Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (3-0) vs. Georgia Tech (2-0)
Wednesday, November 20 at 7:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
Watch: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Dean Keener, analyst)
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta. XM & Internet: 374. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)
The Starting Five
• Through Monday’s games, UGA had the 2nd, 3rd and 5th most points by any SEC on the season – 100 vs. Delaware St., 95 vs. The Citadel and 91 vs. W. Carolina.
• UGA has opened the season with three 90-plus point outings, the first time the Bulldogs have scored 90 or more three times in a row since Dec. of 2006.
• Six Bulldogs scored in double-digit against The Citadel. The last time UGA did so was a 92-62 win over Appalachian State on Dec. 22, 2002.
• The point tallies of Anthony Edwards (24) and Sahvir Wheeler (19) in the season opener were the second- and third-best ever by a freshman in their UGA debut.
• Georgia’s celebrated freshman class – ranked among the top-10 groups nationally by every recruiting service – features five of the nation’s top-100 prospects.
The Opening Tip
Georgia hosts Georgia Tech wraps up a four-game homestand at Stegeman Coliseum to begin the season on Wednesday evening in the hardwood version of “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate.”
The Bulldogs are looking to extend a four-game winning streak over the Yellow Jackets, just the fifth time in 195 meetings that Georgia has won four straight over Tech. The Bulldogs’ longest streak in the series is seven consecutive wins twice (from 1908-21 and 1980-85). The second-longest is five games twice (from 1929-31 and 1939-41).
Game Promotions
The first 1,250 UGA students in attendance on Wednesday will receive free Bojangles’ and a white throwback “shersey.”
Keeping An Eye On…Entering Tonight’s Game Among UGA’s career Leaders
Tyree Crump is...
• 7 3FGs from co-No. 12s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison
• 13 3FGs from No. 11 K. Caldwell-Pope
• 25 FGAs from No. 11 Ray Harrison
• 37 FGAs from No. 10 K. Caldwell-Pope
Series History
While Georgia Tech owns a 103-92 edge over Georgia in the all-time series, the Bulldogs possess a 54-30 advantage in games in Athens.
Last Dec. 22 in Atlanta, Nicolas Claxton’s extremely thorough linescore of 13 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and six blocks led Georgia in a 70-59 victory over Georgia Tech.
A 13-0 surge by the Bulldogs, who never trailed in the game, provided a 25-9 lead with 3:02 left in the first half. The Jackets closed that gap to 10 at the intermission and then pulled within one possession on four occasions in the second stanza, but a different Bulldog answered each time.
In the last meeting at Stegeman Coliseum two seasons ago on Dec. 21, 2018, Yante Maten’s 24 points – his fifth 20-point performance in just the 10th game of that season – lifted Georgia to an 80-59 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia used a 15-4 run, ignited by a jumper and dunk from Maten, for a 26-17 edge and never trailed thereafter. Maten’s six rebounds put him at 696 total boards as a Bulldog, sliding past Trey Thompkins and into the No. 10 spot among Georgia’s career leaders.
Scouting The Jackets
Georgia Tech arrives in Athens with a 2-0 record following an overtime victory at N.C. State and a home win over Elon.
Wednesday’s game will be the Jackets’ first in nine days.
Sophomore Michael DeVoe leads a trio of double-digit scorers for Tech at 22.0 ppg, while senior James Banks III is contributing a double-double clip of 15.5 ppg and 10.0 rpg.
Last Time Out...
Rayshaun Hammonds’ outburst of 26 points and a career-high 14 rebounds led Georgia in a 100-66 victory over Delaware State last Friday night.
Hammonds scored 17 first-half points as the Bulldogs raced to a 50-30 lead at the intermission and never looked back. Amanze Ngumezi chipped in a career-best 16 points.
Hammonds and Ngumezi were extremely efficient from the field. The connected on a combined 18-of-24 shot attempts, a sterling 75.0 percent which paced UGA to a 59.7 percent effort from the field.
Georgia reached the century mark for the first time in just over a year...since topping Savannah State, 110-76, in last year’s season opener on Nov. 9.”
Up Next: Aloha Athens
The Bulldogs will depart for Maui on Friday morning for their first-ever appearance in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
Georgia will open play in the 50th state on Monday when the Bulldogs take on Dayton at 9:30 a.m. HT/2:30 p.m. ET. That contest will be televised on ESPN2.
