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Video/Transcript: Kirby Smart’s Postgame Presser – Georgia vs. Georgia Tech 2024

On the way the Bulldogs fought… 

“Never say die, man. They’re fighters. I thought Carson did a great job in the two-minute offense. (Offensive Coordinator  Mike) Bobo did an outstanding job calling it. Scored quick enough that we didn’t have to onside. Then we were going to  get a stop on them and it helped us even more that we got a turnover there. It was a great comeback.” 

On Carson Beck’s play late in the game… 

“Huge. Carson (Beck) made a lot of big throws to get us into the overtime. I thought we had a chance to convert on  some of the two points there where we had time in the pocket and there was a lot of red zone defense played out of  both defenses on those two-point conversions. In the end Nate (Frazier) made a great play, great run and Carson made  a great decision.” 

On the challenges of the Georgia Tech offense… 

“It’s really hard. They do a great job of making you fit every hat. Basically, you have to get them behind the sticks- very  similar to playing old Georgia Tech or triple option. If you don’t get them behind the sticks they’ll methodically run it  down your throat. We didn’t give them a lot of lost yardage plays, they don’t have many TFLs. 

Video/Transcript: Carson Beck’s Postgame Media Session – Georgia vs. Georgia Tech 2024

On if he took a moment to soak in his potential last game in Sanford Stadium: 

“Absolutely. I mean just the game itself; everything, the emotions, the highs, the lows, the way we were able to fight  back, and then you add that factor into it. I just took a second to look around to take it all in and enjoy it. That was my  mindset coming into today.” 

On his emotions following Nate Frazier’s winning two-point conversion 

“I don’t even really remember honestly. I don’t want to say it was a sigh of relief but it was like oh my gosh, finally we did it. Our defense did their job, we did ours, after eight overtimes. But no, I can’t even describe it, it  was excitement, joy, just truly happy.”  

MBB: UGA Hosts Jacksonville Tonight

Date: Saturday, November 30, 2024

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Location: Athens, Ga.

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

Streaming: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, Producer)

The Starting Five

• Georgia will return to action on Saturday evening when the Bulldogs host Jacksonville at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 p.m.

• The Bulldogs are 6-1 on the season and coming off a 66-63 win over No. 22/20 St. John’s at Atlantis Paradise Island last Sunday, UGA’s first win over a ranked team since defeating No. 22 Auburn (76-64) on Jan. 4, 2023. Georgia received votes – 11 AP, 3 Coaches – in both of this week’s top-25 polls. 

• Five Bulldogs are currently averaging double figures, led by Asa Newell’s 15.9 ppg. Seven Georgia players have scored in double figures a combined 29 times to seven games to date.

• Entering this weekend, the Bulldogs led the SEC in both rebound margin andblocks per game and ranked No. 3 (+13.7 rpg) and No. 6 (6.7 bpg) nationally. 

• Asa Newell exploded for 26 points in the Bulldogs’ season opener against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 4. That tied Dominique Wilkins for the most points ever by a UGA freshman in their collegiate debut. Wilkins scored 26 points against Troy State on Nov. 22, 1979, in his first game as a Bulldog.

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs return to action on Saturday night when they host Jacksonville at historic Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. following a six-day break from competition over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Last weekend, the Bulldogs split a pair of outings against top-25 competition at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. Georgia defeated No. 22/20 St. John’s, 66-63, on Sunday, 24 hours after their first setback of the season, an 80-69 decision to No. 15/15 Marquette.

Georgia’s balanced office features a quintet of Bulldogs averaging double figures. 

Freshman Asa Newell leads the Bulldogs in both scoring (15.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg). Among SEC leaders, he entered the weekend ranked No. 14 in both scoring and rebounding, as well as No. 9 in field goal percentage (.552) and No. 11 in blocks (1.4 bpg).

Silas Demary Jr. is scoring 14.0 ppg and paces Georgia in assists at 3.6 apg, while Dakota Leffew adds 12.6 ppg, Tyrin Lawrence contributes 11.7 ppg and Blue Cain chips in 10.9 ppg.

Somto Cyril and RJ Godfrey also have produced double-figure scoring outputs this season. All told, those seven players have combined to produce 29 double-figure scoring outputs in seven games to date.

Georgia’s strongest attributes have been controlling the glass and protecting the rim. The Bulldogs entered this weekend leading the SEC in both rebound margin and blocks and ranked No. 3 in boarding margin (+ 13.7 rpg) and No. 6 nationally in rejections (6.7 bpg).

Scouting The Dolphins

Jacksonville arrives in Athens with a 4-3 record after splitting two games at the Fort Myers Tip-Off earlier this week on Monday and Tuesday. The Dolphins dropped their opening game in South Florida, 90-89, in overtime to Mercer, a contest that was delayed for 90 minutes after a basket collapsed during warm-ups. JU rebounded to defeat Siena, 75-64. The Dolphins also own an impressive 74-64 win at Virginia Tech on Nov. 20.

Jordan Mincy, who won the 2022 Joe B. Hall Award as the top first-year head coach in the nation, is in his fourth season with the Dolphins. Prior to his stint at Jacksonville, Mincy was a member of Mike White’s staff as an assistant coach for seven seasons both at Louisiana Tech (2014-15) and Florida (2014-21).

