MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Begin Busy Week By Hosting S.C. State

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Coach Crean

N. Baumann

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (1-1) vs. South Carolina State (0-4)
Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Stegeman Coliseum (10.523) in Athens, Ga.
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (Flagship: WSB AM 750); (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer) | Affiliates
TV: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, pbp; Mark Slonaker, analyst)
Video Stream: SECN+
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: XM- 192, SXM App- 962
History: UGA 1-0 (Full History)
Last Meeting: UGA, 105-60, on 11/21/2007

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Tom Crean
42-50 in 4th season at UGA
398-281 in 22nd season overall
0	Jailyn Ingram	9.5	4.5
(6-7; 225; Grad.; Madison, Ga.)
3	Kario Oquendo	4.5	3.5
(6-4; 215; Soph.; Titusville, Fla.)
10	Aaron Cook	10.0	3.5
(6-2; 185; Grad.; St. Louis, Mo.)
20	Noah Baumann	6.5	2.5
(6-6; 210; Sr.; Phoenix, Ariz.)
23	Braelen Bridges	16.5	8.0
(6-11; 240; Sr.; Atlanta, Ga.)

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

South Carolina State Bulldogs
Coach: Todd Madlock
0-4 in 1st season at SCSU
1-8 in 1st full season overall
1	Cameron Jones	16.3	4.3
(6-6; 190; R-Soph.; Memphis, Tenn.)
2	Jemal Davis	8.0	2.5
(6-9; 200; Fr.; St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.)
5	Deaquan Williams	9.0	6.5
(6-8; 215; Grad.; Camden, N.J.)
12	Omar Croskey	6.5	2.8
(6-6; 195; Soph.; Sumter, S.C.)
20	Antonio "TJ" Madlock	9.0	5.0
(6-3; 190; Fr.; Memphis, Tenn.)

TEAM COMPARISON

2020-21 STATISTICS	GEORGIA	SC STATE
Points Per Game	63.0	70.5
Opp. Point Per Game	62.0	86.0
Scoring Margin	+1.0	-15.5
Field Goal Pct.	.414	.387
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.372	.449
3-Point Pct.	.345	.304
3-Pointers Per Game	5.0	5.3
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.377	.340
Free Throw Pct.	.686	.685
Free Throws Per Game	12.0	15.8
Rebounds Per Game	38.5	38.3
Opp. Rebound Per Game	30.0	45.5
Rebound Margin	+0.5	-7.3
Assists Per Game	15.5	11.0
Turnovers Per Game	14.0	16.0
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.11	0.69
Turnover Margin	-2.5	-2.0
Steals Per Game	6.0	6.8
Blocks Per Game	3.5	4.8

The Starting 5...

Tom Crean looks for this 399th career victory when UGA hosts S.C. State at Stegeman Coliseum.
Braelen Bridges is coming off a career-best scoring outburst of 24 points at Cincinnati.
Aaron Cook is eight points shy of 1,000 for his career, scoring 845 at SIU, 127 at Gonzaga and 20 at UGA.
UGA's roster features 10 newcomers – five D-I transfers, two JUCO transfers and three true freshmen.
UGA's seven first-year transfers combined to score 4,782 points at their previous schools.

The Opening Tip

Georgia begins a busy stretch of four games in a week-long span when the Bulldogs host South Carolina State on Tuesday evening at Stegeman Coliseum.

Following the matchup between the Bulldogs, Georgia will host arch-rival Georgia Tech on Friday before traveling to New Jersey to take part in the Legends Classic next Monday and Tuesday. The Bulldogs will face Virginia in their opening-round matchup and then take on either Northwestern or Providence.

Keeping An Eye On . . . Entering Tonight's Game

Tom Crean is...
• 2 victories shy of his 400th career win

Aaron Cook is...
• 8 points from 1000 for his career

Series History With S.C. State

Georgia won the only previous meeting with South Carolina State, rolling to a 105-60 victory on Nov. 21, 2006.

Mike Mercer scored 26 points in 26 minutes to pace a quartet of Bulldogs in double figures. Takais Brown and Billy Humphrey chipped in 13 points apiece, and Levi Stukes added 10.

Georgia led by 20 points or more for the final 28:15 of the game, a margin that eventually bulged to a game-high 48 points at 102-54 with 1:08 remaining.

The contest was the second-consecutive outing with Georgia topping the 100-point plateau. Three days earlier, the Bulldogs thumped Valdosta State, 105-74. That marked the first time Georgia hit triple digits in back-to-back outings since Dec. of 1993.

Scouting The Other Bulldogs

South Carolina State is in its first season under head coach Tony Madlock, who spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Memphis.

Madlock is a familiar face in SEC circles. He was as an assistant coach at Auburn from 2010-14 and at Ole Miss from 2014-18. Madlock wrapped up his stint in Oxford as the Rebels' interim head coach for the final four games of the 2017-18 campaign.

State has been a busy bunch of Bulldogs over the first week of the season. They dropped their season opener to East Carolina last Tuesday before falling in a trio of contests at the Rising Coaches Classic on Thursday-Saturday in Charleston.

