Georgia Takes On Florida In SEC Tournament

Thursday, March 14

Nashville, Tenn.

9:30 p.m. ET

University of Georgia

Florida

March 14, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

2024 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
Game 33: Georgia (17-15, 6-12 SEC) vs. Florida (21-10, 11-7 SEC)
Thursday, March 14 || 25 minutes after Game 1 of the session at approximately 9:15
Bridgestone Arena (19,395) || Nashville, Tenn.
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 (Tom Hart, play-by-play; Dane Bradshaw, color analyst; Alyssa Lang, sideline reporter)
Video Stream: SEC Network (Tom Hart, play-by-play; Dane Bradshaw, color analyst; Alyssa Lang, sideline reporter)
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: SiriusXM 106 or 190
History: UF leads, 124-105 (Full History)
Last Meeting: - UF, 88-82, on 2/17/24

Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach: Mike White Record at UGA: 33-31 (2nd season) Career Record: 280-159 (13th season)				Florida Gators Head Coach: Todd Golden Record at UF: 37-27 (2nd season) Career Record: 94-63 (5th season)
INDIVIDUAL		TEAM	STATISTIC	TEAM		INDIVIDUAL
Thomasson	12.7	74.6	Points Per. Game	84.9	17.0	Clayton Jr.
Tchewa	.558	.429	Field Goal Pct.	.457	.631	Handlogten
Abdur-Rahim	2.1	8.0	3-Pointers Per. Game	7.8	2.5	Clayton Jr.
Abdur-Rahim	.356	.334	3-Point Pct.	.339	.444	Pullin
Abdur-Rahim	.887	.728	Free Throw Pct.	.710	.862	Pullin
Tchewa	6.8	35.6	Rebounds Per. Game	43.0	7.5	Samuel
Hill	3.3	11.7	Assists Per. Game	15.4	5.4	Pullin
Hill	2.23	1.02	Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.28	4.38	Pullin
Anselem	0.6	3.1	Blocks Per. Game	5.4	1.2	Condon
Demary Jr.	1.5	6.4	Steals Per. Game	6.6	1.2	Samuel
Thomasson	28.1		Minutes Per. Game		33.7	PullinEast II

The Starting 5...

Georgia will face Florida in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday night, at approximately 9:15 ET...25 minutes after the conclusion of the evening's first game.
With Wednesday's win over Missouri, Georgia improved its records this season to 8-7 in games that were one-possession contests in the final 5:00 and 6-4 in matchups that were separated by three points or less in the final 30 seconds of regulation.
With Wednesday's win over Missouri, Georgia improved to 27-2 (.931) in games when the Bulldogs have held their opponents under 70 points during Mike White's two seasons in Athens. UGA is 6-29 (.171) when allowing opponents to reach the 70-point plateau.
Freshmen Blue Cain enjoyed a career night in the Bulldogs' SEC Tournament win over Missouri, recording his highest tallies of 19 points, three assists, four steals and five 3-pointers.
Georgia is ranked No. 21 nationally in bench scoring at 28.4 ppg. The Bulldogs' bench has outscored its opponents in 25 of 32 games with a season scoring margin of +300...or +9.4 ppg.

The Opening Tip

Georgia will face Florida on Thursday evening in the second round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.

On Wednesday, the Bulldogs saw a 12-point first-half lead flip to an eight-point second-half deficit against Missouri. Down seven with 3:27 to play, Justin Hill scored seven points to lead Georgia on a 12-0 run to end the contest. The victory was the Bulldogs' first in SEC Tournament play since March 11, 2020 – the day before the COVID-19 pandemic suspended all sporting events for several months.

The contest followed a common theme with many of the Bulldogs' games this season. Fifteen of 32 outings – 46.9 percent – were one-possession games in the final 5:00. Ten of those were still within three points in the final 30 seconds of regulation.

