Dogs Wrap Up Regular Season Looking To Extend Winning Streak

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (19-11, 7-10 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (20-10, 8-9 SEC)
Date: Saturday, March 8, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Location: Athens, Ga.
TV: ESPNU (Mike Morgan, play-by-play; Mark Wise, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 381 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5...

Georgia looks to continue its late-season surge and make a little history when the Bulldogs host Vanderbilt in their regular-season finale on Saturday. In 118 seasons of competition, Georgia has only reached 20 regular-season wins five times (1930-31, 1945-85, 1996-97, 2010-11 and 2014-15).
The Bulldogs are riding a three-game winning streak with victories over No. 3 Florida followed by back-to-back road wins at Texas and South Carolina.
Silas Demary Jr. was named the SEC and a National Player of the Week after averaging 23.5 ppg in wins over Florida and Texas, including a career-high 26 points against the Longhorns.
Asa Newell, who has matched Anthony Edwards' school record with four SEC Freshman of the Week honors, has scored in double figures in 27 games and has led Georgia offensively in 18 outings.
Georgia has played eight games versus AP top-10 teams this season, the most of any program in the nation this season. In fact, the Bulldogs have played eight of 17 games during the 2025 calendar against top-10 teams, with five of those being on the road.

The Opening Tip

Georgia hosts Vanderbilt in its 2024-25 regular-season finale on Saturday looking to continue to build momentum – and its NCAA tournament résumé – while also making a little history. The Bulldogs are riding a three-game winning streak that includes an upset of No. 3 Florida and road victories at Texas and South Carolina.

Georgia is 19-11 overall and 7-10 in SEC play. As of Friday, the Bulldogs were included in all 92 projections tracked by bracketmatrix.com, including a No. 10 seed and the second spot in Joe Lunardi's "last four byes" for ESPN.com.

With a win on Saturday, Georgia would reach the 20-win plateau during the regular season for just the sixth time in 119 seasons of intercollegiate competition and also would post back-to-back 20-win campaigns for just the fifth time ever.

The Bulldogs' balanced offense features seven players who have led Georgia in scoring in one or more games.

Freshman Asa Newell, a top-10 candidate for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the top center in college basketball, paces the Bulldogs both in scoring at 15.1 ppg and on the boards at 6.6 rpg. Among SEC leaders, Newell is No. 15 in scoring, No. 12 rebounding, No. 3 in offensive rebounds (3.1 orpg) and No. 7 in double-doubles (six). In addition, he entered the weekend at No. 3 in the league and No. 51 nationally in field goal percentage (.542).

Silas Demary Jr. was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday and a National Player of the Week on Tuesday after averaging 23.5 points in wins over No. 3 Florida and at Texas. He also is scoring at double-digit pace of 13.0 ppg the Bulldogs – including 19.9 ppg over the last seven games – and sports team-high averages of 3.2 apg, 1.6 spg and 31.2 mpg.

Blue Cain is contributing double figures in league play, upping his average of 8.2 ppg against non-conference competition by 2.3 ppg to 10.5 ppg versus SEC teams.

Scouting The Commodores

Vanderbilt enters its regular-season finale at 20-10 overall and 8-9 in SEC action.

First-year head coach Mark Byington, whose staff includes former Georgia player, graduate assistant and operations coordinator Matt Bucklin, has Vanderbilt on the verge of an NCAA Tournament bid. The Commodores are coming off a 90-77 setback to Arkansas on Tuesday which snapped a three-game winning streak over top-25 foes – No. 24 Ole Miss, No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 14 Missouri.

Vanderbilt features a quartet of double-figure scorers led by Jason Edwards' 16.7 ppg average, followed by Devin McGlockton and Tyler Nickel both at 10.5 ppg and A.J. Hoddard at 10.1 ppg.

The deep Dores rank No. 17 nationally in bench points, with reserves contributing 30.3 ppg, 37.7 percent of Vanderbilt's offense.

Series History With Vandy

Despite a 37-30 edge for Georgia in Athens, Vanderbilt owns a 95-57 lead in the all-time series between the Bulldogs and the Commodores.

Last season on Feb. 21 in Nashville, Noah Thomasson scored all of his team-high 17 points in the first half to lead Georgia in a 76-64 win at Vanderbilt.

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.

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

In the most recent matchup in Athens on Jan. 21, 2023, Jabri Abdur-Rahim posted what was then a career-high 21 points; however, the Bulldogs suffered their first home loss of the season, 85-82, at a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum. The setback snapped Georgia's 10-game home winning streak, which matched the sixth-longest overall and fifth-best single-season stretches of home success ever by the Bulldogs.

