Bulldogs Travel To Gainesville To Face No. 5/6 Florida

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (14-5, 2-4 SEC) vs. No. 5/6 Florida (17-2, 4-2 SEC)
Date: Saturday, January 25, 2025
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (10,151)
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan, play-by-play; Mark Wise, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 382 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5...

Georgia plays its second consecutive road game on Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to No. 5/6 Florida looking to bounce back from two- and three-point losses to No. 1/1 Auburn and Arkansas.
Georgia, which played five straight ranked opponents to begin the SEC campaign, is in the midst of a six-game span featuring four top-10 opponents – No. 6/6 Tennessee, No. 1/1 Auburn, No. 5/6 Florida and No. 4/3 Alabama – with three of those matchups being on the road.
Mike White has now led three programs with losing records the season before he arrived to top-25 AP rankings in less than three years. He also did so at Louisiana Tech (12-20 in 2010-11 to No. 25 in 2013) and Florida (16-17 in 2014-15 to No. 12 during 2017 "Elite Eight" campaign).
The Bulldogs entered the weekend ranked 34.6 in an average of six popular metrics (NET, KenPom, Torvik, KPI, BPI and SOR) – an increase of 184.3 spots since Mike White became UGA's head coach.
Asa Newell has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times, the second most ever by a Bulldog behind only Anthony Edwards' four certificates during the 2019-20 season.

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs travel to Gainesville on Saturday to take on No. 5/6 Florida.

Georgia is 14-5 overall and 2-4 to open league play. The Bulldogs' first five league opponents were ranked – No. 24/23 Ole Miss, No. 6/7 Kentucky, No. 17/16 Oklahoma, No. 6/6 Tennessee and No. 1/1 Auburn.

Such is life in the SEC in 2025.

The Florida matchup is the fourth in a six-game span when the Bulldogs will play four top-10 teams. Georgia dropped decisions to No. 6/6 Tennessee and No. 1/1 Auburn last week and after playing the Gators on Saturday, will take on No. 4/3 Alabama the following Saturday.

Georgia's balanced offense features seven players who have led the Bulldogs in one or more games. Two more players have posted double-figure scoring outputs. All told, those nine Bulldogs have produced 72 double-digit performances.

Asa Newell, who has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times, leads a trio of Bulldogs averaging double figures at 15.5 ppg. He also paces UGA on the boards at 6.9 rpg. Among league leaders, Newell is ranked No. 15 in scoring and No. 12 rebounding – including an SEC-best 3.5 offensive boards per game. He also is No. 3 the SEC and No. 40 nationally in field goal percentage (.572).

Silas Demary Jr. and Dakota Leffew are scoring at a double-digit pace for the Bulldogs at 11.6 ppg and 11.3 ppg, respectively.

Scouting The Gators

Florida is 17-2 overall and 4-2 in SEC action, marks that have the Gators ranked No. 5 by the AP poll and No. 6 in the coaches ledger this week. Florida is coming off a dramatic 70-69 victory at South Carolina on Wednesday night.

Walter Clayton Jr. leads a potent Gator offense, contributing 17.8 of Florida's 85.1 ppg scoring average. He also tops the Gators in assists at 3.9 apg and 3-pointers at 2.9 3fgpg.

Three more players are scoring at a double-figure clip for Florida, Alijah Martin at 16.1 ppg, Will Richard at 13.5 ppg and Alex Condon at 10.5 ppg and a team-most 8.2 rpg.

Series History With Florida

Florida possesses a 125-105 edge in the all-time hardwood series between the Bulldogs and the Gators.

Georgia and Florida last met in the second round of last year's SEC Tournament, with the Gators converting 6-of-6 free throws in the final 15 seconds to preserve an 85-80 win at Bridgestone Arena.

After trailing by nine midway through the first half, the Bulldogs used a 21-5 surge to go up 33-26 with 3:25 left in the period.