The Dolphins are led offensively by a trio of double-digit scorers – Robert McCray (17.4 ppg), Zach Bell (11.4 ppg) and Zimi Nwokeji (10.0 ppg). Stephon Payne III paces Jacksonville on the glass, averaging 7.7 rpg.

Series History With JU

Georgia owns a perfect 11-0 record all-time versus Jacksonville, with eight of those victories coming in Athens.

In the most recent meeting on Dec. 7, 2021, Braelen Bridges’ efficient 14-point outing led a trio of Bulldogs in double figures in a 69-58 win over the Dolphins.

Bridges connected on all four of his field goal attempts and converted on 6-of-8 free throws.

After leading by eight at the half, Georgia extended that advantage to 14 points less than three minutes into the second period and maintained a double-figure edge most of the rest of the game. The margin topped out at 16 points, 67-51, with 1:24 remaining.

The contest was marred by a season-ending knee injury suffered by Jailyn Ingram at the 14:21 mark of the second half.

Last Time Out

Asa Newell scored a team-high 18 points, Silas Demary Jr. added 15 points and Tyrin Lawrence contributed 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds to lead Georgia in a 66-63 upset of No. 22/20 St. John’s last Sunday at Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Though Georgia led or the game was tied for 33:25, the contest featured 10 ties and nine lead changes. The Bulldogs quickly pushed a four-point lead at halftime to 37-28 less than two minutes into the second half.

After St. John’s answered with a 19-7 run, Newell scored five unanswered points in a span of 49 seconds to put Georgia back up 49-47. Demary Jr. gave the Bulldogs the lead for good on a layup with 1:59 remaining, the first of five points he scored in the final two minutes.

“Really good win for our team and for our program,” head coach Mike White said. “Hard-fought game. Left everything we had out there on the floor. A lot of things that we can continue to get better at. We were really good on the offensive glass. Made some timely free throws. Our frontcourt was off the charts with all the actions that they run. Our ball screen coverages were really good. Really sound, really detailed, hard-fought game.”

Dogs Dominate On The Boards

Georgia’s rebounding margin of +13.7 led all SEC teams and ranked No. 3 nationally entering this weekend. That mark is boosted by two of the top-10 single-game rebound margins ever by the Bulldogs – a school-record effort +30 against Texas Southern on Nov. 10 and the No. 7 mark of +25 versus Alabama A&M in Georgia’s most recent hom outing on Nov. 19 as outlined below.

Best Rebounding Margins

Rk.       No.      Opponent                    Mar.     Date

1.         +30      Texas Southern          53-23   11/10/24

2.         +29      H-N.C. Central             54-25   12/4/19

            +29      H-Alabama A&M          51-22   11/24/06

4.         +28      H-Kentucky                  53-25   1/3/90

            +28      H-Florida                      53-25   1/30/80

6.         +26      H-Miss. Valley St.         51-25   11/25/08

7.         +25      H-Alabama A&M         47-22   11/19/24

            +25      H-Wofford                    49-24   11/8/13

            +25      H-Miss. State               48-23   1/22/11

            +25      N-Grambling State       56-31   11/27/99

            +25      H-Augusta College       53-28   12/10/88

UGA Inches Into Bracketology

Though the NCAA Tournament won’t tip off until March 18, it is worth noting that Georgia joined the projected field for “March Madness” in ESPN’s Nov. 26 edition Bracketology.

Following last weekend’s split against No. 15/15 Marquette and No. 22/20 St. John’s, Georgia moved from fourth in the “next four out” last week to the second of the “last four in” this week.

Regardless of the current forecast, the Bulldogs will have plenty of chances for quality wins from now until March. Georgia will play 16 of 31 regular-season games against teams pegged to receive bids by ESPN this week. That’s 51.6 percent of UGA’s total contests. 

Four of Georgia’s non-conference foes are listed in the bracket – Marquette as a No. 3 seed, St. John’s as a No. 6, Grand Canyon as a No. 12 and North Florida as a No. 15.

The Bulldogs will face the 10 SEC teams predicted to make the field a total of 12 times, including home-and-home dates with Auburn, a No. 1 seed, and Florida, at No. 5 seed. The remaining league teams and their seeds are Tennessee (No. 1), Kentucky (No. 2), Alabama (No. 3), Texas A&M (No. 4), Arkansas (No. 6), Texas (No. 8), Mississippi State (No. 8) and Ole Miss (No. 9).

Bulldogs’ Home Non-Conference Win Streak Reaches 22

Georgia’s victory over Alabama A&M extended the Bulldogs’ non-conference winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum to 22 games. 

In fact, Georgia is perfect against non-conference opposition at home under Mike White, previously compiling an 8-0 record in 2022-23 and a 10-0 mark in 2023-24 before starting this season with a 4-0 mark. The Bulldogs’ last loss at Stegeman to a non-conference foe was a 77-60 setback to Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29, 2022.

White Is Stellar In Stegeman

Mike White’s success at Stegeman Coliseum is not confined to his tenure with the Bulldogs. 

White was 7-1 in the arena as a visiting head coach before arriving in Athens. He led Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and was 6-1 against the Bulldogs in the venue at Florida from 2015-22. 

With his 30-10 home mark since becoming Georgia’s head coach, White is a combined 37-11 (.771) as a head coach in Stegeman.

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