MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Set For Third Game In Five Days

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (5-6) vs. East Tennessee State (7-5)
Wednesday, December 22, 2021 | 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: None
Video Stream: SEC Network + (Jeff Dantzler, pbp; Mark Slonaker, analyst)
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: XM: 381; SXM App: 971
History: tied 2-2 (Full History)
Last Meeting: UGA 54-38 (11/23/2012)

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Tom Crean
46-55 in 4th season at UGA
402-286 in 22nd season overall
3	Kario Oquendo	11.2	3.7
(6-4; 215; Soph.; Titusville, Fla.)
10	Aaron Cook	10.5	3.0
(6-2; 185; Grad.; St. Louis, Va.)
11	Jaxon Etter	5.3	2.9
(6-4; 205; Jr.; Woodstock, Ga.)
20	Noah Baumann	4.6	2.7
(6-6; 210; Sr.; Phoenix, Ariz.)
23	Braelen Bridges	13.1	5.7
(6-11; 240; Sr.; Atlanta, Ga.)

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

East Tennessee State Buccaneers
Coach: Desmond Oliver
7-5 in 1st season at ETSU
7-5 in 1st season overall
2	Jordan King	11.4	2.9
(6-0; 172; Soph.; Albany, N.Y.)
4	David Sloan	10.8	2.9
(6-0; 180; Sr.; Louisville, Ky.)
14	Ty Brewer	9.7	6.5
(6-9; 2-5; Jr.; Meridian, Miss.)
25	Ledarrius Brewer	12.6	5.4
(6-5; 190; R-Jr.; Meridian, Miss.)
33	Charlie Weber	7.7	3.8
(6-9; 215; Soph.; Owings, Md.)

TEAM COMPARISON

2020-21 STATISTICS	GEORGIA	ETSU
Points Per Game	69.5	69.7
Opp. Point Per Game	70.8	68.7
Scoring Margin	-1.3	+1.0
Field Goal Pct.	.438	.424
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.429	.433
3-Point Pct.	.307	.327
3-Pointers Per Game	6.3	8.4
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.313	.315
Free Throw Pct.	.703	.810
Free Throws Per Game	15.1	9.3
Rebounds Per Game	35.9	36.6
Opp. Rebound Per Game	34.6	34.1
Rebound Margin	+1.3	+2.5
Assists Per Game	14.4	13.8
Turnovers Per Game	13.7	13.6
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.05	1.02
Turnover Margin	-2.7	-0.8
Steals Per Game	5.4	7.7
Blocks Per Game	2.7	2.8

The Starting 5...

Through games of 12/20, Aaron Cook ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 5 nationally in assists at 7.1 apg.
Georgia has used 6 different starting lineups in the first 11 games...largely due to injuries and illnesses.
Braelen Bridges leads UGA with eight double-figure outputs...and has two more games with nine points.
Jaxon Etter has drawn 11 offensive fouls this year...and 19 in UGA's last 22 games dating back to last season.
UGA's seven first-year transfers combined to score 4,782 points at their previous schools.

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs will play their third game five days – a span of just under 100 hours – on Wednesday when the host East Tennessee State's Buccaneers.

Georgia began the stretch with dates against George Mason and Western Carolina on Saturday and Monday, respectively. Following the ETSU contest, the Bulldogs will earn a well-earned week away from competition before rounding out their non-conference schedule versus Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29.

All told, Georgia is in the midst of an eight-game, 37-day homestand covering Nov. 28-Jan. 4.

Keeping An Eye On . . . Entering Today's Game:

Aaron Cook is...
• 20 assists from 400 for his career
• 7 outings from 150 games played in his career
• 21 steals from 200 for his career

Series History Against ETSU

Georgia and East Tennessee State have split their four all-time meetings.

Most recently, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's game-high 13 point performance led the Bulldogs in a 54-38 victory over the Buccaneers on Nov. 23, 2012 at Stegeman Coliseum.

Donte' Williams added 12 points for the Bulldogs, who raced to a 31-13 halftime lead and cruised to the easy victory.

Caldwell-Pope, then a sophomore, went on to earn SEC Player of the Year accolades that season before declaring for the NBA Draft. KCP was the No. 8 overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in 2013. He's now in his ninth season in the league – and his first with the Washington Wizards. His solid NBA resume is headlined by a 2020 NBA Championship with the Lakers.

Scouting The Buccaneers

ETSU sports a 7-5 record to date under first-year coach Desmond Oliver, who was an assistant coach for the Bulldogs for five seasons from 2005-09.

The Bucs are playing their first game since a 69-67 setback to North Carolina A&T on Dec. 14.

ETSU dropped its first two games of the season before stringing together a five-game winning streak. The Bucs are 2-2 since center Silas Adheke left the team following the eighth game of the season.

