Dogs To Take On UK In SEC Tourney Quarterfinals

Friday, March 9

St. Louis, Mo.

Appx. 3:15 PM

University of Georgia

Kentucky

March 09, 2018 | Men's Basketball

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Georgia Basketball Game Notes
SEC Tournament Quarterfinals
Georgia (18-14, 7-11) vs. Kentucky (21-10, 10-8)
Friday, March 9 at 3:15 p.m. ET
Scottrade Center (20,948) in St. Louis, Mo.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network. (Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, Producer
TV: ESPN (Joe Tessitore, play-by-play; Sean Farnham, analyst; Laura Rutledge, reporter)
Video: WatchESPN.com

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mark Fox
163-132 in 9th season at UGA
286-175 in 14th season overall
G	0	William Jackson II	8.5	2.2
6-4; 185; Jr.; Athens, Ga.
G	3	Juwan Parker	8.3	3.7
6-4; 205; R-Sr.; Tulsa, Okla.
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	6.7	5.0
6-8; 227; Fr.; Norcross, Ga.
F	1	Yante Maten	19.6	8.7
6-8; 243; Sr.; Pontiac, Mich.
F	34	Derek Ogbeide	7.1	6.0
6-8; 245; Jr.; Atlanta, Ga.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Kentucky Wildcats
Coach: John Calipari
260-63 (9th season at UK)
715-203 (26th season overall)
G	22	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	13.2	3.8
6-6; 180; Fr.; Hamilton, Ontario
G	3	Hamidou Diallo	10.4	3.7
6-5; 198; Fr.; Queens, N.Y.
F	5	Kevin Knox	15.7	5.3
6-9; 215; Fr.; Tampa, Fla.
F	32	Wenyen Gabriel	6.1	5.3
6-9; 205; Soph.; Manchester, N.H.
F	4	Nick Richards	5.8	4.9
6-10; 252; Fr.; East St. Louis, Ill.

TEAM COMPARISON

GEORGIA		KENTUCKY
68.7	Points per game	76.9
+1.8	Scoring margin	+5.7
42.4	FG pct.	46.6
39.3	FG defense	41.1
32.0	3FG pct.	34.8
33.3	3FG defense	29.7
6.1	3FGs per game	5.2
70.2	FT pct.	69.5
15.6	FTs per game	17.4
+5.5	Rebound Margin	+5.5
12.4	Assists per game	13.3
0.97	Assists-to-TOs	0.99
4.7	Blocks per game	5.0
3.3	Steals per game	5.7

The Starting 5...

Yante Maten is UGA's first 3-time All-SEC pick in more than 25 years (since Litterial Green '90-92).
Teshaun Hightower has scored a career-high 13 points in back-to-back games.
UGA has 9 combined "Q1" & "Q2" wins, more than 49 teams ahead of UGA in the RPI.
UGA leads the SEC and is ranked No. 8 nationally in FG percentage defense at .394.
Juwan Parker, the only DI MBB player with a master's, is now 3rd on UGA's career FT pct. leaders list.

Dogs To Take On UK In SEC Tourney

Georgia will play its third game in as many days on Friday afternoon when the Bulldogs meet Kentucky in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at approximately 3:15.

Georgia delivered the most decision of the tournament to date by besting Vanderbilt 78-62 on Wednesday and then overcame a raucous crowd to top Missouri 62-60 yesterday. With that, the Bulldogs improved to 18-14 on the year.

Yante Maten, the AP's SEC Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-SEC pick, continues to the league in scoring by a full point per game at 19.6 ppg (Alabama's Collin Sexton is second at 18.6 ppg).

Maten also leads the league in double-doubles (14) and ranks among the SEC's top 10 in rebounding (No. 3), minutes played (No. 3), field goal percentage (No. 5), free throw percentage (No. 8) and blocked shots (No. 10).

Maten has been a picture of consistency for the Bulldogs. In 32 games this season, he has 31 double-figure outings, with 17 20-point performances and 14 double-doubles.

Over 95 games since the start of his sophomore year, Maten has 87 double-digit scoring performances, with 39 20-point and five 30-point outings, and 29 double-doubles.

