Men's Hoops Takes On UAB in Sunshine Slam

Tuesday, November 22

Daytona Beach, Fla.

4 p.m.

University of Georgia

UAB

November 22, 2022 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Greenlight Sunshine Slam presented by Discount Tire
Georgia (4-1) vs. UAB (3-1)
Tuesday, November 22 at 4:00 p.m.
Ocean Center (8,362) in Daytona, Ohio
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: CBS Sports Network (Tom Janes, pbp; Mike O'Donnell, analyst)
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: TBD
History: UGA leads, 3-1 (Full History)
Last Meeting: UGA, 66-64, on Dec. 3, 2010

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Mike White
4-1 in 1st at UGA
247-129 in 12th season overall
0	Terry Roberts	15.0	4.8
(6-3; 180; Sr.; North Amityville, N.Y.)
2	Kyeron Lindsay	6.8	5.6
(6-7; 215; Fr.; Denton, Texas)
3	Kario Oquendo	13.5	4.0
(6-4; 220; Jr.; Titusville, Fla.)
12	Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe	4.3	4.3
(6-8; 215; Jr.; Toronto, Ontario)
13	Mardrez McBride	5.2	2.2
(6-2; 180; 5th Year; Augusta, Ga.)

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

UAB Blazers
Coach: Andy Kennedy
52-16 in 3rd season at UAB
318-184 in 16th season overall
2	Ledarrius Brewer	10.8	4.5
(6-5; 190; R-Sr.; Meridian, Miss.)
4	Eric Gaines	10.8	3.3
(6-2; 1655; Soph.; Lithonia, Ga.)
5	KJ Buffen	10.8	8.3
(6-7; 230; Sr.; Gainesville, Ga.)
10	Jordan Walker	23.3	2.0
(5-11; 170; Sr.; Long Island, N.Y.)
55	Trey Jemison	8.8	5.8
(6-11; 260; Sr.; Birmingham, Ala.)

TEAM COMPARISON

2022-23 STATISTICS	GEORGIA	UAB
Points Per Game	69.4	92.0
Opp. Point Per Game	64.0	72.3
Scoring Margin	+5.4	+19.8
Field Goal Pct.	.396	.496
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.421	.398
3-Point Pct.	.302	.354
3-Pointers Per Game	6.4	7.0
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.294	.309
Free Throw Pct.	.781	.754
Free Throws Per Game	17.8	23.0
Rebounds Per Game	40.0	42.8
Opp. Rebound Per Game	30.6	35.8
Rebound Margin	+9.4	+7.0
Assists Per Game	11.0	17.8
Turnovers Per Game	16.8	14.5
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	0.65	1.22
Turnover Margin	-1.8	+2.0
Steals Per Game	8.6	10.5
Blocks Per Game	3.4	5.8

The Starting 5...

UGA and UAB will meet for the championship of the Greenlight Sunshine Slam's "Beach Bracket" on Tuesday.
UGA coach Mike White was an assistant on UAB coach Andy Kennedy's staff at Ole Miss from 2006-11.
UGA's bench has put up 128 points in 5 games, outscoring its opponents' reserves by a 84 points.
The Sunshine Slam is a homeoming for Kario Oquendo, whose hometown is an hour south of Daytona Beach.
5 of UGA's 6 new transfers – Anselem, Hill, Holt, Moncrieffe & McBride – have played on NCAA Tourney teams.

The Opening Tip

Georgia and UAB will face off on Tuesday afternoon in the championship game of the Greenlight Sunshine Slam presented by Discount Tire's "Beach Bracket."

The Bulldogs advanced to the final with a 66-53 victory over Saint Joseph's on Monday, while the Blazers did so by virtue of an 80-65 decision over South Florida.

Georgia is now 4-1 on the season. The Bulldogs' three-game winning streak is their first since stringing together a trio of wins over Ole Miss, Auburn and Vanderbilt between Jan. 30-Feb. 6, 2021.

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

Mike White is...
• 3 wins from 250 for his career

Braelen Bridges is...
• 114 points from 1,000 for his career
• 58 rebounds from 500 for his career

Jailyn Ingram is...
• 70 points from 1,500 for his career
• 16 rebounds from 700 for his career

Series History With UAB

Georgia is 3-1 in all-time meetings with UAB, including a 2-0 mark at neutral sites.

The Bulldogs won the last meeting with the Blazers, 66-64, on Dec. 3, 2010 in Athens.

Trey Thompkins' scored a game-high 20 points in a highly efficient fashion to lead Georgia, connecting on 10-of-13 shots from the field. Jeremy Price and Gerald Robinson added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs.

Georgia quickly built a double-digit lead just over four minutes into the contest and maintained that advantage for the rest of the opening half. The Blazers started the second stanza just as quickly, cutting an 11-point margin to 45-42 with 17:28 left.

UAB took its first lead at 57-56 with 3:52 remaining, but Georgia used a 10-4 over the next 3:46 to secure the victory.

Both of the Bulldogs' neutral site wins in the series came on Dec. 19. – an 85-66 win in 1987 in the Phenix NCAA Ball in Tokyo and a 76-72 decision over the 16th-ranked Blazers in 1981 in the championship game of the Cotton States Classic at The Omni.

Scouting The Blazers

UAB enters Tuesday's game with a 3-1 record and some eye-grabbing statistics.

