Dogs To Host Notre Dame In SEC/ACC Challenge

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (7-1) vs. Notre Dame (4-4)
Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Athens, Ga.
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Giveaway: The first 750 UGA students will receive a red replica throwback jersey
Streaming: ESPNU (Kevin Fitzgerald, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 374 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, Producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5...

Georgia, which is riding a 23-game non-conference winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum, will host Notre Dame on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.
The Bulldogs are 7-1 and coming off an impressive 102-56 win over Jacksonville last Saturday which produced the highest point total and best FG and 3FG percentages of Mike White's tenure in Athens.
Georgia, which was the second team of the "last four in" in last week's ESPN Bracketology, debuted at No. 27 in the initial NCAA NET rankings released on Monday morning.
Five Bulldogs are currently averaging double figures, led by Asa Newell's 15.4 ppg, while eight Georgia players have scored in double figures a combined 35 times to eight games to date.
Entering this week, Georgia led the SEC in both rebound margin and blocks per game and ranked No. 4 (+13.3 rpg) and No. 5 (6.5 bpg) in the nation, respectively.

THE OPENING TIP

The Georgia Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday evening when they host Notre Dame at Stegeman Coliseum as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge, a series of 16 games between the two leagues over two days.

The Bulldogs are a perfect 23-0 at home against non-conference competition during Mike White's three seasons in Athens and have not lost to a non-conference foe at Stegeman since dropping a 77-60 decision to Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29, 2021.

Georgia's balanced office features a quintet of Bulldogs averaging double figures.

Freshman Asa Newell leads the Bulldogs in both scoring (15.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.1 rpg). Silas Demary Jr. is scoring 14.0 ppg and paces Georgia in assists at 3.4 apg, while Dakota Leffew adds 13.0 ppg, Tyrin Lawrence contributes 12.0 ppg and a team-high 2.0 spg and Blue Cain chips in 10.4 ppg.

Somto Cyril, RJ Godfrey and Dylan James also have produced double-figure scoring outputs this season. All told, those eight Bulldogs have combined to produce 35 double-figure scoring outputs in eight games to date.

Georgia's strongest attributes have been controlling the glass and protecting the rim. The Bulldogs entered this week leading the SEC in both rebound margin and blocks and nationally ranked No. 4 in boarding margin (+ 13.3 rpg) and No. 5 in rejections (6.5 bpg).

Scouting The Fighting Irish

After beginning the season with a quartet of wins, Notre Dame has dropped its last four outings and arrives in Athens with a 4-4 record.

The Irish are coping with the loss of leading scorer Markus Burton early in Notre Dame's 85-84 overtime loss to Rutgers on Nov. 26. Burton averaged 21.4 ppg in the first five games of the season before playing just three minutes versus the Scarlet Knights. That contest was ND's first of three outings in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

Braeden Shrewsberry, the son of Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry, leads a trio of active Irish players scoring at a double-digit rate. He is putting up 15.4 ppg, while Tae Davis and Matt Allocco are chipping in 14.5 ppg and 10.5 ppg, respectively.

Series History With ND

Georgia and Notre Dame have split their four previous meetings, all neutral site affairs. After the Fighting Irish won the first two matchups, the Bulldogs returned the favor with back-to-back victories in the most recent contests.

Most recently, Braelen Bridges scored 18 points in 18 minutes to lead Georgia in a 77-62 victory over Notre Dame in a Holiday Hoopsgiving matchup at State Farm Arena in Atlanta two seasons ago.

Bridges was 9-of-9 from the field en route to a performance that earned him SEC Player of the Week honors the next day.

Georgia surged ahead late in the first half and outscored the Irish by 10 points in the second stanza. After leading 41-36 at the intermission, the Bulldogs doubled that advantage in the first five minutes of the second half.

The Irish pulled within three at 58-55 with 7:43 left, but Georgia answered with an 11-0 run that ended any doubt.