A 3-pointer 85 seconds into the game put Vanderbilt up 3-2, and the Commodores never trailed again. Georgia trimmed an eight-point halftime deficit to a single possession six times in the second stanza, including an 11-0 run that pulled the Bulldogs within 77-76 at the 2:13 mark. Georgia had possession with a chance to tie or take the lead three times in the final 111 seconds but could not complete the comeback.

Last Time Out

Georgia never trailed for the second straight road game en route to a 73-64 victory over South Carolina on Tuesday in Columbia.

Silas Demary Jr.'s team-high tallies of 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists led the Bulldogs. Blue Cain and Asa Newell added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

Demary Jr. knocked down a jumper 32 seconds into the game and Georgia led the rest of the night. The Bulldogs were up 40-29 at halftime, but the Gamecocks rallied to close the gap to 44-41 with 13:00 remaining. Carolina pulled within two points at the 9:24 mark before a Demary Jr. jumper followed by a pair of Cain 3-pointers in a span of 38 seconds pushed the margin back to 57-47.

"Huge win for us," head coach Mike White said. "South Carolina is a very, very good team. They're so hard to defend and they set great screens. They run good stuff. (Collin) Murray-Boyles is one of the toughest matchups in the country, and they just sit down and guard you. They're so disciplined with their half-court defense. Silas stepped up and hit some big shots for us. Blue hit some big shots. We got some offensive rebounds, extra possessions by Dylan (James), by Asa. Somto [Cyril] played well. Huge week for us, huge win."

There's "Brutal," And then There's This

Georgia has played an almost unfathomable schedule, particularly in January and February.

Georgia has played eight games versus top-10 foes. The most of any team in the nation as outlined below.

The Bulldogs have played 14 games against top-25 competition. The second most of any team in the nation as outlined below.

The Bulldogs have played five road contests against top-10 teams. The most of any team in the nation.

In fact, of the Bulldogs' outings since the New Year began, nearly half of them – eight of 17 – have been versus top-10 competition.

With the victory over No. 3/3 Florida, Georgia now has two top-10 wins – the same as combined total of current top-10 teams Duke (1), St. John's (0), Michigan State (0) and Texas Tech (1).

Prior to this season, Georgia had never played four ranked opponents in a row. The Bulldogs have played five straight top-25 foes twice during SEC play this season.

Top-10 AP Opponents
Rk.	Team	Games
1.	Georgia	8
	Kentucky	8
3.	Miss. St.	7
4.	Alabama	6
	Arkansas	6
	Auburn	6
	Missouri	6
	Vanderbilt	6
	West Virginia	6

Top-25 AP Opponents
Rk.	Team	Games
1.	Alabama	15
2.	Georgia	14
3.	Auburn	13
	Oklahoma	13
5.	Miss. St.	12
	S. Carolina	12
	Tennessee	12

Paul Harvey's Take On the Bulldogs' Losing Skid

The simplistically easy – and maddeningly overutilzied – narrative about Georgia's record from Jan. 15-Feb. 22 has been:

• The Bulldogs lost nine of 11 games

While that's factually accurate, more thorough examination reveals:

• Eight of those nine losses were to top-25 teams

• Six of those losses were to top-10 teams

• Five of those Ls were to top-10 teams on the road

"And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!"

Silas Steps Up Production In A Major Way

Sophomore Silas Demary Jr. has been a mainstay for Georgia since arriving on campus, starting 66 of 67 games with "Senior Day" last season as his only non nod. The Raleigh, N.C., native, has taken his game to another level in the past seven games.

In games against No. 22 Mississippi State, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 21 Missouri, No. 1 Auburn, No. 3 Florida, Texas and South Carolina, Demary Jr. has averaged 19.9 points, 3.9 assists and 35.7 minutes per game.

He recorded career highs of 23 points and seven assists against No. 22 Mississippi State. Demary Jr. logged a career-most "40-" minutes at No. 8/9 Texas A&M, playing all but 18 seconds of the first half. He then topped that mark by playing every second versus No. 21/22 Missouri. Demary Jr. improved his scoring high with 26 points against the Longhorns.

Asa Ascends Among UGA's Top Scoring & Rebounding Freshmen

Asa Newell has joined Georgia's all-time top-10 leaders in scoring and rebounding among freshmen as outlined below.

Newell is No. 5 on the scoring ledger, inching past two-time NBA Champion and current Orlando Magic standout Kentavious Caldwell-Pope during the win over Florida.