Georgia will face either Michigan State or Virginia Tech on Tuesday. The other half of the bracket includes Kansas, UCLA, BYU and tournament host Chaminade.
A Historic String Of Success
The Bulldogs’ current four-game winning streak over Georgia Tech features a quartet of double-digit victories over the Jackets.
To find a four consecutive, double-figure wins by UGA over GT, you have to go back to some of the series’ origins more than a century ago.
The last time Georgia topped Tech by 10-plus points four times in a row came between 1908-09 and 1913-14.
Last season’s win at McCamish Pavilion provided a signature moment for Georgia’s five four-year seniors.
Prior to last December, only four four-year letterwinners for the Bulldogs finished their careers with a perfect record against Tech – James Banks, Vern Fleming, Richard Corhen and Gerald Crosby.
That fraternity more than doubled when Mike Edwards, Turtle Jackson, Derek Ogbeide, Connor O’Neill and E’Torrion Wilridge joined the fold.
It should be noted that UGA and GT played two or more times every season from 1924-25 through 1981-82. Since then, the teams have met once per year, making an undefeated run throughout college a little less taxing.
Dogs Scoring At A Torrid Pace
Georgia has scored 100, 95 and 91 points in three outings to date – the second-, third- and fifth-highest outputs in the SEC this season.
That marks the first time UGA has scored 90 or more points in three consecutive games since December 2006. That season, the Bulldogs defeated Gardner-Webb, 96-67, on Dec. 2; topped No. 16 Gonzaga, 96-83, on Dec. 16; and bested Jacksonville, 93-77, on Dec. 19.
The last time Georgia reached the 90-point plateau four games in a row actually spans two seasons. The Bulldogs finished off the 1967-68 season by scoring 91 points against Vanderbilt, 111 versus Ole Miss and 97 against Florida. Georgia then opened the 1968-69 campaign by posting 107 points in the season opener against Sewanee.
For the record, no Georgia team has scored 90 or more points in four-consecutive contests in the first 114 seasons of Bulldog Basketball.
Dogs Dish The Ball Against DSU
Georgia recorded 30 assists on the Bulldogs’ 40 made baskets in their 100-66 win over Delaware State last Friday night.
That represented the most assists by Georgia in just under a baker’s dozen seasons...since Bulldog passes resulted in 32 buckets to be in a 105-60 victory over South Carolina State on Nov. 21, 2006.
Georgia Fans Flock To Stegeman
Georgia has drawn 24,947 toal fans to the Bulldogs’ first three games this season. That represents the third-best three-game tally to open a season since 1979.
Georgia’s best attendance mark to begin a season was 27,541 in 1981-82. No disrespect to UGA’s first three opponents this season, but the 1981-82 trio included outings against Georgia Tech and Kentucky and came when the then-Georgia Coliseum seated 11,200.
The second-most was 25,156 for the first three home outings of the 2002-03 season.
FYI, Georgia’s best four-game total to start a campaign was 38,741 in 1981-82. The Bulldogs’ fourth game that season was a sellout of 11,200 against Vanderbilt.
Six Double-Digit Bulldogs
A half-dozen Georgia players posted double-figure scoring outputs against The Citadel on Nov. 12 – the first time six Bulldogs scored 10 or more points in just under 17 years.
Anthony Edwards poured in 29 points, Tyree Crump and Donnell Gresham Jr. added 13 apiece and Rayshaun Hammonds, Amanze Ngumezi and Sahvir Wheeler chipped in 10 points each.
Prior to that, you had to go back to a 92-62 win over Appalachian State on Dec. 22, 2002 to find a contest with six Bulldogs in double figures. In that game, Steve Thomas scored 18 points, followed by Ezra Williams (13), Chris Daniels (12), Jarvis Hayes (11), Rashad Wright (11) and Jonas Hayes (10).
Earliest. Opener. Ever.
The Bulldogs’ Nov. 5 contest against Western Carolina was the earliest opening contest in Georgia’s 115 seasons of basketball. The previous mark for an initial outing was a 72-52 victory over Wofford on Nov. 8, 2013.
Edwards, Wheeler Star In Debut
Anthony Edwards and Sahvir Wheeler poured in 24 and 19 points, respectively, in the opener against Western Carolina on Nov. 5. Those tallies represent the second- and third-most points ever by a freshman in their first game as a Bulldog as outlined below.
Edwards came within a bucket of Dominique Wilkins’ school record against Troy on Nov. 30, 1979.