Last Time Out

Six Bulldogs notched double-digit scoring performances and Georgia produced the fourth-best shooting performance in school history en route to a 102-56 victory over Jacksonville last Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Bulldogs scored their most points during Mike White's three seasons in Athens while connecting on 34-of-54 shots from the field, a red-hot 66.7 percent effort that matched the No. 4 effort in school history. Georgia made 14 3-pointers, matching UGA's sixth-most ever, and shot 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from behind the arc, their best percentage under White.

Dakota Leffew led the Bulldogs with 16 points and a career-high eight assists (with no turnovers). Silas Demary Jr. and Tyrin Lawrence both chipped in 14 points, Somto Cyril and Dylan James added 13 points apiece and Asa Newell posted 12 points.

"It's very important for us to share the ball and for us to get open shots," Lawrence said following his sixth double-figure performance of the season. "The more of us that score, the easier it is for us as individuals."

Bulldogs Rally Past Florida State In First Challenge

Georgia rallied for an improbable 68-66 win over Florida State last season on Nov. 29 in Tallahassee in the inaugural SEC/ACC Challenge.

The Bulldogs trailed by 17, 61-44, before a 24-5 surge the rest of the way. Five players scored during the comeback as Georgia produced 35.3 percent of its offense in the game's final 6:36.

Freshman Silas Demary Jr. scored a team-high 15 points for the Bulldogs.

"That [win] is the epitome of a major response," head coach Mike White said. "We had a 24-5 run to finish it out against a program that wins games like that down the stretch. The culture here is to win those tight, close ones. For us to come in here and get that one the way that we did speaks volumes about the resiliency, mental toughness, the resolve, the connectivity of a team with nine new players. It was a huge win for us."

It also was a significant win from the "Challenge" standpoint, providing the SEC with a split in the 14 games against the ACC over two days.

Dogs Dominate On The Boards

Georgia's rebounding margin of +13.3 led all SEC teams and ranked No. 4 nationally entering this week. That mark is boosted by two of the top-10 single-game rebound margins ever by the Bulldogs – a school-record effort +30 against Texas Southern on Nov. 10 and the No. 7 mark of +25 versus Alabama A&M in Georgia's most recent home outing on Nov. 19 as outlined below.

Best Rebounding Margins
Rk.	No.	Opponent	Mar.	Date
1.	+30	Texas Southern	53-23	11/10/24
2.	+29	H-N.C. Central	54-25	12/4/19
	+29	H-Alabama A&M	51-22	11/24/06
4.	+28	H-Kentucky	53-25	1/3/90
	+28	H-Florida	53-25	1/30/80
6.	+26	H-Miss. Valley St.	51-25	11/25/08
7.	+25	H-Alabama A&M	47-22	11/19/24
	+25	H-Wofford	49-24	11/8/13
	+25	H-Miss. State	48-23	1/22/11
	+25	N-Grambling State	56-31	11/27/99
	+25	H-Augusta College	53-28	12/10/88

Metrics Liking The Bulldogs

Georgia debuted at No. 27 in the initial edition of the NCAA's NET rankings released on Monday.

The rest of college basketball's most quoted metrics also agree that the Bulldogs' are off to a solid start in non-conference play. On Monday, Georgia was listed at No. 23 in ESPN's SOR rankings, No. 37 by Torvik, No. 41 in ESPN's BPI and No. 46 by KenPom.

Georgia Joins Bracketology

Though the NCAA Tournament won't tip off until March 18, it is worth noting that Georgia joined the projected field for "March Madness" in ESPN's Nov. 26 edition Bracketology.

Following a split in games against No. 15/15 Marquette and No. 22/20 St. John's at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, Georgia moved from fourth in the "next four out" the previous week to the second of the "last four in" last Tuesday.

Regardless of the current forecast, the Bulldogs will have plenty of chances for quality wins from now until March. Georgia will play 16 of 31 regular-season games against teams pegged to receive bids by ESPN this week. That's 51.6 percent of UGA's total contests.

Four of Georgia's non-conference foes are listed in the most recent bracket – Marquette as a No. 3 seed, St. John's as a No. 6, Grand Canyon as a No. 12 and North Florida as a No. 15.

