Georgia Takes on Xavier in Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic

Friday, November 21

Charleston, S.C.

9:00

University of Georgia

Xavier

Georgia Takes on Xavier in Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic

November 20, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Shriners Children's Charleston Classic - Palmetto Bracket Semifinal
Georgia (5-0) vs. Xavier (3-2)
Date: Friday, November 21
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Venue: TD Arena (5,100)
Location: Charleston, S.C.
TV: ESPN (John Schriffen, play-by-play; Score Williams, 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 opens play in the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic on Friday evening at 9:00 p.m. by facing Xavier at TD Arena. The tourney's Palmetto Bracket also features Clemson and West Virginia.
As of Thursday, the Bulldogs are ranked in the top-10 nationally in 11 of 28 statistics tracked by the NCAA, including No. 1 in fastbreak points (32.8 ppg) and No. 2 in scoring margin (+36.8 ppg).
Georgia's Dunkyard Dawgs have scored 27.1 percent of their field goals – 45 of 166 – on dunks, the highest percentage in the nation according to BartTorvik.com.
As of Thursday, EvanMiya.com has 10 Bulldogs rated among the nation's top-450 players in its metrics, along with Gonzaga as the only teams in the country with double-digit players.
Georgia topped the 90-point plateau in each of its first four games...after scoring 90 or more points in nine of 102 games during Mike White's first three seasons at Georgia.

The Opening Tip

Georgia travels to Charleston this weekend looking to extend a red-hot start to the season. The Bulldogs will face Xavier on Friday at approximately 9:00 p.m. ET in the first round of the Shriners Children's Charleston Classic and then take on either Clemson or West Virginia on Sunday.

It would be hard to fathom a better beginning to the 2025-26 campaign for Georgia, at least statistically speaking.

As of Thursday, the Bulldogs are ranked among the nation's top-10 teams in 11 stats tracked by the NCAA – that's 39.3 percent of the 28 total team categories the NCAA measures. Most notably, Georgia led the nation in both fastbreak points (32.9 ppg) and blocks (9.2 bpg), while also ranking second scoring margin (+36.8 ppg) and third in bench points (49.0 ppg).

Those stats point to two of the Bulldogs' strengths that also are backed up metrically – speed and depth. According to KenPom.com, Georgia ranks No. 10 in adjusted tempo. EvanMiya.com has the Bulldogs and Gonzaga as the only teams with 10 players featured in its top 450 nationally.

Eleven Bulldogs have played double-digit minutes in every game, with 10 of them already recording double-figure scoring outputs. Jeremiah Wilkinson paces a trio of scorers contributing 10-plus points per game at 15.6 ppg, followed by Blue Cain at 15.0 and Jake Wilkins at 12.6 ppg.

Scouting The Musketeers

Xavier is 3-2 under first-year coach Richard and coming off an impressive 99-69 win over Old Dominion on Tuesday night.

Tre Carroll is Xavier's leading scorer at 15.0 ppg, a single point more than Roddie Anderson III at 14.8 ppg. Jovan Milicevic also is scoring at a double-figure pace for the XU at 11.2 ppg, while Filip Borovicanin paces the Musketeers on the boards at 5.4 rpg.

Series History vs. Xavier

The Musketeers own a 3-2 edge in previous meetings between UGA and XU.

The most recent matchup came in the opening round of the 2024 NIT. Georgia led for more than 36 minutes and by as much as 23 points with 13:25 left in the contest before withstanding a furious Xavier rally to secure a 78-76 victory. A complete box score from that contest can be found below.

The Musketeers pulled with two points twice in the final 95 seconds. Georgia answered the first with a bucket before Xavier's attempt to tie the game with one second left was off the mark.

The Bulldogs then went on the road and secured wins at Wake Forest and Ohio State in a span of three days to reach the NIT semifinals before falling to Seton Hall, the tourney's eventual champions, at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The matchup in Charleston will be the second neutral site contest. Georgia and Xavier also met in the Round of 64 of the 2008 NCAA Tournament in Washington, D.C. The Bulldogs built a 35-26 halftime lead, but the Musketeers rallied to a 73-61 victory to end the Bulldogs' improbable postseason run.

As the sixth seed from the SEC East, Georgia won four games – one at the Georgia Dome and three at Georgia Tech's Alexander Memorial Coliseum – to capture the 2008 SEC Tournament title. The tourney moved from the Dome after it was struck by a tornado shortly before the Bulldogs were set to face Kentucky in the second round. Georgia then defeated the Wildcats and Mississippi State on the same day – March 15 – before besting Arkansas, 66-57, in the title tilt.

