Bulldogs Host No. 14 Auburn On Saturday At Stegeman

Saturday, February 24

Athens, Ga.

6:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

Auburn

Bulldogs Host No. 14 Auburn On Saturday At Stegeman

February 23, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Game 27: Georgia (15-11, 5-8 SEC) vs. No. 14/14 Auburn (20-6, 9-4 SEC)
Saturday, February 24 || 6:00 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: SEC Network (Roy Philpott, play-by-play; Joe Kleine, color analyst)
Video Stream: SECN+
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: SiriusXM 389
History: AU leads, 100-97 (Full History)
Last Meeting: - AU, 94-72, on 2/1/23

Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach: Mike White Record at UGA: 31-27 (2nd season) Career Record: 274-155 (13th season)				Auburn Tigers Head Coach: Bruce Pearl Record at AU: 193-117 (10th season) Career Record: 655-262 (29th season)
INDIVIDUAL		TEAM	STATISTIC	TEAM		INDIVIDUAL
Abdur-Rahim/Thomasson	12.7	76.1	Points Per. Game	82.2	16.1	Broome
Tchewa	.567	.433	Field Goal Pct.	.463	.693	Cardwell
Abdur-Rahim	2.2	8.2	3-Pointers Per. Game	7.7	1.7	Holloway
Thomasson	.378	.347	3-Point Pct.	.332	.414	Williams
Abdur-Rahim	.876	.730	Free Throw Pct.	.757	.895	Johns
Tchewa	6.7	35.8	Rebounds Per. Game	38.8	8.5	Broome
Hill	3.7	11.9	Assists Per. Game	17.7	3.3	Donaldson
Hill	2.31	1.00	Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.70	3.32	Holloway
Tchewa	0.6	3.4	Blocks Per. Game	6.0	2.4	Broome
Demary Jr.	1.4	6.4	Steals Per. Game	7.6	1.4	Johnson
Thomasson	27.8		Minutes Per. Game		24.5	Broome/Lawrence

The Starting 5...

Georgia hosts No. 14 Auburn on Saturday in a "March Madness" heavy portion of the Bulldogs' schedule. Five of UGA's final seven opponents are featured in ESPN's latest bracketology.
With Wednesday's 76-64 win at Vanderbilt, Georgia improved to 25-1 when holding its opponents to less than 70 points during Mike White's two seasons with the Bulldogs.
Nine Bulldogs have been mixed and matched to comprise eight different starting lineups this season, including five variations in Georgia's last seven outings.
Silas Demary Jr. is the only freshman in the SEC start every game this season. The Raleigh, N.C., native averaged 8.5 ppg in non-conference play but has uppped that to 10.8 ppg in SEC action.
Georgia entered this weekend No. 18 nationally in bench points, with UGA's reserves contributing 29.1 ppg. The Bulldogs sport a bench scoring margin of +277 (+10.7 ppg).

The Opening Tip

Georgia returns to Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday evening to host No. 14 Auburn at 6:00 p.m.

The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive 76-64 win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in Nashville. Georgia never trailed, racing to a 19-7 lead at the 12:29 mark of the first half and maintaining a double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest.

That victory snapped six-game overall and four-game road losing skids for the Bulldogs.

The 2023-24 campaign has been a streaky one for Georgia, which also recorded winning streaks of 10 games overall, 10 contests at Stegeman Coliseum and three road outings earlier this season.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Noah Thomasson enter Saturday's game tied as the Bulldogs' scoring leader on the season, with both scoring 330 points and averaging 12.7 ppg. RJ Melendez provides Georgia with a third double-digit scorer at 10.2 ppg.

Georgia has been more productive and balanced offensively in conference action.

The Bulldogs are one of three teams with a higher scoring offense in SEC play over non-league games. Four Bulldogs are averaging double figures in conference games, with Thomasson sporting a team-leading 13.1 ppg. Five Bulldogs have upped their scoring averages from their non-conference contributions, topped by Russel Tchewa's jump of 2.8 ppg (from 6.1 to 2.9).

Keeping An Eye On…

Jabri Abdur-Rahim is among UGA's career leaders...
• 7 3FGs from co-No. 13s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison
• 8 3FGAs from No. 17 Ty Wilson

Series History With Auburn

In a closely contested rivalry that dates back well over a century, Auburn owns a slim 100-97 advantage in all-time matchups with Georgia.