The Bulldogs will face the 10 SEC teams predicted to make the field a total of 12 times, including home-and-home dates with Auburn, a No. 1 seed, and Florida, at No. 5 seed. The remaining league teams and their seeds are Tennessee (No. 1), Kentucky (No. 2), Alabama (No. 3), Texas A&M (No. 4), Arkansas (No. 6), Texas (No. 8), Mississippi State (No. 8) and Ole Miss (No. 9).

Bulldogs' Home Non-Conference Win Streak Reaches 23

Georgia's victory over Jacksonville extended the Bulldogs' non-conference winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum to 23 games.

In fact, Georgia is perfect against non-conference opposition at home under Mike White, compiling an 8-0 record in 2022-23 and a 10-0 mark in 2023-24 before starting this season 5-0.

White Is Stellar In Stegeman

Mike White's success at Stegeman Coliseum is not confined to his tenure with the Bulldogs.

White was 7-1 in the arena as a visiting head coach before arriving in Athens. He led Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and was 6-1 against the Bulldogs in the venue at Florida from 2015-22.

With his 31-10 home mark since becoming Georgia's head coach, White is a combined 38-11 (.776) as a head coach in Stegeman.

UGA Swatting Shots Among Nation's Best

Georgia entered this week leading the SEC and No. 5 nationally at 6.5 blocks per game.

Three Bulldogs are averaging more than a block per game – Somto Cyril at 1.8 bpg, which ranked No. 59 nationally; Asa Newell at 1.4 bpg; and RJ Godfrey at 1.0 bpg.

Led by four blocked shots apiece from Cyril and Newell, the Bulldogs swatted 12 field goal attempts by Texas Southern on Nov 10. That represented Georgia's most blocks since posting 12 against Vanderbilt on Jan. 9, 2019.

Dakota Scoring In Stegeman

Dakota Leffew certainly seems to like shooting in Stegeman Coliseum.

The graduate transfer Hampton, Ga., who played the last four seasons at Mount St. Mary's, is averaging 17.0 points in six games played in Athens.

Leffew put up a game-high 26 points for Mount St. Mary's in a 94-82 setback in Athens on Dec. 20 last season. Leffew has scored 18, 23,10, nine and 16 points in the Bulldogs' first five home games this season.

Within those contests, Leffew is shooting .538 from the field (35-of-65), including .489 (20-of-41) from 3-point range, and .800 (12-of-15) from the free throw line in the arena.

Demary Jr. Getting To the Charity Stripe

Silas Demary Jr. ranked second in the SEC and among the nation's top-30 leaders in takes and makes at the free throw line entering this week.

As of Monday, the sophomore from Raleigh, N.C., ranked No. 28 nationally with 56 trips to the line. He was No. 17 in free throws made with 46.

Asa Earns SEC FOTW Honors

Asa Newell was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Nov. 18 after averaging 13.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists in wins over North Florida and Georgia Tech.

Newell scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots on Nov. 12 against North Florida, a team that arrived in Athens with a 3-0 record and road wins at South Carolina and Georgia Tech. He then put up 14 points and collected a team-leading seven rebounds against UGA's arch-rival in Atlanta on Nov. 15. Newell scored half of the Bulldogs' points in a 14-0 second-half surge that turned a three-point deficit with 12:25 remaining into an 11-point lead at the 7:23 mark.

Georgia Staff Inks Third-Straight Top-15 Recruiting Class

Mike White announced on Friday, Nov. 15 that high school standouts Jackson McVey, Kareem Stagg and Jacob Wilkins inked papers to join the Bulldogs next season.

The trio has been ranked No. 11 nationally by Rivals.com, as well as No. 12 by 247Sports.com, giving Georgia its third straight top-15 recruiting class of prep prospects. The Bulldog signees in the Classes of 2024 and 2023 were ranked No. 10 and No. 15, respectively, by both outlets.

