MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Back In Action Against N.C. Central

Sunday, November 12

Athens, Ga.

5:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

North Carolina Central

MBB Game Notes: Bulldogs Back In Action Against N.C. Central

November 11, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (1-1) vs. N.C. Central (1-1)
Sunday, November 12 || 5:00 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, color analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer) | Affiliates
TV: None
Video Stream: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, color analyst)
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: SiriusXM 390
History: UGA leads, 1-0 (Full History)
Last Meeting: UGA, 95-59, 12/4/19

Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach: Mike White Record at UGA: 17-17 (2nd season) Career Record: 260-145 (13th season)				NC Central Eagles Head Coach: LeVelle Moton Record at NCCU: 247-185 (16th season) Career Record: 247-185 (16th season)
INDIVIDUAL		TEAM	STATISTIC	TEAM		INDIVIDUAL
Abdur-Rahim	17.5	71.0	Points Per Game	81.5	18.0	King
Melendez	.500	.338	Field Goal Pct.	.452	.800	Smith Jr.
Abdur-Rahim	3.0	10.0	3-Pointers Per Game	7.5	3.0	King
Abdur-Rahim	.462	.333	3-Point Pct.	.319	.571	Harris
Abdur-Rahim	.813	.567	Free Throw Pct.	.619	.857	King
Tchewa	7.5	41.0	Rebounds Per Game	35.5	6.0	Izunabor
Thomasson	3.0	11.0	Assists Per Game	16.5	3.5	Smith
Thomasson	2.0	0.69	Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.65	7.00	Smith
Cain/Demary/Melendez	1.5	8.0	Steals Per Game	12.0	2.0	Porter/Smith
Six Players	0.5	4.0	Blocks Per Game	2.5	1.0	Izunabor
Thomasson	32.2		Minutes Per Game		23.9	King

The Starting 5...

Georgia hosts its second game 46 hours on Sunday when the Bulldogs take on North Carolina Central. UGA defeated Wake Forest, 80-77, in its home opener on Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia was the only Power 6 team in the nation to open its season with back-to-back games against other Power 6 programs. The Bulldogs will play four Power 6 opponents in their first five outings.
In Mike White's first season at Georgia, the Bulldogs upped their win total from the 2021-22 campaign by 10 victories. That equaled the second-biggest increase in regular-season wins by any Power 5 men's basketball program.
Georgia's freshman and transfer recruiting classes both were ranked as high as No. 11. The Bulldogs were only one of three teams to have both of those groups ranked top-20 nationally by On3.com.
Georgia's four returning letterwinners include Bulldogs who led the team in the following stats last season – Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (5.1 rpg), Jabri Abdur-Rahim (1.4 3FGs per game, .387 3-pointer pct. and .818 FT pct) and Frank Anselem-Ibe (0.7 bpg).

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs are back in action for their second game in roughly 46 hours on Sunday when they host North Carolina Central at 5:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs used a balanced offensive attack with all five starters in double figures to top Wake Forest, 80-77, on Friday before a raucous crowd of 8,176 fans at Stegeman Coliseum. Graduate transfer Noah Thomasson paced Georgia with a 21-point outing, his first double-digit and 20-point performance as a Bulldog. The Houston native has now recorded 51 double figure and 23 20-point outings in 87 college outings at Houston Christian, Niagara and Georgia.

Following a trip to Allen Fieldhouse to christen the 2023-24 campaign last Monday, North Carolina Central pasted Virginia-Lynchburg, 107-54, in the Eagles' home opener last Thursday. N.C. Central raced to a 67-27 halftime lead while shooting 57.5 percent from the field, including 53.3 percent from 3-point range, in the opening stanza.

Series History With NCCU

Anthony Edwards scored 21 points, 19 of those in the first half, as Georgia topped N.C. Central, 95-59, in early December 2019 in the only previous meeting between the Bulldogs and the Eagles.

Rayshaun Hammonds added 19 points, Tyree Crump chipped in a season-high 16 points and Christian Brown notched a career-best 11 points for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs used a 13-0 run midway through the first half to double up the Eagles, 24-12, with 10:08 left in the half. That margin grew to 21 points later in the period, and Georgia led by 20-plus points for the final 17:54 of the contest.