Last Time Out

Freshman Jake Wilkins' 14-point, five-block, four-steal performance led a balanced Georgia attack in an 87-57 win over Florida A&M on Monday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

All told, five Bulldogs scored in double digits, including a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds from Blue Cain. Georgia seized control early, building a 16-6 lead less than seven minutes in and maintaining a double-figure lead for the final 29:17 of the night.

"I thought we played a good first half, outside of the way we shot it," head coach Mike White said. "I liked our approach, and our shot selection, the way it moved, but we played really hard. (In the) second half, we weren't sharp, continued to struggle shooting a ball, and I thought our defensive energy let up a little bit."

The Dunkyard Dogs Lead The Nation In Pct. Of FGs!

According to BartTorvik.com, Georgia has scored a nation-leading 27.1 percent of its field goals this season on dunks – 45 of 166 the Bulldogs' total FGs – as outlined below.

As of Thursday, sophomore Somto Cyril and freshman Jake Wilkins are ranked No. 9 and No. 21 in the country in dunks with 12 and 10 rim-rattling finishes, respectively.

The Bulldogs also are among the best teams in college basketball at protecting the rim on dunks. Opponents are converting only 50.0 percent of the attempts to slam the basketball, which is tied for No. 7 nationally according to the website.

Dunking FGs
Rank	Team	Pct.
1.	Georgia	27.1
2.	N. Carolina	26.6
3.	Indiana	24.1
4.	Southern Cal	23.5
5.	Kentucky	21.7
6.	Louisville	21.4
7.	Duke	21.3
8.	Cincinnati	20.3
9.	Marshall	20.0
10.	Florida	19.4

Dogs Feature Nation's Highest Quality Rotation

Mike White has been asked the question in many forms, but the gist is always essentially the same. "Can you keep playing an 11-player rotation?"

"I like these guys," White said after beating Georgia Tech. "Assuming all 11 continue to grow and connect and get better, we'd like to play 11. If we have nine that ascend then so be it. I hope that we can be this deep here in January and February. We've got talented freshmen. We've got a couple older guys coming off the bench. We've got depth in our backcourt. I think with these 11, if we can get eight or nine to play really well, we can probably beat some pretty good teams like tonight."

According to the popular analytics service EvanMiya.com, Georgia has the deepest roster with the most quality in the nation. That website rates not only teams – with UGA at No. 22 following Wednesday's games – but players. As of Thursday, Georgia and Gonzaga are the only teams with 10 players ranked among the top-450 in the nation. Among Power Conference programs, Louisville was second with nine, followed by Duke and Michigan with eight.

From a minutes perspective, Oklahoma State leads Power Conference teams with 12 players averaging double-figure minutes. Georgia is one of six schools with 11 players doing so.

Georgia Among Nation's Top-10 In 11 Stats

Peruse the early-season NCAA basketball statistical leaders and you'll find plenty of ledgers featuring the Georgia Bulldogs.

As of Thursday, Georgia is ranked in the nation's top-10 team in 11 of the 28 stats the NCAA measures. That's 39.3 percent of the total categories.

More impressively, the Bulldogs were featured in the top-5 teams in eight statistics as outlined below.

Top-5 Stats
Statistic	Rk.	No.
Fastbreak Points	1	32.8
Blocks Per Game	1	9.2
Winning Pct.	1	100.0
Scoring Margin	2	+36.8
Turnover Margin	2	+11.4
TOs forced Per Game	2	21.8
Steals Per Game	3	13.4
Bench Points	3	49.0

Double-Digit Dogs' Have Hit Double Figures

No less than 10 different Georgia Bulldogs recorded double-figure scoring outputs in the first five games of the season.

Those Bulldogs have combined to produce 22 double-digith performances. Blue Cain and Jeremiah Wilkinson lead that pack by scoring 10+ in each game, followed by Jake Wilkins with four, Kanon Catchings with two and Justin Bailey, Somto Cyril, Dylan James, Smurf Millender, Jordan Ross and Kareem Stagg with one each.

Seven of the aforementioned Bulldogs scored in double digits in Georgia's 120-81 win over Morehead State on Nov. 9.