The Bulldogs' roster features nine returnees and five newcomers. Four newcomers start for State – graduate transfer Deaquan Williams, sophomore Cameron Jones and freshmen Jemal Davis and T.J. Madlock. Jones leads the Bulldogs offensively, averaging 16.3 points per game. Madlock and Williams are chipping in 9.0 points each.

Last Time Out

Despite an explosive and efficient career-best output of 24 points from Braelen Bridges, Georgia dropped a 73-68 decision at Cincinnati last Saturday. Bridges' performance was largely due to an 11-of-15 shooting effort from the field.

Aaron Cook added 10 points and matched his career-high with 10 assists to notch his first career double-double.

Georgia started quickly and raced to an 11-2 lead before the Bearcats used a 17-0 surge to go up 31-19 late in the first half.

The Bulldogs battled throughout the second stanza, rallying from a 16-point deficit to pull within 63-59 with 3:04 remaining.

Georgia fouled down 70-67 with just 23 ticks left in regulation. Cincinnati missed the front end of a one-and-one but grabbed a crucial offensive rebound.

"It was a great atmosphere," head coach Tom Crean said. "We knew it would be. I've been here many, many times. You can't hear yourself think. They did a really good job, and they have a really good team. It was a big win for Cincinnati, and it was a big learning step for us."

Experience Has Traveled

The phrase "defense travels" is a well-known sports phrase.

For Georgia Basketball "experience has traveled" may become an more appropriate slogan for the Bulldogs' 2021-22 roster.

Georgia's lineup this season is anchored by five Division I transfers, sixth-year "super seniors" Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram, graduate transfer seniors Noah Baumann and Braelen Bridges and sophomore Jabri Abdur-Rahim.

That quintet of Bulldogs has accounted for 80 percent of Georgia's starts to date as well as the large majority of its production in virtually every statistic.

D-I transfer contributions
Stat	Team	D-I Ts	Pct.
Minutes	400	254	63.5
Scoring	126	91	72.2
Rebounds	68	43	63.2
Assists	31	27	87.2
Blocks	7	4	57.1
Steals	12	8	66.7

Crean Closing In On 400 Wins

Georgia head coach Tom Crean is now just two wins shy of his 400th career victory. He compiled 397 W's in his first 21 campaigns as a collegiate head coach, an impressive average of 18.9 wins.

Prior to arriving in Athens, Crean was 190-96 in nine seasons Marquette's coach from 1998-2008 and the recorded a 166-135 mark in nine campaigns at Indiana between 2008-17.

Tom Crean's Milestone Wins

No. 1 – Nov. 20, 1999 – Marquette defeats Chicago State, 62-43, in Tom Crean's first game as a collegiate head coach.
No. 100 – March 6, 2004 – Freshman Dameon Mason's three-point play with eight-tenths of a second left lifts Marquette over No. 25 Louisville, 81-80.
No. 200 – Dec. 8, 2009 – Indiana knocks off Pittsburgh, 74-64, in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
No. 250 – Nov. 20, 2012 – A day after beating Georgia, 66-53, in the first round, IU tops Georgetown, 82-72, to win the Progressive Legends Classic at Barclays Center.
No. 300 – Dec. 20, 2014 – Indiana tops No. 23 Butler, 82-73, as Yogi Ferrell became IU's 48th 1,000-point scorer.

Cook Approaching Millennium Mark

Aaron Cook enters the South Carolina State game just eight points shy of the 1,000-point career scoring plateau.

Cook scored 845 points in 103 games played at Southern Illinois from 2016-20. The St. Louis native competed for five seasons at SIU, including a redshirt campaign in 2019-20 due to a broken hand.

Cook transferred to Gonzaga and played in 30 of 32 contests for the Bulldogs en route to their NCAA runner-up finish last season. He scored 127 points in 2020-21.

As a Bulldog of the UGA variety, Cook has scored 10 points in each of his first two outings, pushing him to 992 career points as a college player.

Dalen, Kario Draw Attention

Kario Oquendo and Dalen Ridgnal have been ranked among the top junior college transfers expected to make the biggest marks following their moves to the Division I level this season.

On August 25, bustingbrackets.com ranked the top-25 junior college players moving to the "high-major" level. Ridgnal was tabbed No. 2 on that ledger, while Oquendo was ranked No. 23.

On Nov. 1, college basketball guru Jon Rothstein tabbed his top-10 "JUCOs to watch," an unranked ledger that also included Ridgnal.

Cook Among Most Experienced

Aaron Cook arrived in Athens having already participated in 133 games. Cook logged action in 103 contests in four seasons at Southern Illinois, including six in a 2019-20 redshirt campaign. He then played in 30 contests last season at Gonzaga.

Cook's tally of 133 GPs made him the third-most experienced player – game wise – in Division I entering this season as outlined below.

As a point of reference for Georgia Basketball, the Bulldogs' record for career games played is 133 contests by Marcus Thornton from 2011-15. Thornton's tally covers five seasons, including a redshirt season with nine GPs.