Scouting The Eagles

North Carolina Central is in its 16th season under head coach LaVelle Moton, who ranks among the greatest players and coaches in program history. The 1995 and 1996 CIAA Player of the Year, Moton is No. 3 among career scoring leaders for the Eagles with 1,717 points. As a coach, he has led NCCU to four NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT bid.

The Eagles return six letterwinners from last year's team, which finished 18-12 overall and 10-4 in the MEAC.

Po'Boigh King leads a quartet of Eagles averaging double figures on the young season at 18.0 ppg. In addition, Ja'Darius Harris is chipping in 16.0 ppg, and Perry Smith Jr. and Josh Smith both as contributing 10.0 ppg. No less than 13 Eagles are currently averaging double-digit minutes in playing time.

Last Time Out

Noah Thomasson's 21-point performance led all five Georgia starters in double digits as the Bulldogs topped Wake Forest, 80-77, in their home opener on Friday night.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim added 17 points, Russel Tchewa chipped in 11 and Silas Demary Jr. and RJ Melendez both notched 10.

After trailing by as many as eight points early, the Bulldogs used a 20-4 surge en route to building a 40-36 halftime advantage. Georgia pushed the lead to as many as 13 points at 73-60 with 7:34 remaining. The Demon Deacons rallied and pulled with three with 43 seconds left on the clock but could not complete the comeback.

"I'm glad we won, but there's a lot to learn that could have gone the other way, and so we're fortunate," head coach Mike White said. "I'd rather learn this way than it having gone the other way... We're going to have to learn how to play 40. You know, put 40 together. And that's a tall ask at this level this early. Maybe 35 is what you're looking for right now of really good basketball, but the best teams, the teams at the top of our league by January, are going to put teams away."

Bulldogs Flip The Specialty Scripts

Georgia won three of four "specialty stats" against Wake Forest after the Bulldogs lost each category in the season opener against Oregon.

The most dramatic difference came closest to the basket. After the Ducks scored 28 more points than Georgia in the paint, 48-20, the Bulldogs bested the Demon Deacons, 46-26, in paint points.

A Challenging Slate Out Of The Gate

Georgia is the only Power conference team that opened the 2023-24 season with back-to-back outings against other Power conference programs. The Bulldogs began the year against Oregon from the Pac 12 in a Naismith Hall of Fame Series date at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before hosting Wake Forest from the ACC in the home opener.

The Power heavy schedule doesn't stop there. All told, Georgia will play four of its first five, five of its first seven and six of its first nine games against Power conference foes.

Following the N.C. Central outing, Georgia is also set face Miami, a 2023 Final Four participant in the opening round of the Baha Mar Championship next Friday and will play either Kansas State or Providence in its second outing in the Bahamas. Georgia, Miami and Florida are the only three teams in the nation with a quartet of Power conference matchups in their first six games.

The Bulldogs other two Power conference dates in non-conference action are both versus ACC competition – at Florida State on Nov. 29 and versus Georgia Tech on Dec. 5.

Georgia Impressive In Stegeman Openers

Georgia improved to 55-6 in home openers at Stegeman Coliseum with the win over Wake.

The matchup with the Demon Deacons represented the first time since the 2017-18 season that Georgia's home opener was not also the initial outing of the season. The Bulldogs are now 17-1 in Stegeman openers that were not season openers.

Cain, Demary Make Their Marks In Collegiate Debuts

Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. made key contributions for Georgia in their collegiate debuts against Oregon in the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic.

Demary became the first true freshman to get a starting nod for the Bulldogs in a season opener since Anthony Edwards in 2019. The Raleigh, N.C., native produced a thorough linescore of eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Cain became the first true freshman to notch a double-digit scoring output in the season opener since Edwards and Sahvir Wheeler did so in 2019. Cain posted 12 points off the bench by connecting on 5-of-11 shots from the field and matched Demary for the team high with two steals.