Turtle Jackson and Juwan Parker and are the Bulldogs' second- and third-leading scorers at 8.5 and 8.3 ppg, respectively. Jackson is second on the team with 15 double-digit outings. Parker averaged 9.3 ppg in SEC action, a considerable jump from the 7.4 ppg he put up prior to league play.

Kentucky is the tournament's No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season at 21-10 overall and 10-8 in the SEC.

Kevin Knox leads a quartet of double-digit scorers for UK at 15.7 ppg, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander adds 13.2 ppg, Hamidou Diallo and PJ Washington both contribute 10.4 ppg and Quade Green chips in 10.3 ppg.

Entering Today's Game Among UGA's Career Leaders

Yante Maten is...

234 points from No. 1 Litterial Green
8 rebounds from No. 3 Alec Kessler
38 rebounds from No. 2 Terry Fair
10 FGs from No. 5 Bob Leinhard
30 FGAs from No. 4 Dominque Wilkins
35 FTs from No. 3 Litterial Green
42 FTAs from No. 3 Alec Kessler
51 blocks from No. 2 Charles Claxton

Derek Ogbeide is...

30 rebounds from No. 16 Ray Jeffords

Among UGA's Season Leaders

Yante Maten is...

13 points from No. 4 J.J. Frazier ('17)
19 points from No. 3 Jacky Dorsey ('75)
32 points from No. 2 Dominique Wilkins ('82)
105 points from No. 1 Dominique Wilkins ('81)
5 rebounds from No. 11 Jumaine Jones ('99)
17 rebounds from No. 10 Jacky Dorsey ('75)
7 FTs from No. 3 Charles Mann ('14)
11 FTs from No. 2 Alec Kessler ('90)
22 FTs from No. 1 Zippy Morocco ('53)
30 FTAs from No. 4 Alec Kessler ('89)
1 block from No. 14 Charles Claxton ('92)
2 blocks from co-No. 12s Willie Anderson ('87) & Willie Anderson ('88)
3 blocks from No. 11 Trey Thompkins ('11)
4 blocks from No. 10 Donte' Williams (12)
9 blocks from No. 9 Lavon Mercer ('79)

Series History With The Cats

Kentucky leads the all-time series with Georgia 125-26, including an 11-1 advantage in SEC Tournament matchups.

Georgia and Kentucky have met in three of the last four SEC Tournaments, with meetings in the 2014 and 2016 semifinals and the 2017 quarterfinals.

The Bulldogs and Wildcats faced off this season in a New Year's Eve date at Rupp Arena. No. 16 Kentucky rallied for a 66-61 win that helped christen both 2018 and both teams' SEC schedule.

The Wildcats trailed by as many as eight multiple times during the second half before surging ahead in the waning moments.

Georgia held Kentucky to a season-low 17 field goals and a second-lowest field goal percentage of .315. The Wildcats scored 40 percent of their points from the line, connecting on 27-of-38 trips to the stripe.

The last SEC Tournament meeting came 364 days ago in the 2017 quarterfinals when Kentucky topped the Bulldogs, 71-60.

The Wildcats started the game making three of their first four shots, including two 3-pointers, to build an early 10-2 advantage.

Kentucky led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but Georgia cut into the deficit with an 8-1 run. Isaiah Briscoe hit a jumper in the closing seconds of the half to send the Wildcats into the intermission up 32-25.

Kentucky opened the second half much like the first, with six straight points to extend its lead to 13. Georgia got as close as 10 with two minutes remaining, but the Wildcats continued to match the Bulldogs bucket for bucket to secure the win.

Last Time out

Yante Maten scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and freshman Teshaun Hightower matched his season high with 13 points to lead Georgia in a 62-60 win over Missouri in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

The contest featured a series of runs by each team.

Missouri opened the day by scoring the game's first 10 points, before Georgia responded with a 19-2 surge to gain control.

The Bulldogs led 33-24 at the half and extended that margin to a dozen points on a Turtle Jackson 3-pointer to open the second stanza scoring before the Tigers rallied to knot the score at 39-39 with 14:11 remaining.

A Jackson layup followed by consecutive 3-pointers from Tyree Crump and Nicolas Claxton quickly put Georgia back up by eight just 1:48 later.