The four-time SEC Freshman of the Week has 198 boards on the season. During the game against the Gators, Newell passed Charles Claxton, father of current Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton and pushed the previous No. 10 – three-time NBA All-Star Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves – off the first-year rebounding list.

UGA's Top-Scoring Freshmen
Rk.	Player	Pts.	Season	GP	Avg.
1.	Jacky Dorsey	645	1974-75	25	25.8
2.	Anthony Edwards	610	2019-20	32	19.1
3.	Jumaine Jones	515	1997-98	25	14.7
4.	Litterial Green	481	1988-89	31	15.5
5.	Asa Newell	442	2024-25	29	15.2
6.	Cedric Henderson	433	1984-85	28	15.5
7.	KCP	422	2011-12	32	13.2
8.	Walter Daniels	404	1975-76	27	15.0
9.	D.A. Layne	381	1998-99	30	12.7
10.	Terry Fair	368	1979-80	27	13.6

UGA's Top-Rebounding Freshmen
Rk.	Player	Rebs.	Season	GP	Avg.
1.	Jumaine Jones	299	1997-98	35	8.5
2.	Jacky Dorsey	296	1974-75	25	11.8
3.	Terry Fair	271	1979-80	27	10.0
4.	Charlie Dorsey	223	1974-75	25	8.9
5.	Lucius Foster	220	1975-76	27	8.1
6.	Trey Thompkins	206	2008-09	28	7.4
7.	Lavon Mercer	204	1976-77	27	7.6
8.	Cedric Henderson	199	1984-85	28	7.1
9.	Asa Newell	196	2024-25	28	6.8
10.	Charles Claxton	190	1991-92	29	6.6

Blue Ups Production, Efficiency

Sophomore Blue Cain has increased his offensive production by a significant margin since SEC competition began.

After contributing 8.2 ppg in Georgia's 13 non-conference games, Cain is scoring 10.5 ppg in league play.

He has done so by primarily improving his shooting percentages – from .375 overall and .310 from 3-point range in non-conference to .434 and .364 versus SEC opponents.

Comparing The "Bubble" Teams

Joe Lunardi publishes daily updates on his projected NCAA Tournament field this time of year. The information includes 16 teams "on the bubble" – the last four byes, last four in, first four out and next four out.

Georgia has been fluttering on both sides of the bubble over the past several weeks. The Bulldogs' victories over No. 3/3 Florida, Texas and South Carolina propelled the Bulldogs from the "next four out" to "last four byes."

One thing that should work in Georgia's favor in the tournament committee's conversations is that every team that has defeated the Bulldogs is currently projected in the NCAA field by Lunardi. No other team on the bubble that can make that claim.

The NET rankings of the 11 losses for Georgia are – No. 2, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 16, No. 20, No. 23, No. 27, No. 33 and No. 39. That's an average of 16.1, which is considerably better than any other bubble team as outlined below.

The Bulldogs are the only bubble team without a loss to a team higher than 40 in the NET.

Looking At The Bubble's Ls
School	Avg. Rec.	Net NET	Worst Net L	+50 L's	Net L's
Utah State	23-6	41	45.8	6	92
Georgia	19-11	32	16.1	0	39
Ohio State	17-13	35	29.8	4	61
Arkansas	18-12	39	27.5	3	88
San Diego St.	19-8	51	50.3	6	92
Indiana	18-12	55	29.5	3	68
Boise State	21-8	43	76.8	6	198
Xavier	20-10	47	41.7	3	85
Oklahoma	18-12	50	22.4	1	84
North Carolina	20-11	38	27.9	3	82
Texas	17-13	40	28.8	2	88
Nebraska	17-13	57	40.3	5	94
Colorado St.	21-9	56	63.7	7	129
Cincinnati	17-13	45	35.8	6	75
SMU	22-8	46	43.1	3	83
Wake Forest	20-10	72	43.9	4	128

Familiar Faces On The "Other" Benches

Georgia guard Tyrin Lawrence is a former Commodore, while Vanderbilt assistant coach Matt Bucklin and athletic trainer Lance Schuemann are former members of the Georgia program.

Lawrence started 80 of 105 games played at Vanderbilt from 2020-24, scoring 1,006 points and producing 47 double-figure scoring outputs before returning to his home state this season.

Bucklin spent 10 seasons at Georgia. He was a four-year letterwinner between 2008-12, joining the program as a walk-on before earning a scholarship for his junior and senior season. Bucklin then served as a graduate assistant from 2012-14 and was operations coordinator from 2014-18. During his decade in Athens, the Bulldogs earned five postseason bids, with appearances in the 2011 and 2015 NCAA Tournaments and the 2014, 2016 and 2017 NITs.