Ledarrius Brewer paces a trio of double-figure scorers for ETSU by putting up 12.4 points per game, while Jordan King and David Sloan are chipping in 11.4 and 10.8 ppg, respectively. Ty Brewer, Ledarrius' brother, is just shy of giving the Bucs a fourth double-digit point producer at 9.7 ppg and is the ETSU's top rebounder at 6.4 rpg.

Last Time Out

Kario Oquendo's 21-point performance and Aaron Cook's double-double of 13 points and a career-high 12 assists led Georgia en route to an 85-79 win over Western Carolina on Monday night.

Braelen Bridges added 17 points, Dalen Ridgnal chipped in 10 and Noah Baumann grabbed a career-most 11 rebounds.

Though the Bulldogs led for 36:25 of the game, the Catamounts continually kept the game interesting. Georgia went up by double figures four times in the first half before Western closed the period on 17-9 surge to pull within 35-33 at the intermission.

The Catamounts knotted the score at 44-44 with 16:23 left and then grabbed their first lead at 53-52 at the 12:01 mark.

Georgia took the lead for good on an Oquendo dunk that opened a 9-0 run to give the Bulldogs a 70-62 lead. Western clawed within four with 77 seconds left, but an Oquendo 3-pointer ended any doubt.

Bulldogs Use 6th Starting 5

Georgia has utilized six different starting lineups in 11 games this season, mixing and matching eight Bulldogs to comprise those quintets.

Only Braelen Bridges and Kario Oquendo have gotten the nod for every contest, although Aaron Cook has started every game he's played. Cook missed the Memphis game due to an illness.

Career Highs Against WCU

There were several of career-best statistical performances against Western Carolina. Most notably...

Aaron Cook dished out 12 assists, bettering his previous high of 10 at Cincinnati earlier this season and against Howard on Nov. 19, 2018. With 13 points, the "super senior" from St. Louis also recorded his second career double-double...the first coming at Cincinnati.

Noah Baumann grabbed 11 rebounds, more than doubling his previous career-most of five in seven different games including this year's season opener against FIU. Joked Tom Crean: "I don't know if he's done that since grade school. Somewhere out West, he might have had 11 boards in a CYO game in the eighth grade."

Dalen Ridgnal scored 10 points and collected nine rebounds, just missing a double-double. Ridgnal's tallies are even more impressive considering he did so in just 12 minutes of action.

Noah Continues Scoring Trend

Noah Baumann notched 11 points against George Mason, representing his first double-digit scoring output as a Bulldogs and the 23rd of his collegiate career.

The graduate transfer senior had three 3-pointers against the Patriots, continuing his trend of scoring from behind the arc.

Through 11 games, 12 of Baumann's 15 made field goals this season have been 3-pointers, and he's shooting a higher percentage from 3-point range (.375) than on 2-point attempts (.273).

Career-wise, 71.8 percent (158 of 220) of Baumann's made FGs are 3-pointers, and he is shooting a considerably better percentage outside the arc (.429) than inside that stripe (.354).

Etter Accepting Charges

Defensively, Jaxon Etter is like Visa...as in "everywhere you want (him) to be."

The junior walk-on from Woodstock, Ga., took three charges against Western Carolina, the second game this season when he's drawn a trio of offensive fouls. The other outing being versus Georgia Tech.

On the season, Etter has now collected a team-high 11 charges. The trend actually began last season when he drew eight offensive fouls in the final 11 outings, giving Etter 19 charges taken in the Bulldogs' last 22 contests.

B.B. In Consistent, Efficient

Braelen Bridges is not only Georgia's leading scorer, he's also the Bulldogs' most consistent point producer and among the nation's most efficient.

Bridges has posted double-digit scoring outputs in eight of Georgia's 11 games and has notched nine points in two of the other three outings.

The graduate transfer senior Atlanta native is shooting a sizzling 66.3 percent from the field, connecting on 53 of his 80 field goal attempts.

Bridges' effort almost puts him in elite company nationally. To be ranked among NCAA statistical leaders in FG percentage, a player has to make a minimum of five shots per game. With 53 field goals made, Bridges falls two shy of that standard...or he would rank No. 5 in the nation through games of Monday night.

Cook Among Assist Leaders

Through Monday's games, Aaron Cook ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 5 nationally in average assists per game.

The "super senior" from St. Louis has distributed 71 passes-to-points in the 10 games he's played this season, an averaged of 7.1 apg.

Though only a third of the way through the season, Cook's apg tally is on pace to be the second-best ever by a Bulldog. In fact, he has a nice cushion between the current No. 2 – 6.3 apg by Pertha Robinson in 1994-95.