The Gators regained the lead on a three-point play at the 13:10 mark of the second stanza. Georgia pulled within 74-73 with 2:46 remaining but failed on two attempts to take the lead thereafter, and the Gators closed out the contest by hitting a half-dozen free throws.

The Bulldogs' last trip to Gainesville was on Jan. 27 last season when the Gators survived a furious Georgia rally before garnering a 102-98 victory in overtime.

Georgia trailed by as many as 21 points four times in the second half, lastly at 68-47 with 12:52 remaining. After Florida led 77-61 at the 7:47 mark, the Bulldogs closed out regulation on a 24-8 surge to knot the score at 85-85. RJ Melendez and Blue Cain combined to score 20 of UGA's points during the comeback.

The Gators then outscored Georgia, 13-7, in the extra period.

Last Time Out

Arkansas rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Georgia, 68-65, at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday night.

Asa Newell scored a game-high 18 points for the Bulldogs, including a pair of free throws with 14.8 seconds remaining that tied the game at 65-65.

Aduo Thiero collected an offensive rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining. He converted on the first attempt at the line – the Razorbacks' 29th point from charity stripe. He intentionally missed the second but gathered an offensive board and scored as time expired.

Gators Are Georgia's Most Frequent Foe

Georgia and Florida will face off for the 231st time on Saturday, the most games the Bulldogs have played against any opponent.

Rounding out the top-5 in games played against Georgia are Auburn and Georgia Tech with 200 outings each, and Tennessee and Kentucky, both with 161.

No Matter How You State It, Dogs' SEC Slate Is Daunting

Since Georgia's Southeastern Conference schedule is so testing, here's a multiple choice question about the Bulldogs' slate. Which of the following is true?

A. Georgia opened SEC play by facing five straight top-25 opponents. Prior to this season, the Bulldogs had only played three consecutive ranked foes four times. Georgia had never played ranked opposition four outings in a row, let alone five.

B. Georgia is the midst of a six-game stretch when the Bulldogs will face four top-10 teams – No. 6/6 Tennessee, No. 1/1 Auburn, No. 5/6 Florida and No. 4/3 Alabama – with three of those matchup being on the road.

C. Of Georgia's 18 SEC games, 10 are against teams tabbed as top-4 seeds in the latest published edition of ESPN.com's Bracketology, including six road outings at No. 2 Alabama, No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Florida, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 4 Ole Miss and No. 5 Texas A&M.

D. All of the above.

Mike White, Quickly Taking Losing Programs To The Top 25

When Georgia appeared at No. 23 in last week's Associated Press poll, it represented the third program Mike White has taken a program from a losing record the season before his arrival to a top-25 ranking in less than three years.

The Bulldogs were 6-26 in 2021-22 and joined the Jan. 20 AP poll after improving to 14-4 with wins over No. 6/7 Kentucky and No. 17/16 Oklahoma.

White took less than two seasons to earn a top-25 ranking at his previous two head coaching stops. Louisiana Tech was in 12-20 in 2010-11 before White had those Bulldogs ranked No. 25 in 2013. Florida, 16-17 in 2014-15, topped out at No. 12 during the Gators' 2017 "Elite Eight" campaign.

Some More Stuff On The Polls

Georgia was ranked No. 23 in both the Associated Press and coaches polls last week.

That was the Bulldogs' first appearance in the AP poll in just over 14 years....since Jan. 10, 2011, when they were No. 24. The last time prior to last week Georgia was featured in both polls was nearly 22 years ago...on March 10, 2003, when the Bulldogs were listed at No. 21 and No. 22 in the AP and coaches polls, respectively.

A pair of wins over ranked foes pushed the Bulldogs into this week's polls.

Georgia's 82-69 win over No. 6 Kentucky on Jan. 7 represented the Bulldogs' highest over a ranked foe since defeating No. 5 Kentucky, 65-57, on Jan. 17, 2004. It was also UGA's highest over a ranked opponent at Stegeman Coliseum since beating No. 3 Georgia Tech, 83-80 in double OT, on Jan. 3, 2004 ... a span of 21 years and one day. The 2003-04 season also was the last time Georgia defeated a pair of top-10 teams in the same campaign.