Missouri chipped away and pulled within 59-57 on a pair of free throws with 3:57 remaining and then closed the gap to 61-60 with 60 seconds left.

Georgia forced three misses the rest of the way and grabbed a pair of key rebounds to secure the victory.

Georgia's SEC Tourney History

Georgia sports a 47-55 all-time record in 57 editions of the SEC Tournament.

The Bulldogs have compiled a 38-36 record in SEC Tournament action since the event resumed competition in 1979 following a 27-year hiatus from 1953-79.

The Bulldogs won the 1983 and 2008 SEC Tournaments and finished as runners-up in 1940, 1981, 1988 and 1997. Georgia has reached the semifinals 15 times, including three straight seasons from 2014-16.

Maten Moves Up On Season List

Yante Maten has ascended from No. 14 to No. 5 on Georgia's single-season scoring leaders ledger during the SEC Tournament.

Maten's 25-point outburst against Vanderiblt pushed him from No. 14 to No. 7 on Wednesday. His 21 points versus Missouri inched him up two more spots.

Maten, the Associated Press SEC Player of the Year and a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, enters the Kentucky game well with climbing a couple of most spots on that list as outlined below.

UGA's Single-Season Scoring Leaders

Rk.	No.	Player	Season	G
1.	732	Dominique Wilkins	1981	31
2.	659	Dominique Wilkins	1982	31
3.	646	Jacky Dorsey	1975	25
4.	640	J.J. Frazier	2017	34
5.	627	Yante Maten	2018	32
6.	613	Walter Daniels	1979	28
7.	610	Alec Kessler	1990	29
8.	596	Alec Kessler	1989	31
9.	594	Bob Lienhard	1969	25
	594	Vern Fleming	1984	30
11.	591	K. Caldwell-Pope	2013	32
12.	590	Zippy Morocco	1953	25
13.	588	Jacky Dorsey	1976	27
14.	583	Willie Anderson	1988	35
	583	Yante Maten before Vanderbilt

Hightower's Production Way Up

Freshman Teshaun Hightower's contributions have increased considerably over the last five games.

Hightower has scored 43.7 percent of his season points total (45 of 103) beginning with the LSU game on Feb. 24.

Hightower also has distributed 39.5 percent of his season assists (15 of 38) during that span.

Those four contests include all three of Hightower's double-digit scoring outputs on the year – 11 points against Texas A&M and 13 versus Vanderbilt and Missouri (to go along with a season-high seven boards against the Tigers). He also has upped his season-high assist effort three times – with three against LSU to four versus the Aggies to six (with zero turnovers) against Vanderbilt.

Protecting the Ball

Limiting turnovers has been key to Georgia's two victories in St. Louis.

The Bulldogs turned the ball over a season-low five times in the first round against Vanderbilt and then committed just eight TOs versus Missouri.

That's the first time Georgia has put together back-to-back single-digit turnovers outings since February 2015. That season, UGA turned the ball over seven times against South Carolina on Feb. 17 and followed that with nine TOs versus Alabama on Feb 21.

Ogbeide Strong vs. Wildcats

Derek Ogbeide has played some of his best basketball over the past two seasons against Kentucky, including career-high efforts of 18 points and 15 rebounds.

In four games during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns, Ogbeide is averaging just shy of a double-double of 9.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game versus the Wildcats. He also has shot a sizzling 77.3 percent (17-of-22) from the field during those contests.

Georgia Sports "Q"uality Wins

Georgia was No. 81 in Thursday's NCAA RPI. With yesterday's victory over Missouri, the Bulldogs now own a combined nine"Q1" and "Q2" victories. That's more than 49 of the teams that were ahead of UGA.

Georgia has eight wins over seven different teams in the RPI top-60 – No. 10 Tennessee, No. 33 Missouri, No. 37 Florida (twice), No. 43 Saint Mary's, No. 50 Temple, No. 55 Marquette and No. 56 Alabama.

The Bulldogs also are 3-4 against ranked opponents, with wins over No. 21 Saint Mary's, No. 23 Florida (in Athens) and No. 18 Tennessee (in Athens).