Since freshmen became eligible to compete in basketball beginning with the 1972-73 season, 23 Bulldogs have scored in double figures during their first collegiate contest.
Top Tallies In First Game AT UGA
Year Player Points
1979 Dominique Wilkins 26
2019 Anthony Edwards 24
1979 Terry Fair 19
2019 Sahvir Wheeler 19
1998 D.A. Layne 18
2007 Jeremy Price 18
2004 Sundiata Gaines 17
2017 Rayshaun Hammonds 17
2011 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 15
More On Edwards’ Opener
Anthony Edwards’ 24 points versus Western Carolina represented the most by a Georgia Bulldog in the season opener in nearly two decades. The double-dozen was the most since Ezra Williams’ 26 points against Furman on Nov. 16, 2001.
Two Games In...
Anthony Edwards’ 53 points in the first two games of the season (24 vs. Western Carolina and 29 against The Citadel) were the most ever by a Bulldog two games into their collegiate career.
Dominique Wilkins put up 26 points in his debut versus Troy and followed that with 21 points versus Whittier, tallying 47 points in his first two games.
Gresham hits Double Digits For Both 1st & 30th Occasions
Donnell Gresham Jr.’s 13-point evening against The Citadel was the graduate transfer’s first 10-plus outing as a Georgia Bulldog...but the 30th of his collegiate career.
Gresham notched 29 double-digit scoring performances in his four seasons as a different breed of canine – a Northeastern Husky. Fifteen of those were last season when Gresham averaged 9.7 ppg and helped Northeastern finish with a 23-11 record and reach the round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament.
Feel Free To Call Him “Ty-3”
Tyree Crump continued a familiar theme during the first three games of the season, with eight of his 12 made field goals coming from behind the 3-point arc.
More than two-thirds of Crump’s made shots from the floor as a Bulldog have come on shots from 3-point range.
Crump has knocked down 135 3-pointers in his three-plus seasons in Athens. That accounts for 68.5 percent of his 197 made field goals at Georgia.
Crump already ranks among Georgia’s top-20 career leaders in both 3-point makes (No. 13 with 135) and takes (No. 12 with 402) and is closing in on moving up on both ledgers. With similar numbers to last season, Crump would move into the Bulldogs’ all-time top 10 in both stats.
Dogs Already Off To Record Start
For the first time in program history, Georgia sold out the season ticket allotment for Stegeman Coliseum.
Tom Crean announced the accomplishment during Stegmania II on Oct. 11.
“I think it’s great,” Crean said following Stegmania. “We’re going to need them to be here and help us because we have a lot of growth to make with this team. You can’t win without them in the sense of having a great home-court atmosphere, and there’s no question that’s something we’re going to need. Having sold out of our season ticket allotment is a very good start to having just that this season and beyond.”
The ticket-selling records continued when Georgia put single-game tickets on sale on Oct. 24. That day, the Texas A&M (Feb. 1) and Alabama (Feb. 8) officially outings became sellout contests.
That matched the mark for earliest sellouts in Georgia’s history, established last year when the Florida and Kentucky games quickly became ticket-less events.
Prior to last season, Georgia had never sold out more than one game prior to beginning the regular season.
On Nov. 7, the Ole Miss (Jan. 25) and Arkansas (Feb. 29) games also became sellouts.
Dogs’ Freshmen Among UGA’s Best
Georgia’s recruiting class was consistently ranked among the nation’s top-10 groups – No. 5 by ESPN.com, No. 6 by rivals.com and No. 10 by 247Sports.com.
Headlining the class is Anthony Edwards. The Atlanta native, who tabbed the nation’s best prospect by some, announced his commitment on national television on Feb. 11. He is the Bulldogs’ highest rated recruit ever.
Dominique Wilkins was the most hyped recruit in Georgia history in 1979. Individual recruiting rankings for the class are believed to be unavailable but that year featured Wilkins along with other future stars such as Ralph Sampson, Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Clark Kellogg and Sam Bowie.
In the internet age, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the highest ranked player in the 247Sports.com composite to enroll at UGA at No. 12 in 2011. Louis Williams signed with the Bulldogs as the No. 6 prospect in the 2005 composite but opted to enter the NBA Draft.
The Bulldogs’ highest recruiting class ever was a quintet listed at No. 2 in 1992 when UGA inked four of the nation’s top-100 prospects – Shandon Anderson, Terrell Bell, Pertha Robinson and McDonald’s All-American Carlos Strong – in the fall. Georgia then added Cleveland Jackson, the national Junior College Player of the Year, in the spring.
