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Dawgs Take On Cats at the Stege Tonight
Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Location: Athens, Ga.
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix
TV: SEC Network (John Schriffen, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 374 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Game Giveaway: First 750 UGA students receive a Game Show Night t-shirt
The Starting Five
• Georgia returns to historic Stegeman Coliseum on Tuesday to host No. x/7 Kentucky at 7:00 p.m. in the second of seven consecutive games against top-25 opponents to open SEC play.
• The Bulldogs are 9-0 at home and have won 11 straight outings at Stegeman dating back to last season, which matches the sixth-longest home winning streak in program history.
• Georgia’s “Dunkyard Dawgs” rank second nationally in percentage of made FGs that are dunks at 18.6 percent, while Asa Newell is third among individual leaders with 35 slams.
• The Bulldogs’ balanced offense features nine players who have combined to post 58 double-figure scoring outputs, led by freshman Asa Newell’s 13 double-digit performances.
• Georgia opened the season as 12-1, the Bulldogs’ best start in 94 years…since UGA began the 1930-31 campaign at 23-1 en route to a 23-2 finish.
The Opening Tip
Georgia hosts No. 6/7 Kentucky on Tuesday in the Bulldogs’ SEC home opener at Stegeman Coliseum. This week’s slate also features a home date against No. 17/16 Oklahoma on Saturday.
In fact, the Bulldogs’ first six SEC opponents are ranked in this week’s AP and coaches polls, including back-to-back contests against No. 1 Tennessee and No. 2 Auburn next week.
Georgia’s balanced offense features seven players who have led the Bulldogs in one or more games. Two more players have posted double-figure scoring outputs. All told, those nine Bulldogs have produced 58 double-digit performances, an average of 4.1 per game.
Asa Newell leads a quintet of Bulldogs averaging double figures at 15.4 ppg. A two-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree in the first five weeks of the season, Newell also paces UGA on the boards at 6.9 rpg. Among SEC stat leaders, Newell is ranked No. 17 in scoring and No. 12 rebounding, as well as No. 3 the SEC and No. 35 nationally in field goal percentage (.588).
Rounding out the double-digit point producers in the scoring column are De’Shayne Montgomery at 13.5 ppg, Dakota Leffew at 12.3 ppg, Silas Demary Jr. at 11.9 ppg and Tyrin Lawrence at 10.5 ppg.
Scouting The Wildcats
Kentucky improved to 12-2 on the season with a 106-100 victory over No. 6/5 Florida at Rupp Arena last Saturday.
The Wildcats jumped into the top 10 after defeating No. 6/6 Duke on Nov. 12 and have remained in there since.
Tuesday’s game will be Kentucky’s second road game of the season. The Wildcats dropped a 70-66 decision at Clemson on Dec. 3 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.
Six – yes six – Wildcats are scoring at a double-digit clip for UK. Otega Oweh leads Kentucky at 15.9 ppg. Lamont Butler chips in 13.8 ppg and has distributed a team-leading 53 assists. The additional double figure scorers are Koby Brea at 12.7 ppg, Jaxson Robinson at 12.1 ppg, Andrew Carr at 11.5 ppg and Amari Williams at 10.4 ppg. Williams also leads UK on the boards at 8.4 ppg.
Kentucky leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.09 and is second in scoring offense at 90.2 ppg.
Series History With Kentucky
Kentucky owns a 132-28 advantage in the all-time series between UGA and UK.
Last season on Jan. 20 in Lexington, Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Silas Demary Jr. put up career-high scoring tallies; however, Georgia could not overcome a hot-shooting Kentucky squad in a 105-96 setback at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats shot 61.9 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent from 3-point range en route to the win.
Abdur-Rahim knocked down a career-most seven 3-pointers while exploding for 34 points, the most by a Bulldog since Anthony Edwards’ 35-point evening against South Carolina in 2020. Demary put up 22 points, topping his previous career high of 15 points at South Carolina four days earlier.
Kentucky raced to a 51-34 halftime lead. That advantage bulged to 28 points with 7:55 remaining before the Bulldogs closed out the night on a 28-9 surge.
In the most recent matchup in Athens on Feb. 11, 2023, Kario Oquendo poured in 21 points to lead Georgia in a 75-68 win over the Wildcats.
Justin Hill chipped in 15 points and dished out six assists with just one turnover, and Braelen Bridges added 12 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting effort from the field.
The Bulldogs led 42-32 at the half; however, Kentucky surged to a 52-48 edge with 11:53 left. Bridges then accounted for eight points in a 13-2 answer that gave Georgia the lead for good.
Last Time Out
Despite a double-double from Asa Newell in his SEC debut, No. 23/24 Ole Miss rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Georgia, 63-51, last Saturday at SJB Pavilion in Oxford.
Newell scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds for Georgia.
The Bulldogs surged ahead midway through the first half and led 28-26 at the intermission. Ole Miss opened the second stanza with a 15-2 surge. Georgia countered with an 11-1 run and pulled within 45-43 at the 7:30 mark but could not complete the comeback.
“Ole Miss’ defense was the biggest factor in the game,” head coach Mike White said. “Just their attention to detail, their switchability and their detail with their switching. Their physicality, one through five. We played half the game with guards guarding our bigs and just didn’t do a good enough job taking advantage of those mismatches. Credit those guys, they played really hard.”
MGOLF: Five UGA Alumni Stand Out at Sentry Tournament of Champions
Five former Georgia Bulldog golfers rang in the new year on the Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course with The Sentry Tournament of Champions January 2nd-5th.
An extremely exclusive event, The Sentry Tournament of Champions hosts a limited field of golfers who have won events on the PGA tour in the previous year. Among these noteworthy competitors were former Bulldogs Sepp Straka, defending Sentry champion Chris Kirk, Russell Henley, Davis Thompson and Brian Harman.
With five golfers representing the University of Georgia, UGA boasted the highest number of competitors from a single program at the event this year.
Over the three-day event, competitors experienced the scenic views of the island of Maui, the challenging course layout and legacy of the event. Since its inception in 1953, The Sentry Tournament of Champions has continued to grow and evolve into a showcase for some of the best players in the world.
In true form, Sepp Straka had an impressive week, finishing tied for 15th with a total score of 271 (-21). With consistently low rounds through the course, he exemplified solid play throughout the tournament.
Overall, the tournament was a showcase of talent and perseverance, with Straka leading the charge for the Georgia alumni. The event was ultimately won by Hideki Matsuyama.
Georgia Scores
T-15 Sepp Straka 69 65 67 70 271 (-21)
T-30 Russell Henley 70 69 68 68 275 (-17)
T-36 Davis Thompson 78 64 68 67 277 (-15)
T-44 Chris Kirk 74 67 68 70 279 (-13)
58th Brian Harman 75 74 70 70 289 (-3)
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