Maten 5th Bulldog To Lead SEC

Yante Maten is well on his way to becoming the fifth Georgia Bulldog to earn the SEC scoring title.

Maten tops the league in scoring by a full point per game at 19.6 ppg. Alabama's Collin Sexton is second in the league stats at 18.6 ppg. Even if Maten went scoreless against Kentucky, Sexton would need to score 32 points to match Maten's scoring average.

Georgia's previous scoring champions during the SEC's 86 years or basketball competition were Dominique Wilkins in 1980-81 (23.6 ppg), Vern Fleming in 1983-84 (19.8 ppg), Jumaine Jones in 1998-99 (18.8 ppg) and Jarvis Hayes in 2001-02 (18.6 ppg).

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 20 of 32 outings.

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

This year, the Bulldogs are +70, a relatively massive swing of 165 points from a year ago.

Freshmen Making Contributions

Freshmen Nicolas Claxton, Rayshaun Hammonds and Teshaun Hightower have made major contributions in the Bulldogs' two SEC Tournament wins.

Versus Vanderbilt, Hightower and Hammonds put up double-digit scoring totals of 13 and 10 points, respectively. Hightower also dished out a season-high six assists with zero turnovers, and Claxton added eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Against Missouri, Hightower matched his career high with 13 points and also hauled down a season-most seven boards. Claxton chipped in seven points and eight rebounds. Hammonds put up five points and grabbed two rebounds, including a key defensive carom with 13 seconds remaining.

Maten, Parker Earn SEC Honors

Tuesday was a productive day from an award-winning standpoint for Yante Maten and Juwan Parker.

Maten was named SEC Player of the Year by the Associated Press, tabbed District Player of the Year by the USBWA and voted consensus first-team All-SEC.

Parker was voted as the SEC's Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league's coaches.

Maten is Georgia's third SEC Player of the Year honoree, following Dominique Wilkins in 1981 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in 2013.

Maten also was voted All-SEC for the third-straight season. He is Georgia's first three-time All-SEC honoree in more than 25 years (since Litterial Green from 1990-92) and just the sixth in program history. Maten also was a first-team choice of coaches and a second-team pick by the AP a year ago, after earning second-team coaches and third-team AP honors as a sophomore.

Maten was selected as the District IV Player of the Year by the USBWA, which covers all Division I players in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

He also was named to the 10-player All-District team for the second-consecutive year.

Maten is the Bulldogs' first District Player of the Year since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in 2013 and first two-time All-District honoree since Trey Thompkins in 2010 and 2011.

Parker, a fifth-year senior, is the only active Division I men's basketball player who has already earned a master's degree. He secured his bachelor's in Management from UGA in two and a half years in Dec. 2015 and received his master's in Sport Management in August 2017. Parker is currently pursuing a second master's in Family Financial Planning.

On the court, Parker has 14 double-figure games, 10 of those coming against conference foes. He also ranks No. 3 among Georgia's career free throw percentage leaders, converting on 82.8 percent of his trips to the line. He also owns two of the top-10 single-season free throw percentage efforts in school history, No. 5 (85.9 to date) this season and No. 7 (85.6) last season.

Parker is Georgia's second Scholar-Athlete of the Year since the award's inception in 2004, following Dave Bliss in 2008.

Bulldogs' 'D' Among Nation's Best

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 opponents 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).

The Bulldogs' defense was much more solid in the last eight outings. During that stretch, Georgia has held its opposition to a combined 183-of-497 shooting performance from the floor, .368.

After slipping to No. 19 nationally in FG defense following those games, the last eight outings have lifted the Bulldogs back to the top of the SEC and No. 6 in Thursday's edition of NCAA statistics at .393.

Bulldogs Shuffle Starters

Georgia has used 10 Bulldogs to comprise nine different starting fives during the 2017-18 campaign. Yante Maten and Turtle Jackson are the only Bulldogs who have started every game to date.

Nicolas Claxton earned his first career start at Vanderbilt on Feb. 7. Claxton, the son of 1993 All-SEC center Charles Claxton, became the ninth of Georgia's 13 scholarship players on the 2017-18 roster to start at least once as a freshman.