Schuemann joined the Georgia staff as the Bulldogs' athletic trainer in 2018 and spent six seasons in that role. He continues to be known to have the best beard in the SEC.

Bulldogs Face Most Ranked Foes Ever

Georgia's number of games against AP ranked competition not only ranks No. 2 among all 389 Division I men's basketball programs this season, its the most ever for UGA.

The Bulldogs' 14 outings versus top-25 opponents is the most in program history. Georgia's previous high for ranked foes was 10 during the 1981-82, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2002-03 and 2006-07 seasons.

The Bulldogs' eight matchups against AP top-10 teams passed Georgia's previous high of six such outings during the 1980-81 and 1993-94 campaigns.

Georgia Elite At Protecting The Rim

Georgia entered this weekend ranked No. 10 nationally in blocks per game, swatting an average of 5.3 opponent attempts every outing.

Somto Cyril is ranked No. 61 nationally at 1.6 bpg. Cyril has blocked four or more shots in four games, including five in consecutive outings against Notre Dame and Buffalo.

Two more Bulldogs have five blocks in a game this season. Dylan James notched five rejections in Georgia's upset of then-No. 22/20 St. Johns and Asa Newell did so at No. 4/4 Alabama.

Asa Equals Ant For UGA's Most SEC FOTW Honors

Asa Newell was selected as the SEC Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season on Feb. 10, tying Anthony Edwards for the most SEC FOTW certificates ever secured by a Bulldog.

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) 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) and Jan. 13 (after he averaged 16.0 ppg and was Georgia's leading scorer in wins over No. 6/7 Kentucky and No. 17/16 Oklahoma).

That's just a portion of the accolades Newell has received.

On Feb. 7, Newell was named a top-10 candidate for the 2025 Kareem Abdul-Jabar Award by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The award annually honors the nation's top center.

Newell is one of three non-seniors on the list. He is the third Georgia player in the past nine years to be a top-10 candidate for one of the position player of the year awards, following Anthony Edwards (Jerry West Award in 2020) and Yante Maten (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award in 2017).

On Jan. 29, Newell was featured on The Athletic's Freshman All-America squad along with Cooper Flagg from Duke, Dylan Harper from Rutgers, Kasparas Jakucionis from Illinois and Tahaad Pettiford from Auburn.

Bulldogs Get A Heavy Dose Of The Madness In SEC Play

For Georgia, the entire 2025 calendar has been chocked full of NCAA Tournament competition. The SEC has had 12, 13 or even 14 teams projected to receive bids to the "Big Dance" throughout conference play.

Of the Bulldogs' 18 SEC games, 13 have been against teams featured in the latest edition of ESPN.com's Bracketology. Of those, nine – exactly half of UGA's 18 SEC outings – have been against projected top-5 seeds – No. 1 Auburn (twice), No. 1 Florida (twice), No. 2 Alabama, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Kentucky and No. 5 Missouri.

#CommitToTheGrades

The basketball Bulldogs enjoyed their strongest academic semester ever during the fall of 2024, producing a team grade point average of 3.28. That was not only the program's highest mark ever, but also the second-highest GPA among UGA's nine men's athletic programs last fall.

All told, 12 Georgia players posted a 3.0 or higher in the fall. Tyrin Lawrence led the way with a 4.0, followed by four players between a 3.50-3.99 and seven between a 3.0-3.49.

Bulldogs' Beginning Among Their Best Ever

Georgia's 12-1 start to the 2024-25 campaign was the Bulldogs' third-best ever and their best in 94 seasons as outlined below.

Georgia also opened 1930-31 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.

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

Georgia Inks Another 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.

Stagg, is a 6-8, forward from Chesapeake, Va., who is in his second season at the IMG Academy.

Wilkins, a 6-9, forward from Loganville, Ga., and Grayson High School is the son of former Bulldog and hall-of-famer Dominique Wilkins.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

View the full game notes PDF.

Dogs Wrap Up Regular Season Looking To Extend Winning Streak

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Blue Cain

Silas Demary Jr.

Dylan James

Tyrin Lawrence

Asa Newell

Noah Thomasson

Dogs Wrap Up Regular Season Looking To Extend Winning Streak

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jabri Abdur-Rahim

Blue Cain

Silas Demary Jr.

Dylan James

Tyrin Lawrence

Asa Newell

Noah Thomasson

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