Additional top classes in Georgia history include those in 1979 and 1980 which featured four McDonald’s All-Americans between them. The Bulldogs signed Wilkins and Terry Fair in 1979 and followed that with Vern Fleming and James Banks a year later.
Bulldogs Who Are Back Scored 1K
Georgia’s five returning letterwinners scored exactly 1,000 points last season.
Rayshaun Hammonds led the way with 339 (12.1 ppg), while Tyree Crump added 292 (9.1 ppg), Jordan Harris chipped in 226 (7.8 ppg), Tye Fagan contributed 78 (2.5 ppg) and Amanze Ngumezi put up 65 (2.1 ppg).
Bulldogs’ Schedule Is Maddening
Georgia’s 31-game regular-season slate includes a minimum of 13 teams featured in the last preseason edition of Joe Lunardi’s ESPN.com Bracketology for the 2020 NCAA Tournament released on Nov. 4.
The Bulldogs will host games against seven teams in the predicted field and take on six more away from Stegeman Coliseum.
In Athens, Georgia will entertain Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia Southern, Kentucky, N.C. Central and Tennessee.
The Bulldogs will meet Dayton in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational and will play road games at Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU and Memphis.
Georgia could two more teams tabbed to play in “March Madness” in Maui if the Bulldogs meet Michigan State or Kansas.
Preseason Honors For Edwards
Anthony Edwards garnered an impressive list of accolades before playing his first game for the Bulldogs.
Edwards was tabbed preseason All-America by at least four news entities – Sporting News (second team), CBS Sports (third team), Jon Rothstein (third team) and The Athletic (honorable mention).
The Atlanta native also was included on Watch Lists for Naismith, Wooden and NABC National Player of the Year honors, as well as the list of top candidates for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
Edwards was named first-team preseason All-SEC by coaches and media, the first UGA freshman ever to be tabbed as such.
“B” Is For Basketball Player
You may notice on Georgia’s roster that the Bulldogs have gone away from listing traditional positions – guard, forward and center.
All 15 players are now simply listed as “B” for “Basketball Player.” Tom Crean is a proponent for “position-less basketball.”
“That’s what they are,” Crean said. “It’s not valid to call them centers and power forwards and things like that as much with the way that we’re trying to play. They’re being trained as basketball players, every day. I mean if you came out there to practice (6-11) Rodney Howard, a lot of times is doing the same things that (5-10) Sahvir Wheeler’s doing. And in the sense of how we train with the ball handling, the driving, the shooting – all those type of things – that’s big to me. That’s what we’re recruiting. We’re recruiting basketball players.”
Crump, Harris & Hammonds Blossom In Crean’s First Season
Georgia’s three returning letterwinners who are upperclassmen all enjoyed increased production and efficiency last season.
Most notably, junior Rayshaun Hammonds played almost the exact same average of minutes as his freshman year – 24.2 in 2017-18 and 24.3 in 2018-29 – but upped his scoring average by a whopping 80.6 percent – from 6.7 ppg to 12.1 ppg.
Seniors Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris also upped their point productions. Crump went from 6.5 ppg to 9.1 ppg, an increase of exactly 40.0 percent. Harris scored 3.5 ppg as a sophomore and 7.8 ppg as a junior, a 122.9 percent adjustment.
The improvements didn’t stop in the scoring column. The combined shooting percentages of those three Bulldogs also made considerable jumps in efficiency: +5.7 percent on field goals (from .389 to .446), +5.1 percent on 3-pointers (from .313 to .364) and +10.1 percent of free throws (from .709 to .810).
In other statistics, the trio provided significant increases of +40.3 percent on rebounds (from 236 to 331), +69.7 percent on 3-pointers made (from 66 to 112), +.36.4 percent on assists (from 99 to 135), +97.1 percent on steals (from 35 to 69) and +145.4 percent on blocked shots (from 11 to 27).
It’s Games Time!
The Bulldogs will play seven games before Thanksgiving Day.
Georgia begins the season with a four-game home stand.
The Bulldogs will then trek to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational for the first time ever. Georgia will face Dayton in the opening round on Nov. 25, the first of three games in as many days in Maui. The field for the Invitational also features Michigan State and Virginia Tech in UGA’s half of the bracket and Brigham Young, tournament host Chaminade, Kansas and UCLA on the other side.