Noah Thomasson is Georgia's leading scorer at 12.7 ppg

Jabri Abdur-Rahim also is scoring at a double-figure pace for the Bulldogs at 12.2 ppg, largely due to sporting team-high shooting percentages of .356 from 3-point range and .887 at the free throw line. Abdur-Rahim missed the last three games due to an ankle injury, the first DNPs of his career at Georgia. Prior to that, Abdur-Rahim had played in 93 straight contests.

A balanced offensive attack features five more players contributing between 7.4-9.7 ppg.

Four Bulldogs upped their scoring averages from their non-conference contributions to SEC play, topped by Russel Tchewa's jump of 3.2 ppg (from 6.1 to 9.3).

Keeping An Eye On…

Jabri Abdur-Rahim is among UGA's career leaders...
• 3 3FGs from co No. 13s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison
• 9 3FGs from No. 12 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• 2 3FGAs from No. 14 Turtle Jackson
• 9 3FGAs from No. 13 Sundiata Gaines

Noah Thomasson is among UGA's season leaders...
• 1 3FGs from co-No. 14s Billy Humphrey and Rashad Wright
• 2 3FGs No. 13 Jody Patton
• 6 3FGs from co-No. 11s Anthony Edwards and Levi Stukes
• 9 3FGs from No. 10 D.A. Layne

Scouting The Gators

Florida wrapped the regular season at 21-10 overall and 11-7 in the SEC.

Four Gators are scoring at a double-digit pace. Walter Clayton Jr. leads that quartet at 17.0 ppg, followed by Zyon Pullin at 15.7 ppg, Tyrese Samuel at 13.8 ppg and Will Richard at 11.2 ppg.

Pullin currently leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.38), while Samuel sports an SEC-best field goal percentage (.573) and.

Series History With Florida

Florida possesses a 124-105 edge in the all-time hardwood series between the Bulldogs and the Gators, including a 2-1 mark in SEC Tournament meetings.

The Gators swept both ends of the home-and-home series this season.

On Jan. 27 in Gainesville, Florida secured a 102-98 overtime decision in Gainesville.

RJ Melendez exploded for a career-high 35 points – equaling the No. 20 single-game scoring ouput ever by a Bulldog – and Georgia rallied from 21 points down with less than 13 minutes left to force the extra session.

On Feb. 17 in Athens, the Gators rallied from an 11-point deficit to top Georgia, 88-82.

Noah Thomasson scored a season-high 26 points, including 17 in the first half, to lead the Bulldogs. Georgia led 22-11 early, but Florida cut that gap to 46-40 by halftime and took the lead for good at 52-50.

The Bulldogs and Gators have not met in SEC Tournament action in 17 years. Florida defeated Georgia, 74-57, in the quarterfinals of the 2007 tourney at the Georgia Dome. The Gators built a 35-14 halftime lead and cruised thereafter en route to eventually capturing the tournament title.

Last Time Out

Blue Cain and Justin Hill scored 19 and 17 points, respectively, to lead Georgia to a 64-59 win over Missouri in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs never trailed and led for 18:19 of the first half; however, the Tigers grabbed their first lead just 20 seconds into the second stanza. Missouri then led for the next 17:57 before Hill's 3-pointer put Georgia back on top for good. The Bulldogs closed out the contest on a 12-0 surge.

Gators Are Georgia's Most Frequent Foe

Georgia and Florida will face off for the 230th time on Thursday, the most games the Bulldogs have played against any opponent.

Rounding out the top-5 in games played against Georgia are both Auburn and Georgia Tech with 199, Tennessee with 161 and Kentucky with 160.

Klatsky Brothers Face Off

Georgia's Brandon Klatsky and Florida's Alex Klatsky are brothers.

Brandon is a redshirt freshman with the Bulldogs who has seen action in two games this season. Alex is a redshirt senior with the Gators and has logged playing time in 23 contests during his career at UF.