McVey, is a 7-1, center from Ellijay, Ga., who is playing at Overtime Elite this season. Nationally, McVey is rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN.com, and he has been ranked as one of the nation's top-25 center prospects in the On3.com composite and by ESPN.com.

Stagg, is a 6-8, power forward from Chesapeake, Va., who is in his second season at the IMG Academy. A consensus four-star prospect, Stagg is ranked among the nation's top-100 prospects by 247Sports.com (No. 73), Rivals.com (No. 86) and On3.com (No. 92).

Wilkins, a 6-9, small forward from Loganville, Ga., and Grayson High School is the son of former Bulldog and hall-of-famer Dominique Wilkins. Jacob is a four-star recruit ranked among the nation's top-50 players by every major recruiting service – No. 35 by Rivals.com, No. 45 by ESPN.com, No. 49 by On3.com and No. 50 by 247Sports.com.

Dominique Wilkins, a two-time All-American and 1981 SEC Player of the Year, led Georgia to its first-ever postseason bids with invitations to the 1981 and 1982 NITs, including a trip to the 1982 semifinals. Though he played only three seasons at Georgia, Wilkins departed Athens as the Bulldogs' career scoring leader with 1,688 points, a 21.6 ppg average over 78 outings. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft before enjoying an illustrious professional career primarily with the Atlanta Hawks that included being a nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection.

While We're talking about 'Nique...Asa Equals UGA Freshman Mark

Asa Newell's 26-point outburst against Tennessee Tech tied Dominique Wilkins for the highest offensive output ever by a Bulldog freshman in their collegiate debut as outlined below.

Wilkins also put up 26 points in his initial outing for Georgia against Troy State on Nov. 30, 1979.

Newell started quickly, scoring his first 10 points over the opening 7:10 of the contest. He reached 20 points with 15:09 left in the contest and then garnered his first double-double with a rebound at the 14:13 mark of the second half. Newell matched Wilkins' tally with an offensive rebound and putback with 2:20 remaining.

When asked by media postgame if he knew of Wilkins' legacy, Newell quickly replied: "Yes, for sure. The human highlight reel. I've got a jersey of Dominique back at the crib."

Top Debuts By Bulldog Freshmen
Pts.	Player	Opponent	Date
26	Asa Newell	Tennessee Tech	11/4/24
26	Dominique Wilkins	Troy State	11/30/79
24	Anthony Edwards	W. Carolina	11/5/19
19	Sahvir Wheeler	W. Carolina	11/5/19
19	Terry Fair	Troy State	11/30/79
18	Jeremy Price	Jacksonville St.	11/9/07
18	D.A. Layne	Mercer	11/13/98
17	Rayshaun Hammonds	Bryant	11/10/17
17	Sundiata Gaines	W. Kentucky	11/23/04
15	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope	Woffford	11/11/11

Bulldogs Feature Six Top-100 Prospects

Georgia's 15-player roster includes no less than a half-dozen Bulldogs who were ranked among the nation's top-100 prospects in their recruiting classes.

Blue Cain, Silas Demary Jr. and Dylan James all were tabbed among the top 100 players in the Class of 2023. Their highest The highest rankings featured Cain at No. 53 by On3.com, Demary at No. 56 by Rivals.com and James at No. 78 in the 247Sports.com composite.

As a class, they 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.

Somto Cyril, Savo Drezgić and Asa Newell were featured among the top 100 prospects in the Class of 2024, with highs of No. 11 for Newell by On3.com, No. 43 for Cyril by 247Sports.com and No. 53 for Drezgić by On3.com.

Newell finished No. 14 in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, placing him alongside from impressive names. Newell is the fourth-highest signee for Georgia since the website began its composite ledger in 2003, trailing only Anthony Edwards (No. 2 in 2019), Lou Williams (No. 6 in 2005 before declaring for the NBA Draft) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (No. 11 in 2011).

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

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Players Mentioned

Blue Cain

Silas Demary Jr.

RJ Godfrey

Dylan James

Tyrin Lawrence

Dakota Leffew

Asa Newell