Last season, the Bulldogs and Tigers split their matchups, with the home team winning each contest. On Jan. 4 in Athens, Terry Roberts poured in a career-high 26 points to lead Georgia in an impressive 76-64 victory over No. 22/20 Auburn in the Bulldogs' SEC opener. Three and a half weeks later in Auburn, the Tigers secured a 92-73 win in the rematch.

Mardez McBride scored a season-high 20 points to lead Georgia offensively in the most recent matchup last Feb. 1. McBride notched his first 20-point performance as a Bulldogs and fifth of his collegiate career.

The Tigers broke the game open midway through the first half. After leading 16-14 at the 11:06 mark, Auburn went on a 17-0 run over the next 4:53.

Georgia's win in Athens was the Bulldogs' first in an SEC opener in five seasons, since defeating Auburn, 96-84, on Dec. 29, 2017.

The Bulldogs led for 38:28 of the contest and trailed only once – at 24-23 – for all of 14 seconds. Roberts put up 13 points in each half, and Kario Oquendo added 17 points. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe fell just shy of a double-double, with nine points and nine boards.

Last Time Out

Noah Thomasson scored all 17 of his team-high 17 points in the first half to lead Georgia in a 76-64 win at Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs opened up a double-digit lead midway through the first half and never allowed Vanderbilt closer than 10 points thereafter. The margin eventually bulged to 23 points.

Thomasson reached double figures for his team-leading 17th time just 13 minutes into the game.

Georgia shot 52.8 percent from the floor, the Bulldogs' best performance in an SEC game during Mike White's two seasons in Athens, en route to snapping a six-game losing streak.

"It's been a tough few weeks," White said. "It's really gratifying. It feels great to get back in that win column. I'm really proud and happy for our guys. That's a happy locker room. We've talked about this all year, our guys work. They consistently work, consistently bring it, their approach to practice and work overall daily is really good. As good as I've ever been around. We had another great practice last night, a pretty sharp shootaround this morning, just had a lot of carry-over. We saw a team that played like they practiced, and we need more of that."

A Closely Contested Series

Saturday's game will be the 198th between the Bulldogs and the Tigers, with Auburn owning a 100-97 advantage. The series has been tied five times in the 2000s – at 84-84 in 2005, 85-85 in 2007, 87-87 in 2010, 90-90 in 2015.

While the overall series is close, the location of the game has had a dramatic difference in success. Georgia owns a 63-29 edge in Athens. The Tigers are 64-26 against UGA on The Plains. The Bulldogs are 8-7 against Auburn in neutral site affairs.

Georgia and Auburn traditionally have had a close series in football as well. The Bulldogs are 63-56-8 against the Tigers. That advantage is somewhat inflated, however, since Georgia has won 16 of the last 19 matchups.

Tigers Are Among Georgia's Most Frequent Foes

Georgia has faced Auburn more than any other opponent other than two schools – Florida and Georgia Tech.

The Bulldogs have played the Gators 229 times and the Yellow Jackets on 199 occasions. Trailing Auburn's 198 dates (including tonight) and rounding out the top-5 in games played against Georgia are Tennessee with 161 and Kentucky with 160.

Georgia's Magic Number Is On The "Other" End of The Floor

The 13th and final rule Dr. James Naismith listed when creating basketball was "The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner." Quite simply, the team that scores the most points wins.

For Georgia, the number of points the opposing team scores has been an extremely strong indicator of success during Mike White's two seasons with the Bulldogs.

Georgia is 25-1 when holding its opponents to less than 70 points during that span and 6-24 when opponents reach the 70-point plateau. The lone loss on that ledger was a 61-55 setback at South Carolina in the 2022-23 regular-season finale.

Bulldogs Notch Fourth Road Win

Georgia's victory at Vanderbilt represented the Bulldogs' fourth road win of the season. Georgia is now 4-4 on the road during the 2023-24 season.

"Good for you" would probably be the best passive, aggressive, condescending response.

It is good for the Bulldogs, considering it took Georgia 37 road games (as in a 4-33 record) over four seasons to win four road games prior to this season. The four road Ws in 2023-24 are the most Georgia has recorded in a season since the 2017-18 campaign.