Cook also is No. 2 in the SEC in total assists. He's No. 11 nationally, with that dip largely due to his missing the Memphis game because of an illness.

Shooting His Shot

Noah Baumann had an eventual Sunday, November 14. The graduate transfer from Southern Cal proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Mackenzie Moore, beside Lake Herrick at the intramural fields on the UGA campus.

Baumann and Moore have known each other since they were 7th graders at Akimel (pronounced ah-kee-mull) Middle School and started dating during their senior year at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix.

They have endured a long-distance relationship for the past four years.

Moore was a four-year starter on the Miami (Ohio) softball team, batting .279 with seven homers and 66 RBI. She was named second-team All-MAC as a senior, leading the RedHawks to a 46-10 finish, the MAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament bid.

Dogs Look To Regroup Again

The George Mason game was Georgia's first since losing Jailyn Ingram to a knee injury during the Jacksonville game on Dec. 7. The "super senior" from Madison, Ga., and Morgan County High School went down with 14:21 remaining in the contest and did not return.

Following an MRI on Dec. 8, head coach Tom Crean confirmed the prognosis on Dec. 9 with a Twitter post stating: "Unfortunately, Jailyn Ingram will have to have surgery to repair his ACL in his right knee. It's heartbreaking because Jailyn has been emerging in so many areas and has been a model of consistency day in and day out. He's an incredible young man. We will help him in every way.

"Jailyn has brought a spirit and seriousness to us. He is a guy that is in the gym most mornings before we would lift weights at 8:45 and was a stabilizing for a young team. We plan to appeal for the waiver to get another year since he's under the 30% games played. Pray for him."

Ingram's setback is the second season-ending injury for Georgia. On Oct. 20, Crean announced that P.J. Horne, one of just two Bulldogs to start every game last season, would miss the 2021-22 campaign.

Tweeted Crean: "It's with genuine sadness that I let you know that P.J. Horne will miss this season after undergoing surgery on his right knee this past weekend. In practice, he bumped knees in a scrimmage, lost footing and went down awkwardly. "This is such a major blow to us because P.J. was playing so well and showing great leadership as our leading returning player, but more so because he is such a great person and one of the finest people I've ever coached. He cares about his teammates deeply.

"The future is definitely in grasp. The goal is to finish his master's, rehab consistently and be the leader we need him to be. A full recovery is expected and anticipated. He will continue to be a DIFFERENCE MAKER in all that he does. We love P.J."

Jabri's Contributions Soar

It's probably glossed over too much that this fall is the first time Jabri Abdur-Rahim has played extended minutes in nearly two years. He suffered a foot injury during his senior season at Blair Academy and only played in two games.

It appears the Jabri who was ranked as one of the nation's top-40 prospects in the Class of 2020 has re-emerged in Georgia's last three outings. Abdur-Rahim exploded for a career-high 20 points against Wofford and followed that with a 15 and 10-point showings versus No. 18 Memphis and Jacksonville, respectively.

Equally impressive as the totals was the efficiency in which he scored.

In those three games, Abdur-Rahim scored more points, connected on more shots and upped his shooting percentages by massive amounts over his 14 previous career outings.

Abdur-Rahim's Increases
Stat	1st 14	Next 3	Diff.
Total Points	32	45	+13
Scoring Average	2.3	15.0	12.7
FGs Made	9	13	+4
FG Percentage	.214	.650	+.436
3FGs Made	3	9	+6
3FG Percentage	.125	.600	+.475

Crean Captures Win No. 400

Tom Crean secured his 400th career victory with Georgia's upset of No. 18 Memphis on December 1.

Prior to arriving in Athens, Crean compiled 366 W's in his first 18 campaigns as a collegiate head coach. He earned the first 190 in nine seasons at Marquette from 1998-2008 and added 166 more at Indiana between 2008-17 before arriving in Athens and securing the final 44 of his 400.

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.
No. 300 – Dec. 20, 2014 – Indiana tops No. 23 Butler, 82-73, as Yogi Ferrell became IU's 48th 1,000-point scorer.
No. 400 – Dec. 1, 2021 – Kario Oquendo's 24-point outburst paces UGA in an 82-79 upset of No. 18 Memphis at a raucous Stegeman Coliseum.

Wright Stellar Against Tigers

Freshman Christian Wright started at point guard against No. 18 Memphis for Aaron Cook, who was out of action due to an illness. That task was taller considering the Tigers entered the game forcing an average of 18.0 turnovers per game.

While Wright's career-high totals of 17 points, six boards and 38 minutes tallies drew significant attention, his turnover tally – a meager one TO – was the most significant digit in his linescore. And he did so logging the most PT of any Bulldog in any game this season to date.