That marked the first time seven Bulldogs hit the 10-point plateau in a single game since a 99-72 decision over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29, 1994 – a span of 979 contests – when Shandon Anderson, Charles Claxton (aka Nic's dad) and Carlos Strong all scored 13 points, Curtis Carrington and Katu Davis added 12 each; and Pertha Robinson and Ty Wilson chipped in 11 apiece.

Bulldogs Among SEC's Best At Stealing, Swatting

With Georgia leading the SEC in both steals and blocks per game, it would be enigmatic if individual Bulldogs weren't also among the league's best in those statistics.

Within Georgia's SEC-best 13.4 steals per contest, Jeremiah Wilkinson is ranked No. 2 in the league (3.0 spg), Blue Cain is No. 5 (2.4 spg) and Dylan James is No. 8 (2.0 spg). Remarkably, James, who recorded 11 steals in 32 games last season, already has 10 in five contests this year.

The Bulldogs' 9.2 blocks per game as a team features Somto Cyril with a league-leading 2.6 bpg, followed by Justin Abson at No. 3 (2.2 bpg) and Jake Wilkins at No. 7 (1.6 bpg).

Wilkins Windmill Dunks Are #SCTop10s

Mark down November 5, 2025 as the day Jake Wilkins made his first appearance in SportsCenter's top-10 plays as a Bulldog.

Mark down November 9, 2020 as the day Wilkins returned to #SCTop10 with an early candidate for college basketball's "dunk of the year."

On Nov. 5, Wilkins' breakaway, windmill dunk capped off the scoring in Georgia's 94-29 win over Maryland Eastern Shore and was tabbed as the No. 7 effort of the day. The highlight was matched up on the highlights with a similar effort by Dominique Wilkins from an NBA Slam Dunk contest.

Four days later, Wilkins accepted a lob from Jeremiah Wilkinson and instead of simply slamming it home added a windmill to the action for quality points. That ended up at No. 2 on SportsCenter, only topped by a bicycle kick goal scored in a snowstorm.

Georgia Puts Up Historical Numbers In First Three Outings

Each of the Bulldogs' first three games caused some early editing to the 2025-26 edition of Georgia's media guide.

Georgia's 45-point, 104-59 thumping of Bellarmine on Nov. 3 represented UGA's biggest margin of victory in a season person since defeating Seattle, 103-48, on Nov. 9, 1986.

The 104 points were the most by the Bulldogs since defeating Savannah State, 110-78, in the 2018-29 season opener on Nov. 9, 2018.

The Bulldogs' 65-point, 94-29 win over Maryland Eastern Shore in their next contest two days later represented the Bulldogs' largest margin of victory ever in 63 seasons of play at Stegeman Coliseum and also equaled the ninth-biggest mark in 121 seasons of competition.

The previous record for biggest win gap in the arena was a trio of 60-point decisions. Georgia defeated Southern, 97-37, on Nov. 10, 2006; topped Whittier, 122-62, on Dec. 3, 1979; and beat Baptist College (now Charleston Southern), 122-62, on Dec. 30, 1978.

Overall, the Bulldogs tied the No. 9 effort for margin of victory, matching wins over Fort McPherson (80-15 on Dec. 18, 1926) and Mercer (74-9, on Feb. 9, 1918).

Georgia then put up 120 points versus Morehead State on Nov. 9, a tally that represents the fourth-most ever by the Bulldogs and their highest offensive output since a 124-65 blitzing of Western Kentucky on Nov. 28, 1990.

A "Stegtacular" Home Court Advantage

Georgia's home court advantage? It's real and it's Stegtacular.

The Bulldogs have compiled a 46-13 home mark under Mike White and are a perfect 32-0 versus non-conference competition in Stegeman over his three-plus seasons at UGA.

White's success at Stegeman is not confined to his UGA tenure. He was 7-1 in Athens as a visiting head coach, leading Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and compiling a 6-1 mark at Florida from 2015-22. That makes White is a combined 53-14 (.791) in Stegeman.

The Bulldogs were 15-3 in Athens last season, matching the program record for home wins in a single season. Georgia also won 15 home games during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 campaigns; however, those tallies include an NIT victory.

The Bulldogs won their first 11 home contests, building a 13-game home winning streak dating back to the 2023-24 seasons. After producing just eight double-digit home winning streaks in Georgia's first 116 seasons of basketball, the Bulldogs have produced three double-digit winning streaks at Stegeman during Mike White's three seasons alone.

Georgia currently owns a seven-game winning streak at Stegeman that began with two impressive victories to cap last season – an 88-83 upse

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