Georgia (15-15, 5-12 SEC) vs. LSU (20-10, 11-6 SEC)
Saturday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Maravich Assembly Center (13,215) in Baton Rouge, La.
Watch: ESPN2 (Kevin Fitzgerald, play-by-play; Jon Sundvold, analyst)
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta. XM: 380; Internet: 970. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
The Starting Five
• Anthony Edwards’ 587 points is the second-most ever by a UGA freshman and is 59 points away from the freshman record held by Jacky Dorsey.
• Sahvir Wheeler’s 129 assists is the second-most ever by a UGA freshman. He is just four shy of Litterial Green’s UGA freshman record
• Toumani Camara scored in double figures once in UGA’s first 16 games but has reached double digits seven times in the last 14 outings.
• UGA’s total attendance record fell for the second straight season. A total of 164,071 fans attended 17 home dates, topping the old mark by more than 15,000 .
• Georgia’s celebrated freshman class – ranked among the top-10 groups nationally by every recruiting service – features five of the nation’s top-100 prospects.
The Opening Tip
The Georgia Bulldogs wrap up their 2019-20 regular-season slate on Saturday with a matinee matchup with LSU at the Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
Georgia is 15-15 on the year, and 5-12 in SEC play. The Bulldogs have won three of their last five outings, with one of those setbacks being an overtime decision.
Anthony Edwards and Rayshaun Hammonds are scoring at a double-digit pace for Georgia.
Edwards leads Georgia and is the nation’s top-scoring freshman at 19.6 points per game. He has reached double figures in the scoring column in 26 of 30 games, with 13 20-point outings and three 30-point efforts. Edwards has scored 587 points this season, the second-most ever by a Bulldog freshman and 59 shy of UGA’s freshman record of 646 by Jacky Dorsey in 1974-75.
On Monday, Edwards was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week for a school-record fourth time.
On Tuesday, the Atlanta native was named one of five finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
Hammonds is averaging 12.7 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game. After posting two 20-point performances, four double-figure rebounding outputs and two double-doubles in 61 games played as a freshman and sophomore, Hammonds has notched six 20-point outputs, seven double-digit rebound counts and five double-doubles in 30 games this season.
Keeping An Eye On . . . Entering Today’s Game
Among UGA’s career Leaders, Tyree Crump is…
• 8 3FGs from No. 9 Bernard Davis
• 12 3FGAs from No. 7 Dustin Ware
Among UGA’s Season Leaders, Anthony Edwards is…
• 1 point from No. 13 Jacky Dorsey (1976)
• 3 points from No. 12 Zippy Morroco (1953)
• 4 points from No. 11 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (2013)
• 7 points from co-No. 9s Bob Lienhard (1969) and Vern Fleming (1984)
• 9 points from No. 8 Alec Kessler (1989)
• 23 points from No. 7 Alec Kessler (1990)
• 26 points from No. 6 Walter Daniels (1979)
• 49 points from No. 5 Yante Maten (2018)
Among UGA’s Freshman Leaders, Anthony Edwards is…
• 59 points from No. 1 Jacky Dorsey
Among UGA’s Freshman Leaders, Sahvir Wheeler is…
• 4 assists from No. 1 Litterial Green
Among SEC Freshman Leaders, Anthony Edwards is…
• 8 points from No. 13 Terrence Jones, UK
• 12 points from No. 12 Julius Randle, UK
• 14 points from No. 11 De’Aaron Fox, UK
• 22 points from No. 10 Allan Houston, UT
• 29 points from No. 9 John Wall, UK
• 45 points from No. 8 Ben Simmons, LSU
Series History
LSU owns a 66-46 lead all-time in matchups between the Bulldogs and the Tigers, including a 36-15 advantage in Baton Rouge.
In the most recent meeting last Feb. 16 in Athens, Nicolas Claxton led four Bulldogs in double figures, but No. 19/21 LSU still downed Georgia 83-79 at a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum.
After trailing 31-22 with 5:17 remaining in the first half, the Bulldogs cut the margin to 41-37 at the break and eventually went up 58-53 at the 13:54 mark.
LSU took the lead for good with 6:41 left; however, Georgia pulled within 82-79 with less than a minute to play. The Bulldogs gained possession following a stop but failed to capitalize.
In the most recent meeting in Baton Rouge on Jan. 23 last season, LSU withstood several second-half Georgia rallies en route to a 92-82 victory.
After trailing by a dozen points at the break, the Bulldogs quickly cut that margin to 50-44 95 seconds into the second stanza.
LSU answered with a 12-2 surge of its own. Georgia pulled within seven points twice thereafter, but the Tigers answered each time.
Scouting The Tigers
LSU is 20-10 on the year, including an 11-6 record in SEC play. The Tigers are 14-2 at home this season, including a 7-1 mark in league play.
No less than five Tigers are averaging double figures, including three who have started all 30 games to date.
Skylar Mays leads that trio at 16.6 ppg, while Javonte Smart and Darius Days add 12.5 ppg and 11.5 ppg, respectively.
Freshman Trendon Watford, who has gotten the nod for all but one outing, averages 13.6 ppg and a team-best 7.1 rpg.
Emmitt Williams rounds out the quintet of double-digit scorers for the Tigers at 13.6 ppg.
Last Time Out…
Georgia raced to an early 19-6 lead but could not sustain that momentum and dropped a 68-54 decision to Florida before a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum on “Senior Night” last Wednesday.
Rayshaun Hammonds scored eight points as the Bulldogs opened up a 13-point lead over the first five minutes of the contest.
Florida tied the game on three occasions, twice in the first half and again at 40-40 with 13:14 left in the game, before the Gators grabbed their first lead on a pair of free throws at the 11:47 mark.
After the Bulldogs regained the lead on a Tye Fagan layup with 7:53 remaining, Florida embarked on a 15-4 surge to gain control.