Also of note, Wright drew seven fouls, including two on the offensive end, and converted on 6-of-7 free throw attempts.

We Should've Known...

...when Georgia tipped off against No. 18 Memphis, Kario Oquendo was ready for a breakout performance. There were pretty good indicators on record.

Last season, the Titusville, Fla., native averaged 13.5 points while shooting 55.4 percent from the field for the Florida SouthWestern College.

In Buccaneers' four contests against ranked opponents, those stats jumped to 22.0 points and 63.6 percent.

The trend of big nights against ranked foes continued against Memphis, with Oquendo pouring in 24 points while shooting 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from the floor.

Take II: We Should've Known...

...the Bulldogs' upset of No. 18 Memphis was a likely occurrence. Georgia's quartet of victories over ranked teams under Tom Crean all came against Tigers.

Georgia has now one four consecutive matchups against ranked Tigers, with the Bulldogs besting No. 9 Memphis on Jan. 4, 2020, No. 13 Auburn on Feb. 19, 2020 and No. 20 Missouri on Feb. 16, 2021 prior to defeating Memphis.

Tip of the cap to stats guru Dave McMahon (@dave_mc_stats) for being the first to notice the coincidence.

The SportsCenter "top-Quen"

Kario Oquendo has emphatically made his way in the top-10 plays on ESPN's SportsCenter twice this season.

On Nov. 16, Oquendo came in at No. 3 on SportsCenter's top-10 plays after his third highlight reel effort against S.C. State. He stole the ball at midcourt and windmilled home an uncontested dunk.

A posterized effort on Nov. 23 was tabbed No. 6. Oquendo, who's 6-4, gathered a steal in Northwestern's lane and drove the length of the floor before a thunderous dunk over a 6-9 Wildcat.

If you want to rate Oquendo's SportsCenter dunks, you can find the S.C. State slam at gado.gs/kariosctop1116 and the Northwestern effort at gado.gs/kariosc1123.

Cook Tops Millennium Mark

Aaron Cook blew past the 1,000-point career scoring mark on Nov. 16 against South Carolina State.

The "super senior" was eight points shy of that plateau entering the game. He inched past the milestone on a jumper with 2:21 left in the first half. Cook finished the night with 22 points, three of his career high versus Indiana State on Jan. 24, 2018.

Cook scored 845 points at Southern Illinois from 2016-20. He competed for four seasons at SIU, including a redshirt campaign in 2019-20 due to a broken hand.

Cook transferred to Gonzaga and added 127 points for the Bulldogs en route to their NCAA runner-up finish last season.

Cook scored 10 points in each of his first two outings at UGA, pushing him to 992 prior to the S.C. State matchup.

Dalen, Kario Draw Attention

Kario Oquendo and Dalen Ridgnal have been ranked among the top junior college transfers expected to make the biggest marks at 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" 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 was the third-most experienced player – game wise – in Division I entering this season as outlined in the next column.

As a point of reference for Georgia's 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 2021-22, having played in 122 contests at FAU 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

Welcoming A Slew Of Scoring

Of the 10 newcomers on the Bulldogs' roster seven are transfers – five from 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 as outlined below.

In their previous stops, the D-I quintet of the group also logged 8813 minutes in 404 games played, while grabbing 1283 rebounds, dishing 643 assists, swatting 116 blocks and collecting 304 steals.

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

On The Flip Side...

While Georgia welcomed a huge influx of college scoring from its newcomers, the Bulldogs returned a minuscule portion of their scoring from last season.

P.J. Horne was Georgia's only returning starter but was lost for the season after suffering a knee injury during preseason practices. The Tifton, Ga., native put up 222 points – 8.5 ppg – last season, largely due to connecting on a team-high 46 3-pointers.

"This is such a major blow to us because P.J. was playing so well and showing great leadership as our leading returning player, but more so because he is such a great person and one of the finest people I've ever coached," Tom Crean tweeted on Oct. 20. "He cares about his teammates deeply."

With that, the four returning Bulldogs accounted for only 1110 of Georgia's 2014 points a year ago, or 5.5 percent. Walk-on Jaxon Etter is the top returning point producer with 47 points.

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 big numbers by the Bulldogs aren'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 Set For Third Game In Five Days

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Noah Baumann

Braelen Bridges

Aaron Cook

Jaxon Etter

P.J. Horne

Jailyn Ingram

Justin Kier

Kario Oquendo

Dalen Ridgnal

Christian Wright

MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Set For Third Game In Five Days

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Noah Baumann

Braelen Bridges

Aaron Cook

Jaxon Etter

P.J. Horne

Jailyn Ingram

Justin Kier

Kario Oquendo

Dalen Ridgnal

Christian Wright

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