The Blazers' scoring average of 92.0 points per game currently ranks No. 7 nationally. UAB is doing much of that damage with the clock stopped as it ranks No. 2 nationally in both free throw takes (30.5) and makes (23.0) per game.

Jordan Walker, one of the nation's scoring leaders, paces a quintet of double-digit scorers for the Blazers. Walker's production of 23.2 ppg is No. 10 nationally. Starters Ledarrius Brewer, KJ Buffen and Eric Gaines are contributing matching 10.8 ppg scoring averages, while Javian Davis is chipping in 10.3 ppg off the bench. Buffen leads UAB on the boards, collecting 8.3 rpg.

Last Time Out

Georgia raced to a 38-15 halftime lead and withstood a second-half surge by Saint Joseph's en route to a 66-53 victory in the Greenlight Sunshine Slam on Monday.

Kario Oquendo led the Bulldogs with a game-high 15 points, while Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Justin Hill and Terry Roberts added 12 points apiece.

Georgia led from the get-go but broke the game open with a trio of 3-pointers – two from Abdur-Rahim and one from Hill – that put the Bulldogs up 29-13 with 4:59 left in the first half.

Georgia led 38-15 at the intermission, the fewest points the Bulldogs surrendered since holding Kansas State to 12 points on Dec. 31, 2014.

The Hawks scored the first seven points in the first 1:43 of the second half and eventually trimmed the margin to 41-30 at the 10:55 mark.

Georgia maintained a double-figure lead until a pair of free throws made it 54-46 with 2:58 remaining; however, Hill canned a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock expired on the Bulldogs' next possession.

Hey...We Know Those Dudes!

Two members of the UAB coaching staff are very familiar faces.

Head coach Andy Kennedy was previously at Ole Miss from 2006-18. Mike White was an assistant on Kennedy's staff for the first five seasons of that span from 2006-11. The duo combined to lead the Rebels to a pair of SEC West titles and a quartet of NIT appearances.

When asked about a scouting report on the Blazers following Monday's game, White quipped: "I can tell you everything that Andy Kennedy was running 10 years ago. And I can tell you every drill we were doing in practice and so forth. A lot of time has gone by. He's had a ton of success, of course, at Ole Miss and at UAB. He's rebuilt that thing."

In addition, Blazer assistant coach Philip Pearson was on Georgia's staff for nine seasons from 2009-18. Originally an assistant coach, Pearson was promoted to associate head coach in 2015.

Pearson remains a frequent visitor to Athens. His son, Will, is a junior pitcher for the Georgia Baseball team. In his first two seasons with the Bulldogs, Will has appeared in 45 games in relief and compiled a 4-2 record. Pearson's biggest victory was a 14-2 decision over No. 1 Vanderbilt on April 8, 2021 when he out dueled Kumar Rocker, his former high school teammate.

A Very Productive Bench

Georgia's bench has scored 128 points in the first five games, accounting for 36.9 percent of 347 points put up by the Bulldogs to date.

Georgia's bench has outscored its opponents reserves 128-44, a massive +84 margin.

The effort has been consistent and a major asset in the Greenlight Sunshine Slam. The Bulldogs' bench has topped 20 points in all five games, including 43.5 percent (57 of 131 points) of Georgia's offensive production in the last two contests – 28 points against Bucknell and 29 versus Saint Joseph's.

A Homecoming For Kario

The Sunshine Slam will serve as a homecoming of sorts for Kario Oquendo.

Oquendo is a native of Titusville, Fla., and starred at Astronaut High School, which is just under an hour south of the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

As a junior in his final season of prep basketball, Oquendo averaged 21.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in leading the War Eagles to a 20-6 finish in 2019.

Oquendo was named Brevard County Class 5A Player of the Year by area coaches that season. He also was tabbed All-Cape Coast in both 2019 for Titusville and 2018 while playing at Titusville High.

Oquendo enrolled at Florida SouthWestern College in January 2020 and bypassed his senior year of high school hoops.

7th-Year Super Duper Seniors
Name	Schools
Jailyn Ingram	FAU, Georgia
DeAndre Dishman	EKU, MTSU
Juan Munoz	Longwood, Hawaii
DeJuan Clayton	Coppin State, Cal
Michael Henn	UC-Davis, Cal Baptist, Portland, Denver, Penn State

A Doubleheader Opener

Both Georgia's men's and women's basketball program began their seasons with a double dip at Stegeman Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 11.

The Lady Bulldogs, who are also under a first-year head coach, defeated Coastal Carolina, 78-61, in the first outing.

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, more commonly known as "Coach Abe," was on the sidelines for the first time in Stegeman Coliseum. She also for the Lady Bulldogs from 1985-87. Prior to returning to Athens, "Coach Abe" compiled a 370-156 (.703) record over 17 seasons as a head coach and led teams to postseason bids in 14 of 16 possible seasons, including 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.

The last time the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs hosted a season-opening twin bill was 19 years ago on Nov. 21, 2003.

That evening Lady Bulldogs opened what culminated as an "Elite Eight" campaign by besting Georgia State, 87-48.

The Bulldogs then topped Western Carolina, 78-67, in Dennis Felton's first outing as Georgia's head coach. Damien Wilkins led a trio of Bulldogs in double figures with 16 points to counter a 44-point explosion from WCU's Kevin Martin. Martin went on to score more than 12,000 points during a 12-season NBA career with Sacramento, Houston, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and San Antonio.