A Lot Of Entertaining Outings During The Losing Streak

Georgia's losing streak from Jan. 27-Feb. 17 featured six competitive and dramatic setbacks.

The Bulldogs rallied from 21 points down to force overtime at Florida before falling 102-98.

Georgia then owned double-digit leads over both No. 24/22 Alabama and South Carolina before the Tide and Gamecocks rallied. The Bulldogs led for a combined 56:55 of those contests – 33:49 against Alabama and 23:06 versus South Carolina.

Georgia trimmed a 13-point deficit to three in Starkville before State surged to victory.

The Bulldogs matchup at Arkansas on Feb. 10 featured three ties and five lead changes in the final 3:47 before the Razorbacks secured a three-point decision.

Last Saturday, Georgia again led for more than half the game – 21:11 to be exact – and built an 11-point, first-half lead over Florida before the Gators rallied in the second stanza.

Bulldogs Continue To Shuffle Starting Lineup

Nine Bulldogs players have been used to comprise eight different starting fives this season.

Georgia mixed and matched seven players to form three different starting quintets over the first 10 outings.

The Bulldogs then settled into the same starting unit for the next 10 contests.

Over the last seven games, Georgia has used five different sets of starters.

Silas Demary Jr., Russel Tchewa and Noah Thomasson are the three constants who have started every game. In fact, Demary is the only freshman in the SEC to start every game this season.

UGA Students Packing Stegeman

The Stegeman Coliseum student section has overflowed its capacity of 2,065 during each of Georgia's six home SEC contests. When more than 2,065 students show up and there are still remaining unsold seats, they are allowed to occupy the empty locations.

Georgia drew 3,026 students for Arkansas; 2,330 for Tennessee; 2,806 for LSU; 3,208 for Alabama; 2,726 for South Carolina; and 2,175 for Florida

The Stegeman student capacity for six games should be 12,390. In reality, 15,804 students have been at those contests. The attendance average of 2,634 per game is 128 percent of "capacity."

Bulldogs' Bench Providing Productivity

Georgia entered this weekend ranked No. 18 nationally in benching scoring at 29.1 ppg – 38.2 percent of the Bulldogs' average of 76.1 ppg.

The Bulldogs' reserves have outscored their counterparts in 21 of 26 games – every outing other than versus Oregon, at No. 8/10 Kentucky, against South Carolina in Athens, at Arkansas and versus Florida at Stegeman.

Georgia sports an impressive +277 scoring margin in bench points – an advantage of +10.7 ppg.

Dogs' Stats Trending Upward In SEC Play

Generally, teams' statistical performances slip slightly once SEC play starts...the whole tougher competition thing.

Conversely, several of Georgia's stats have improved over the Bulldogs' non-conference numbers as outlined below.

The Bulldogs are one of only three league teams – along with Tennessee and LSU – scoring more points and SEC foes than they did during November and December.

Stat	Non	SEC
SEC Team Increases
Scoring Offense	75.4	76.8
3FG Pct.	.344	.350
3FGs Per Game	8.0	8.5
Free Throw Pct.	.696	.771

Individual Scoring Up Too

As you would expect with Georgia's team scoring offense improving during SEC play.

No less than five Bulldogs have boosted their point production from non-conference outings to league competition, led by Russel Tchewa's increase of 2.8 ppg as outlined below.

Statistic	Non	SEC
SEC Individual Increases
Noah Thomasson	12.5	13.1
Silas Demary Jr.	8.5	10.8
RJ Melendez	9.8	10.5
Justin Hill	8.5	9.7
Russel Tchewa	6.1	8.9

A Very "Maddening" Schedule

Four of the Bulldogs' five remaining regular-season outings are against teams now featured in the 68-team field of ESPN.com's most recently published edition of Bracketology.

All told, Georgia's 31-game regular-season slate includes 15 matchups – 48.4 percent of the schedule – against teams mentioned in the Feb. 16 version Bracketology. Of those, 13 games are against teams projected to reach the tournament and two are versus Ole Miss and Wake Forest, the first two of the "first four out" of the bracket.

In addition, Georgia defeated another projected tourney team, Eastern Kentucky, in a preseason charity exhibition.