In addition, Jailyn Cook ranked among D-I's top-50 players in career outings entering the 2021-22 season, having played in 122 contests at Florida Atlantic prior to joining the Bulldogs.

D-I's career GPs Leaders
Rk.	Player, School	Games
1.	Jordan Bohannon, Iowa	142
2.	Chevez Goodwin, USC	138
3.	Aaron Cook, Georgia	133
	Garrison Brooks, Miss. St.	133
	Jalen Coleman-Lands, Kansas	133
	Justin Kier, Arizona	133

The Hoops Version of The CFP

Anyone who knows anything about college athletics is well aware that Georgia and Cincinnati, which met on the hardwood last Saturday, are undefeated in football.

In fact, there were only four FBS football programs that entered last weekend with unblemished records.

In an almost unfathomable coincidence, the other two unbeatens – Oklahoma and UTSA – played basketball against each other last Friday.

Bulldogs In Season Openers

With last Tuesday's win over Florida International, Georgia improved to 84-33 in opening contests of the Bulldogs' 117 seasons of basketball.

That tally includes an even more impressive 38-6 mark in openers contested at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia's most significant win in an opener at the Coliseum also was its first. In the Bulldogs' initial season opener in their current arena. On Dec. 3 1964, Georgia bested No. 13 North Carolina, 64-61.

The Bulldogs are 4-0 in openers under Tom Crean.

In Crean's debut outing on Nov. 9, 2018, Georgia raced to a 110-76 victory over Savannah State, the 11th-most points every scored by the Bulldogs and their highest scoring output in the current millennium.

Two seasons ago, Anthony Edwards poured in 24 points – the second-most ever by a Bulldog in their debut trailing only Dominique Wilkins' 26 versus Troy on Nov. 20, 1979 – to lead Georgia in a 91-72 win over Western Carolina.

Last Nov. 29, in an opener delayed twice by COVID-19, the Bulldogs bested Florida A&M, 85-74.

A Bunch of New Faces

Georgia's 2021-22 roster features 10 first-year Bulldogs.

Georgia's newcomers are represented by a diverse group eligibility wise. That ledger includes sixth-year "super seniors" Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram; graduate transfer seniors Noah Baumann and Braelen Bridges; junior college junior transfer Dalen Ridgnal; sophomores Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Kario Oquendo; and freshmen Tyrone Baker, Cam McDowell and Christian Wright.

Welcoming A Slew Of Scoring

Of Georgia's 10 newcomers, seven are transfers – five at the Division I level (Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Noah Baumann, Braelen Bridges, Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram) and a pair from the junior college ranks (Kario Oquendo and Dalen Ridgnal).

Those players arrived in Athens having already scored 4,782 points at their previous schools. That represents the largest addition of scoring by any Division I program for the 2021-22 season.

Top Scoring Influx's In D-I hoops
Rk.	School	Players	Points
1.	Georgia	7	4782
2.	Duquesne	5	4695
3.	Florida	5	4144
4.	Arkansas	6	4125
5.	Penn State	7	5183
6.	Washington St.	4	3785
7.	SMU	4	3733
8.	Kentucky	4	3538
9.	Utah	6	3175
10.	Arizona St.	3	3132

Putting Up Points Under Crean

Georgia has certainly been keeping scoreboard operators busy since Tom Crean arrived in Athens in 2018.

The Bulldogs reached the 90-point plateau 15 times in 90 games during Crean's first three seasons. That's a relatively healthy 16.7 percent of the team's total contests.

By comparison, Georgia scored 90 or more points just 15 times in 387 games before Crean's arrival, or .038 percent of the outings in a span that dates back a dozen seasons to the 2006-07 campaign.

The Bulldogs scoring bit numbers isn't just a single-game thing.

In three seasons under Crean, the Bulldogs have averaged two of their top-5 scoring outputs of the 2000s.

Top Scoring Averages In 2000s
Rk.	Season	Points	Games	Avg.
1.	2002-03	2138	27	79.2
2.	2020-21	1944	25	77.8
3.	2001-02	2444	32	76.4
4.	2019-20	2428	32	75.9
5.	2006-07	2477	33	75.1

"B" Is For Basketball Player

You may notice on Georgia's roster that the Bulldogs have gone away from listing traditional positions – guard, forward and center. All 15 players are now simply listed as "B" for "Basketball Player."

Tom Crean is a proponent for "position-less basketball."

"That's what they are," Crean said. "It's not valid to call them centers and power forwards and things like that as much with the way that we're trying to play. They're being trained as basketball players, every day... in the sense of how we train with the ball handling, the driving, the shooting – all those type of things. That's big to me."

MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Begin Busy Week By Hosting S.C. State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Tyrone Baker

Noah Baumann

Braelen Bridges

Aaron Cook

Jailyn Ingram

Justin Kier

Cam McDowell

Kario Oquendo

Dalen Ridgnal

Christian Wright

MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Begin Busy Week By Hosting S.C. State

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Tyrone Baker

Noah Baumann

Braelen Bridges

Aaron Cook

Jailyn Ingram

Justin Kier

Cam McDowell

Kario Oquendo

Dalen Ridgnal

Christian Wright

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