Georgia Signs Top-10 Prospect Asa Newell

Georgia opened the NCAA's early signing period with a bang on Nov. 6 when the Bulldogs signed Asa Newell, the No. 8 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2024.

Newell is the fifth top-100 prospect to sign with Georgia in the last two classes.

The younger brother of current Bulldog Jaden Newell, Asa is a 6-10, 215-pound power forward and a consensus five-star recruit. Asa is the second-highest ESPN.com and third-highest 247Sports.com ranked recruit to sign with Georgia during the internet era. He trails only Anthony Edwards (No. 4 in 2019) on the ESPN.com ledger and only Edwards (No. 2) and Lou Williams (No.6 in 2005) in the 247Sports.com composite. Edwards went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, while Williams elected to turn pro and has enjoyed a 17-year NBA career that includes three NBA Sixth Man of the Year awards.

Newell was a member of USA National Teams for FIBA World Cup tournaments during the past two summers, helping the USA capture a Gold Medal at the 2022 U17 tourney in Malaga, Spain and finish fourth at the 2023 U19 event in Debrecen, Hungary.

Newell is in his second season at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., which finished 23-3 and finished No. 2 nationally in the SCNext Top 25 high school boys' basketball rankings last season.

Both Packs of New Bulldogs Highly Rated Georgia was one of three programs with both its freshman and transfer recruiting classes ranked among the nation's top-20 groups by On3.com. The Bulldogs' five transfer were tabbed as at No. 11, while the freshmen were featured at No. 18.

All four of Georgia's freshmen were rated as top-100 prospects in the Class of 2023 by various recruiting services. The highest rankings were: Blue Cain at No. 53 by On3.com, Silas Demary Jr. at No. 56 by Rivals.com, Dylan James at No. 78 in the 247Sports.com and Mari Jordan at No. 87 by ESPN.com.

As a class, the freshman were ranked No. 11 by Rivals.com, No. 15 in the 247Sports.com composite, No. 18 by On3.com and No. 20 by 247Sports.com. Georgia's freshmen were the second-highest ranked class in the SEC 247Sports.com's composite ledger of the average ranking of those recruiting services. Ten of 14 SEC schools were ranked among the nation's top-50 freshman classes in the 247Sports.com composite.

A "March Madness" Pedigree

Seven Georgia players have played in the NCAA Tournament at previous schools.

Third-year Bulldog Jabri Abdur-Rahim was a member of Virginia's roster in 2021 when the Cavaliers won the ACC regular-season title en route to March Madness.

Frank Anselem-Ibe, Justin Hill and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, who are in their second seasons in Athens, also reached the Big Dance. Anselem-Ibe helped Syracuse reach the 2021 Sweet 16. Hill led Longwood to the 2022 tournament. Moncrieffe played in the 2021 NCAA Tournament while at Syracuse.

Georgia newcomers Jalen DeLoach, RJ Melendez and RJ Sunahara bring NCAA Tournament experience as well. DeLoach helped VCU earn an NCAA bid last spring. Melendez was on Illinois teams that reached the 2022 and 2023 tourneys. Sunahara played in a trio of Division II tournaments at Nova Southeastern, including the Sharks perfect 36-0 march to the 2023 national title.

In addition, Russel Tchewa's Texas Tech team was on the NCAA bubble in 2020 before the championship was canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunahara Takes One For the Team...accepts new nickname

It's not uncommon for basketball teams to have multiple players with the same first name, but that usually occurs with a rather common name. When a pair of "RJ's" transferred to Georgia during the offseason, it left the coaching staff scratching their heads.

"We're going to have to figure this out," Mike White quipped to the media when discussing the Bulldogs' summer trip to Italy.

It didn't take long for RJ Sunahara to become "Sunny"...at least while he's on the basketball court. Even though his name is pronounced "soon-ah-hara," the 2023 Division II National Player of the Year is now "Sunny." Actually, the nickname fits quite well with Sunahara's Hawaiian heritage.

Bulldogs Tops A-Sun Favorite EKU In Exhibition

Six Bulldogs scored in double figures at Georgia defeated Eastern Kentucky, 99-82, in an exhibition game benefiting the American Red Cross at Stegeman Coliseum on Oct. 30.