Abdur-Rahim, Melendez Own Top-5 Season FT Percentage Marks

Jabri Abdur-Rahim and RJ Melendez now own two of the five best single-season free throw percentages in Georgia Basketball history.

A minimum of 50 made free throws are required for inclusion on the Bulldogs' all-time single-season percentage leaders ledger.

Abdur-Rahim surpassed that standard during the Mount St. Mary's game on Dec. 20, just the 11th outing of the season. He has now connected on 103-of-121 (.880) free throws, which equals the fourth-best percentage in school history as outlined below.

Melendez met the 50 makes standard while going 4-of-4 at the stripe versus No. 24/22 Alabama on Jan. 31. He is currently 55-of-63 at the line this season, an 87.1 percent conversion rate that is No. 5 all-time among Bulldogs as outlined below.

Rk.	Player	Pct.
UGA Season FT Pct. Leaders
1.	Channing Toney ('05)	.910
2.	Joe Ward ('84)	.902
3.	J.J. Frazier ('17)	.886
4.	Jabri Abdur-Rahim	.876
5.	RJ Melendez	.873

Jabri Sets Game Mark, Joins Career Percentage Line Leaders too

In addition to his aforementioned season efforts, Jabri Abdur-Rahim shares Georgia's best game free throw percentage and is among the best career converters too.

Abdur-Rahim's school-record 10-of-10 effort against Mount St. Mary's tied Georgia's single-game record, representing the 15th time a Bulldog converted on nine or more FTs in a single contest.

A minimum of 125 made free throws are needed to be featured among UGA's career FT percentage leaders. Abdur-Rahim has made 226-of-273 FTs while at Georgia, a sizzling 82.8 percent that currently has him tied at No. 3 all-time among Bulldogs as outlined below.

Rk.	Player	Pct.
UGA Career FT Percentage Leaders
1.	J.J. Frazier	.841
2.	Dick McIntosh	.831

3.	Jabri Abdur-Rahim	.828
	Juwan Parker	.828
5.	Jerry Epling	.822

Melendez Has Bulldogs' Biggest Game Ever Off Bench...We Think

RJ Melendez's 35-point performance at Florida on Jan. 27 tied the 20th-highest single-game output ever by a Bulldog. It may be the most points ever off the bench for Georgia.

Box scores determined the vast majority of the scoring efforts tied with and ahead of Melendez were done by starters. In fact, there are only four performances where research has yet to confirm were accomplished by starters.

It's hard to fathom that Alfred Scott did not start Georgia's 122-2 – yes 122-2, that's not a typo – win over Southeast Christian on Jan. 12, 1918. FYI, that performance stands as the largest margin of victory by any Division I team.

Jacky Dorsey was known to start throughout his career in Athens; however, box scores for the two games haven't been located...we've emailed LSU and Southern Miss, by the way.

Zippy Morocco's contest came during the same season when he set what was the SEC's season scoring record, compiling 590 points...and we've emailed Tennessee too.

"Don't Look, Ethel!"...Of Bulldogs Winning Streaks & Stuff

Much of Georgia's 2023-24 season has been of the streaky nature.

Georgia put together a 10-game winning streak from Nov. 24-Jan. 10, tying the fourth-longest in program history and the longest in 75 years since the 1947-48 season as outlined below.

Within their 12-3 start, the Bulldogs were 10-0 at Stegeman, equaling the seventh-longest home winning streak and the fifth-longest home streak since Georgia moved into the Coliseum in 1964.

Rk.	Season	No.
UGA Winning Streaks
1.	1912-13 & 1913-14	16
2.	1930-31	13
3.	1947-48	11
4.	2023-24	10
	1930-31	10

BEWARE: Barking Bench Means Bulldogs May Bite

Getting "three stops in a row" is an extremely popular analytical indicator quoted by basketball coaches competing on just about every level. At Georgia, a sequence of three stops in a row is recorded as a "bite" for the Bulldogs.

If you notice various members of the bench barking loudly while Georgia is on the defensive end of the floor, that indicates that the Bulldogs have already posted two consecutive defensive stops and are just shy of taking a "bite" out of their opponent's offensive efforts.

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 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 No. 2 in the SCNext Top 25 national rankings last season and is currently ranked No. 1 this season.

Newest Bulldogs Rated Highly

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 Class of 2023 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.

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.