(13-11, 4-7 SEC) Georgia vs. (14-10, 6-5 SEC) Tennessee
Game time: Saturday, February 11, 4:00 p.m.
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, TN
TV: ESPNU (Play-by-play: Kevin Fitzgerald; Analyst: Chris Spatola)
Video Stream: WatchESPN.com
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network by IMG (Play-by-play: Scott Howard; Color Commentary: Chuck Dowdle; Producer: Tony Schiavone)
Flagship Station: WSB AM 750
The Georgia men’s basketball team will try to right the ship on the road up in Knoxville, TN this afternoon as they square off against the Vols at 4:00 p.m. ET.
The Bulldogs are looking to snap losing skids of three games overall and four SEC road contests.
Georgia just completed a three-game stretch versus the three ranked teams tied atop the SEC standings – No. 8 Kentucky, No. 19 South Carolina and No. 17 Florida. In fact, five of Georgia’s seven SEC losses are to those three teams.
The Bulldogs won their first two road games in league play at Auburn and Ole Miss before some gut-wrenching defeats – an overtime loss at Florida, a one-point setback at Texas A&M, another OT matchup at Kentucky and a two-point defeat at South Carolina.
The Bulldogs are 13-11 overall and 4-7 in SEC play. Most recently, Georgia dropped a 72-60 decision to No. 17 Florida on Tuesday. The Bulldogs rallied from a 15-point deficit to knot the score at 31-31 on a Yante Maten jumper with 3:05 left in the first half. Unfortunately, UGA’s momentum ended when Maten suffered a cut lip requiring stitches on the play and missed the remainder of the period.
Maten, one of 10 players on the final watch list of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the nation’s top center, leads the Bulldogs in both scoring (19.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg). Among SEC leaders, Maten is third in scoring and sixth in rebounding, as well as third in both field goal percentage (.529) and double-doubles (five).
J.J. Frazier is contributing 16.0 ppg (No. 8 in the SEC) and leads the league in playing time (34.0 mpg).
Maten, a junior forward, and Frazier, a senior guard, are one of the nation’s most potent inside-outside offensive tandems. Their combined average of 35.7 ppg ranks No. 8 nationally among guard-forward scoring duos with both players ranked among the nation’s top-250 scorers. They are the only teammates in the top-10 from a Power 5 conference.
In statistics for conference games only, Maten and Frazier currently rank No. 3 and No. 4 in the SEC in scoring at 19.5 ppg and 17.3 ppg, respectively.
Juwan ParkerClick here to hear it, who has been Georgia’s third-leading scorer for the majority of the season, is on a tear of late. Parker averaged 8.0 ppg in non-conference play but is contributing 10.5 ppg in league action. That has upped his season average to 9.3 ppg.
Tennessee improved to 14-10 overall and 6-5 in the SEC with a 75-66 win over Ole Miss on Wednesday evening.
Robert Hubbs III and Grant Williams pace the Volunteers. Hubbs averages a team-high 14.5 ppg and 5.1 rpg, while Williams chips in 11.8 ppg and a team-best 5.5 rpg.
The Starting Five
UT leads the overall series with UGA, 94-57, including at 57-14 mark in games played in Knoxville.
Yante MatenClick here to hear it is on the 10-player final watch list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the nation’s top center.
Derek OgbeideClick here to hear it grabs a team-high 7.8 rpg in SEC play, including 10.2 rpg over UGA’s last five games.
J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten are Division I’s eighth-best inside-outside scoring combo among teams with two top-250 scorers nationally.
Mark Fox is the first coach ever to lead UGA to three-straight 20-win finishes. UGA has notched three-consecutive 20-win efforts two times in 111 seasons.
For the complete game notes, CLICK HERE