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MBB: Georgia hosts Alabama A&M today at the Stege

Game 13: Georgia (9-3) vs. Alabama A&M (1-11)

Date: Saturday, December 30

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

Location: Athens, Ga.

Series History: UGA leads, 2-0

Last Meeting: UGA, 80-36, 11/24/06

Video: SEC Network+ (Matt Stewart, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, color analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – SiriusXM 390 (Cabell Philpott, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, color analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• Georgia wraps up a six-game homestand by hosting Alabama A&M on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 in the second game of a doubleheader that also feature Georgia’s Lady Bulldogs against Wofford.

• Georgia is 8-0 at Stegeman Coliseum this season, improving to 21-4 in Mike White’s two seasons at UGA. He is a combined 28-5 at Stegeman, including a 7-1 mark while at Louisiana Tech and Florida.

• Georgia’s seven-game winning streak equals the seventh-longest streak in program history. A win Saturday would give the Bulldogs their longest single-season winning streak since 2002-03.

• 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. 

• Georgia was 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).

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs host Alabama A&M’s Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon looking extend a pair of winning streaks. 

The Bulldogs are 9-3 on the year and have won seven consecutive games dating back to a Nov. 24 victory over Winthrop. The winning streak is Georgia’s longest during Mike White’s two seasons as head coach and equals the seventh-longest in program history.

Georgia is 8-0 at Stegeman Coliseum this season, topping its opposition by an average of 10.6 points per game. In the process, the Bulldogs have improved to 21-4 at home under White, and White has upped his record all-time at Stegeman to 28-5. 

Jabri Abdur-Rahim is the Bulldogs’ leading scorer at 13.7 ppg. The senior from South Orange, N.J., averaged 20.5 ppg in Georgia’s two wins last week and sports eye-catching and team-leading shooting percentages of .467 from 3-point range and .906 at the free throw line. Noah Thomasson also is scoring at a double-digit pace for the Bulldogs at 12.8 ppg. 

Scouting The Opposing Bulldogs

Alabama A&M arrives in Athens with an 1-11 record on the season, including setbacks to Georgia opponents Auburn, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech.

Dailin Smith paces the Bulldogs on the offensive end at 14.2 ppg. 

All told, nine different Bulldogs have started multiple games this season. Smith and second-leading scorer Omari Peek (7.8 ppg) are the only players to start every game for A&M. 

Alabama A&M’s roster features five Georgia natives – junior London Riley (Discovery HS) and freshmen Bilal Abdur-Rahman (Norcross HS), Caleb Blackwell (Grayson HS), Chad Moodie (Grayson HS) and Aaron Smith (Kell HS).

Blackwell leads the Bulldogs in assists (3.0 apg) and steals (1.8 spg).

Series History With A&M

Georgia won both previous meetings with Alabama A&M, most recently securing an 80-36 victory on Nov. 24, 2006.

Takais Brown and Mike Mercer scored 16 points apiece for Georgia, which raced to a 47-20 halftime lead and cruised thereafter.

Fourteen Bulldogs saw playing time in the contest, and 10 Georgia players contributed points in the victory.

Last Time Out

Jabri Abdur-Rahim scored a game-high 18 points to lead Georgia in a 78-60 win over North Florida last Friday at Stegeman Coliseum.

Noah Thomasson added 10 points, Jalen DeLoach chipped in nine points in 10 minutes of PT and Silas Demary Jr. dished out six assists with no turnovers for the Bulldogs.

Abdur-Rahim put up all of his points in the first half and helped the Bulldogs rally after a slow start. The Ospreys scored the game’s first eight points and were up 18-10 with 10:47 left in the opening period before Georgia used a 35-9 run to grab a 45-29 lead at the intermission.

“We’ve got some momentum,” head coach Mike White said. “We continue to get better in some areas, but overall, we have to get a lot better in a few to be competitive in our league, as we know. We have to rebound better. We have to defend better. We have to be more efficient offensively.”

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