The Klatskys played together for one season at the Ranney School, helping the Panthers to a 31-3 finish and the 2019 New Jersey Non-Public B state championship and the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions title.

The Klatsky's are the second of brothers to face each other during the Bulldogs' 2023-24 season. Freshman Dylan James squared off against his brother Dorian, a redshirt senior, when Georgia hosted North Florida on Dec. 22.

There is no Denying Bulldogs Are Better

Georgia wrapped up the regular season with the same records as a year ago – at 16-15 overall and 6-12 in the SEC. However, most who have watched the Bulldogs this season would agree they have made considerable improvement.

For doubters, there is quantifiable data.

Of note, the Bulldogs' scoring differential in conference games went from -13.0 ppg in 2022-23 to -3.9 ppg this season.

Georgia's progress is validated even more within increasingly popular metric assessments.

Six of the most commonly utilized computer models have the Bulldogs up between 37-79 positions higher nationally from last season – an average of 55 spots as outlined below.

And on the aforementioned scoring differential in league games...KenPom ranked Georgia playing the fifth-toughest SEC schedule this winter...as opposed to the ninth in 2022-23.

	22-23	23-24	Diff.
Seven Seniors Totals
Overall	16-15	16-15	–
SEC	6-12	6-12	–
Torvik	159	80	+79
BPI	148	85	+63
KenPom	154	92	+62
NET	152	101	+51
KPI	121	83	+38
SOR	119	82	+37
Avg.	142.2	87.2	+55.0

Raising Cain's Game Proves Beneficial For Bulldogs

Blue Cain enjoyed the best game of his freshman season in Wednesday's win over Missouri.

Cain scored a career- and game-high 19 points to lead Georgia, one of many season-best statistical tallies in the contest. He also collected personal bests of four steals and two assists and converted on season highs of five 3-pointers and two free throws.

Cain scored 14 second-half points against the Tigers, largely due to connected on 4-of-7 attempts from beyond the arc – and one from the SEC logo.

That continued a commonly theme this season. Of Cain's 91 makes from the floor, 43 – 47.3 percent – have become from beyond the 3-point arc.

Hill Continues Milestone Stretch

Justin Hill has notched a trio of significant statistical markers over the past three weeks.

During his 17-point performance against Missouri on Wednesday night, Hill surpassed 1,300 points for his career. More significant than reaching the milestone was the setting. Hill's jumper at the 3:36 mark to top 1,300 points also ignited the Bulldogs' 12-0 run to end the game.

On Feb. 21 at Vanderbilt, Hill delivered the 400th assist of his career. He now has 412 which, entering Thursday, ranked No. 91 on the NCAA's career leaders ledger of Division I players.

On March 2 against Texas A&M, Hill collected the 400th rebound of his career.

Thomasson Making Moves Among UGA's 3-Point Leaders

Noah Thomasson has now connected on 66-of-193 3-point attempts this season, tallies that rank among the most by a Bulldog during a single season.

With a pair of triples against Missouri, Thomasson went from No. 19 to No. 16 among Georgia's all-time season leaders.

The Houston native's 193 shots from behind the arc is No. 9 among all Bulldogs.

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.

With Wednesday's win over Missouri, Georgia improved to 27-2 when holding its opponents under 70 points during White's tenure...and 6-29 when opponents reach the 70-point plateau.

The losses on that ledger were a 66-67 setback at LSU on Feb. 27 and a 61-55 decision at South Carolina in the 2022-23 regular-season finale.

Another Nail-Biter For The Bulldogs

Wednesday's win over Missouri was not decided until the final 30 seconds, upping the number of "close games" for Georgia this season to 15.

Of the Bulldogs' 32 games to date...

• 15 have been a one-possession game in the last five minutes. Georgia is 8-7 in those games.
• 13 have been a one-possession game in the last 90 seconds. Georgia is 6-7 in those games.
• 10 have been a one-possession game in the last 30 seconds. Georgia is 6-4 in those games.