The Bulldogs' wins over No. 6 Kentucky and No. 17 Oklahoma were their first back-to-back victories over ranked opponents since beating No. 25 Kentucky and No. 21 LSU in January 2007.

White Enjoyed Successful Stint In Gainesville

Mike White was the head coach at Florida for seven seasons from 2015-22.

White posted a 142-88 record with the Gators and reached 100 victories at UF in 158 games, the second-fastest pace ever by a Florida basketball coach behind only Billy Donovan (154 games).

Under White, the Gators were the only SEC program to earn a bid to the four NCAA Tournaments contested between 2017-21. In addition, Florida was a consensus pick to earn at bid to "March Madness" in 2020 before it was canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More impressively, while at Florida White was one of only five coaches to record a victory in each of the NCAA Tournaments between 2017-21 along with Bill Self, Mark Few, Jay Wright and Leonard Hamilton.

Dogs Among Nation's Best In A 8 Stats

Georgia entered this weekend ranked among the nation's top-40 teams in eight statistics as outlined below.

The Bulldogs rank among the nation's top-15 teams in both field goal percentage defense and 3-point defense, as well as No. 35 in scoring defense.

Oddly, Georgia is one of the nation's worst teams defensively at the free throw line. The Bulldogs rank No. 347, with opponents connecting on 76.3 percent of their trips to the line.

Georgia is No. 13 nationally in blocked shots. Freshman Somto Cyril, who has four or more blocks in four games, entered the weekend ranked No. 28 nationally at 2.0 bpg. Cyril and classmate Asa Newell both had four blocks when Georgia swatted 12 shots against Texas Southern on Nov. 10, the Bulldogs' most in a single game since also blocking a dozen attempts by Vanderbilt on Jan. 9, 2019.

A Top-40 Team In...
Rk.	Category	Stat
8.	3-Point FG Defense	.281
13.	FG Percentage Defense	.384
13.	Blocked Shots	5.5
21.	FT Attempts Per Game	24.0
30.	Rebound Margin	+6.9
31.	FTs Per Game	17.2
35.	Scoring Defense	65.3
39.	Scoring Margin	12.0

The "Dunkyard Dawgs" Attack The Rim

With a nod to the awesome website barttorvik.com, we know that Georgia entered this weekend scoring the nation's third highest percentage of its made FGs on dunks – 16.3 percent.

Freshman Asa Newell's 39 slams represent the fifth most among all Division I players as outlined below.

Top Dunkers - Team Leaders
Rk.	Team	Pct. of FGs
1.	Cincinnati	17.9
2.	Utah	17.5
3.	Tennessee	16.8
5.	Creighton	16.6
4.	Georgia	15.7
Top Dunkers - Individual Leaders
Rk.	Player, School	No.
1.	R. Kalkbrenner, CU	49
2.	J. Scott, UofL	46
2.	D. Mitchell, UC	43
3.	A. Bandaogo, UC	41
5.	A. Newell, UGA	40

Lots Of Bulldogs Leading The Way

No less than seven Georgia players have led the Bulldogs offensively this season, while seven different Dogs have also led Georgia on the boards count.

Asa Newell has paced the Bulldogs' point production in a team-high 12 outings.

A different Bulldog topped 20 points to top Georgia's scoring efforts in first three games of the campaign. Newell put up 26 points in the opener against Tennessee Tech, Dakota Few notched 23 digits versus Texas Southern and RJ Godfrey poured in 21 points against North Florida. Georgia was one of only four Power conference programs with a different 20-point scoring leader in each of the season's first three games along with Butler, Maryland and Stanford.

Since then, Silas Demary Jr. was the Bulldogs' leading scorer at Georgia Tech with 18 points, Blue Cain joined the list with 17 against No. 15 Marquette, De'Shayne Montgomery did so with 16 versus Buffalo and Tyrin Lawrence rounded out the list when he put up 14 points in the non-conference finale against S.C. State.