EKU returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from a 23-14. The Colonels are the preseason favorite of both media and coaches to win the Atlantic Sun Conference this season and have been a consistent member of ESPN's Bracketology throughout the summer and preseason.

RJ Melendez Georgia with 21 points and added nine rebounds, while Russell Tchewa notched a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. In addition, Noah Thomasson added 15 points and Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. all chipped in 12.

As a team, Georgia shot 54.8 percent from the field.

"I thought we did some good things and we've got a lot to work on," head coach Mike White said. "I was very pleased with their tenacity defensively, and progression and tempo offensively. It was a really fast-paced game."

Georgia opened the game with a 6-0 surge 73 seconds into the contest and lead throughout the entire opening half. The Bulldogs kept the Colonels at bay, ending the half on a 13-3 run and carrying a 21-point lead headed into the locker room. From there, Georgia controlled the second half and was ahead by as many as 24 points.

Forza Dogs...Georgia's Tour Of Italy

Georgia got a jump on preparations for the 2023-24 season during the summer when the Bulldogs ventured to Italy for a three-game international tour from July 20-29.

On the the hardwood, Georgia defeated different teams from the Italian Club Orange Basket Bassano by 39.3 points per game. Each Bulldog dressed out for two of the three games, with nine different players recording one or more double-figure scoring outputs.

Away from basketball, Georgia spent four days in Rome, one day in Florence and two days in Sorrento. The team toured the traditional sites such as Vatican City, The Colosseum, The Forum, Pompeii, Amalfi and Positano. The Bulldogs also enjoyed a cooking class where they prepared – and then dined on – their own pasta and tiramisu.

Designer Genes

We believe that Georgia Basketball's family tree may be the most athletic in the country. Almost every Bulldog has immediate family who competed at the collegiate or professional levels, including:

Jabri Abdur-Rahim – his dad, Shareef, was a 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, 2002 NBA All-Star and current president of the NBA's G League; and five of his uncles (Amir, Muhammad, Tahir, Bilal and Malik) played college basketball.

Blue Cain – his mom, the former Myriah Lonergan, played basketball at George Washington and is in GWU's Athletic Hall of Fame; his dad, Chris, played golf at Duke; and his sister, Sophie, is a senior setter on Appalachian State's volleyball team.

Jalen DeLoach – his brother, Kalen, is in his third season as a starting linebacker at Florida State; and his sister, Taylor, was a Big Ten champion in the 400-meter relay at Ohio State.

Silas Demary Jr. – his dad, Silas Sr., played at Virginia State and was the 2005 Arena Football League Defensive Player of the Year for the L.A. Avengers.

Justin Hill – his dad, Keith, played basketball at Michigan State and New Mexico State, where he helped the Aggies reach the NCAA Tourney; his mom, the former Donna Holt, played basketball at Virginia, where she was 1988 ACC Player of the Year and was named to the ACC's Silver Anniversary team in 2002;

Dylan James – his brother, Dorian, is a redshirt senior of North Florida's basketball team; and two additional siblings – brother Darius and sister Charla – played basketball at Lynn University.

Markel Jennings – is distant cousins on his dad's side with NFL players Vernon and Vontae Davis, who both were multiple Pro Bowl selections.

Brandon Klatsky – his dad, Brian, played college basketball at DIII Skidmore; and his brother, Alex, is a redshirt senior on Florida's basketball team.

Jaden Newell – his brother, Asa, the No. 8 overall prospect in 247Sports.com Class of 2024 composite rankings, has signed to join him in Athens next season.

RJ Sunahara – his dad, Reed, was a two-time All-American in volleyball at UCLA and is the current women's volleyball coach at West Virginia; his mom, the former Laura Rekstis, played volleyball at Cincinnati; his grandfather, Peter Rekstis, played football at Cincinnati; his uncle, Chet Moeller, played football at Navy and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Noah Thomasson – his dad, Leon, played football at Texas Southern and for the Atlanta Falcons; and he's distant cousins with Spud Webb on his mom's size.