied Pape Diatta's senior season. Diatta practiced and played with a brace through the New Year and spent the next month strengthening the ankle.

After seeing action in just six contests and failing to score in Georgia's first 21 games, Diatta scored 12 points by hitting 4-of-4 3-pointers at Mississippi State on Feb. 3.

Diatta logged a combined 36 minutes during the first 21 outings of the season but then recorded 37 combined MP in back-to-back contests against State and Vanderbilt.

Hightower Shines In First Start

Freshman Teshaun Hightower certainly made the most of his first career start at LSU on Jan. 16, producing career-high outputs for points (8), rebounds (3), steals (2) and minutes played (27).

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" as the only D-I player who has earned a master's degree.

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

He had nine double-figure outputs in the first 11 contests this season and now has 14 double-figure performances.

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 9.1 ppg, Jackson continues to do much of his damage from behind the 3-point arc.

This season, 46 of his 8146 field goals (56.8 percent) have been 3-pointers. For his career, 82-of-142 (57.7 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 home 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 for Bulldog Basketball. 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. He is one of only four Bulldogs included on both top 10s.

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, also winning on Jan. 2, 2017 after scoring 31 points at Auburn.

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, 34 of his 46 makes (73.9 percent) have been 3-pointers, and 53-of-79 career field goals (67.1 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 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).