On the boards, (including some ties) Newell as led Georgia in seven games, followed by Somto Cyril in six, Demary Jr. and in four, Cain and Godfrey in two apiece and Justin Abson and Lawrence in one each.

Bulldogs' Beginning Among Their Best Ever

Georgia's 12-1 start to the 2024-25 campaign was the Bulldogs' best in 94 seasons.

Georgia also opened the 1930-31 season at 12-1 and eventually extended that to a 23-1 record before losing to Maryland in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament and finishing 23-2. That campaign was the last of Coliseum namesake Herman Stegeman's 12 seasons as the Bulldogs' head coach.

This year marked just the 10th time in 119 seasons of intercollegiate play for Georgia that the Bulldogs notched their 10th win with one or fewer losses as outlined below.

Bulldogs' Best Beginnings
Rk.	Season	Rec.
1.	1930-31	23-1
2.	1923-24	13-1
3.	2024-25	12-1
4.	2001-02	11-1
	1996-97	11-1
	1929-30	11-1
	1947-48	11-1
	1920-21	11-1
9.	1995-96	10-1
	1994-95	10-1

Asa Earns Third SEC FOTW Honor

Asa Newell was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the third time this season on Jan. 13 after he was Georgia's leading scorer in wins over No. 6/7 Kentucky and No. 17/16 Oklahoma. Newell averaged 16.0 points against the Wildcats and the Sooners.

Newell also was honored on Nov. 18 – after he averaged 13.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists in a pair of wins over Georgia Tech and North Florida – and on Dec. 9 – after posting game-high tallies of 20 points and 11 rebounds in Georgia's 69-48 victory over Notre Dame in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Newell is one of 10 Bulldogs who have earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors a combined 16 times since the award's inception in 1988. He is the first Georgia player to claim the accolade multiple times since Anthony Edwards earned four certificates during the 2019-20 campaign.

Dogs' Home Streak Snapped at 13

Georgia's home winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum ended at 13 straight with the Bulldogs' 70-68 setback to No. 1 Auburn on Jan. 18. That matched the fourth-longest home winning span ever for the Bulldogs.

In fact, Georgia has enjoyed three of its 10 longest stretches of home success under Mike White as outlined below.

Home Winning Streaks
Rk.	Season	No.
1.	1930-31 & '31-32	25
2.	1938-39 & '39-40	20
3.	1988-89, '89-90 & '90-91	15
4.	2001-02 & '02-03	13
5.	2023-24 & '24-25	12
	1997-98 & '98-99	12
7.	1984-85 & '85-86	11
8.	2023-24	10
	2022-23	10
	2007-08	10

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 Athens as a visiting head coach before coming to UGA. He led Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and was 6-1 while at Florida from 2015-22.

With his 37-11 home mark since becoming Georgia's head coach, White is now a combined 44-12 (.786) in Stegeman. He is a perfect 27-0 versus non-conference competition in home games while with the Bulldogs.

Asa Equals Nique's Mark

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

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 a 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."

Six Dogs Were Top-100 Prospects

Georgia's 13 scholarship players includes a half-dozen Bulldogs who were ranked among the nation's top-100 prospects in their class.

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.

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 247 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).

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 was 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 the 1981 and 1982 NITs. 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 career primarily with the Atlanta Hawks that included being a nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

View the full game notes PDF.

Bulldogs Travel To Gainesville To Face No. 5/6 Florida

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Abson

Blue Cain

Silas Demary Jr.

RJ Godfrey

Dylan James

Tyrin Lawrence

Dakota Leffew

RJ Melendez

De'Shayne Montgomery

Asa Newell

University of Georgia Athletics

Bulldogs Travel To Gainesville To Face No. 5/6 Florida

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Abson

Blue Cain

Silas Demary Jr.

RJ Godfrey

Dylan James

Tyrin Lawrence

Dakota Leffew

RJ Melendez

De'Shayne Montgomery

Asa Newell

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