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Video: Mike White’s comments in advance of tonight’s game with High Point

Game 10: Georgia (6-3) vs. High Point (8-3)

Date: Saturday, December 16

Time: 5:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

Location: Athens, Ga.

Series History: UGA leads, 2-0

Last Meeting: UGA, 49-46, on 11/25/15

Video: SEC Network (Dave Neal, play-by-play; Daymeon Fishback, color analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – SiriusXM 389 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, color analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• Georgia returns to action following an 11-day break from competition during Final Exams by hosting High Point on Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum. The contest is the second game of a doubleheader, which also features Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs taking on Georgia Tech at 1:30 p.m.
• The Bulldogs’ current four-game winning streak equals their longest under Mike White. UGA’s last four victories over Winthrop, Florida State, Mercer and Georgia Tech match the quartet of consecutive wins last season over Notre Dame, Chattanooga, Rider and No. 22/20 Auburn.
• Georgia is slated to play 14 of 31 (45.2 percent) of its regular-season games against teams featured in the most recent edition of ESPN.com’s bracketology. Another Bulldog opponent, Oregon, is currently tabbed as the “first team out” of the bracket.
• Georgia is the nation’s only Power conference team to: 1) open its season with back-to-back games versus Power conference programs (Oregon and Wake Forest); and 2) face four Power conference foes in its first five outings (UO, WFU, Miami and Providence).
• Georgia’s freshman and transfer recruiting classes both were ranked as high as No. 11. The Bulldogs were only one of three teams to have both of those groups ranked top-20 nationally by On3.com.

The Opening Tip

Following an 11-day break from games during Final Exams on the UGA campus, the Georgia Bulldogs will return to action on Saturday when they host High Point at Stegeman Coliseum at 5:30 p.m. The contest is the second half of a doubleheader which also features Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs taking on Georgia Tech at 1:30.

Georgia enters the game at 6-3 on the season and in the midst of a four-game winning streak. The quartet of consecutive victories matches the Bulldogs’ best winning streak in Mike White’s two seasons in Athens.

The matchup with the Panthers is the third outing in a six-game December homestand for Georgia. The Bulldogs opened the stretch with wins over Mercer and Georgia Tech. Saturday’s game opens a busy pre-holiday spurt for Georgia which also includes matchups against Mount St. Mary’s and North Florida on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. A Dec. 30 date with Alabama A&M rounds out the 2023 calendar.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim is pacing Georgia offensively at 13.0 ppg, largely due to connecting on team-best percentages of .422 (19-of-45) from 3-point range and .894 (42-of-47) at the line. Noah Thomasson also is scoring at a double-digit clip for the Bulldogs at 12.8 ppg.

Scouting The Panthers

A quick glance at High Point’s season stats provides from eye-grabbing numbers.

Most notably, the Panthers (8-3) entered this weekend ranked No. 9 nationally in scoring, averaging 89.1 points per game. As of Friday, High Point also was among the nation’s top-50 teams shooting the ball at all three levels – No. 26 in field goal percentage (.497), No. 31 in 3-point percentage (.387) and No. 41 in free throw percentage. For good measure, the Panthers were No. 6 in rebound margin, grabbing 13.3 rpg more than their opponents.

Duke Miles’ 19.5 ppg scoring average put him at No. 35 nationally through Thursday’s games. He leads a pride of Panthers scoring at a double-digit pace which also includes Kimani Hamilton at 14.6 ppg (and a team-high 8.0 rpg), Abdoulaye Thiam at 13.1 ppg and Kezza Giffa at 12.4 ppg.

Series History With High Point

Georgia has won both previous meetings with High Point, earning a 47-point victory in the first matchup in 2010 before eking out a three-point win in 2015.

In the most recent meeting on Nov. 25, 2015, Georgia built a double-digit halftime lead and then withstood a cold-shooting second stanza en route to a 49-46 victory over the Panthers at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia won despite going just under 15 minutes without a made field goal. After Yante Maten’s tip-in with 17:30 left in the game, the Bulldogs’ missed 13 straight shots from the floor before Kenny Gaines’ short jumper in the lane with 2:35 left made it 44-39.

High Point cut the lead to one with a made jumper with under two minutes on the clock, but J.J. Frazier brought the score to 46-43 with a basket as the shot clock expired and 42 seconds to go.

The Panthers again brought it within a point at 47-46 as 14 seconds remained. However, Charles Mann completed a perfect 8-of-8 evening at the line to return Georgia’s lead to three points.

The win marked just the third time the Bulldogs won a game while scoring less than 50 points since the introduction of the shot clock in 1985.

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