Georgia (15-16, 5-13 SEC) vs.Ole Miss (15-16, 6-12 SEC)
Wednesday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Bridgestone Arena (19,395) in Nashville, Tenn.
Watch: SEC Network (Kevin Fitzgerald, play-by-play; Andy Kennedy and Jon Sundvold, analysts)
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
The Starting Five
• Sahvir Wheeler’s 131 assists are the second-most ever by a UGA freshman. He is just two shy of Litterial Green’s UGA freshman record.
• Anthony Edwards is just five points shy of joining the SEC’s top-10 freshman scoring leaders. Allan Houston is the current No. 10 with 609 points.
• Anthony Edwards’ 604 points are the second-most ever by a UGA freshman and are 42 points away from the freshman record held by Jacky Dorsey.
• 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
Georgia opens SEC Tournament action on Wednesday evening when the Bulldogs take on Ole Miss at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
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 19.5 points per game. He has reached double figures in the scoring column in 27 of 31 games, with 13 20-point outings and three 30-point efforts. Edwards has scored 604 points this season, the second-most ever by a Bulldog freshman and 42 shy of UGA’s freshman record of 646 by Jacky Dorsey in 1974-75.
Edwards, who is one of five finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, has been tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week a school-record four times.
Hammonds is averaging 12.6 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 31 games this season.
Keeping An Eye On . . . Entering Today’s Game
Among UGA’s Career Leaders, Rayshaun Hammonds is…
• 48 points from becoming Georgia’s 49th 1,000-point scorer
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…
• 6 points from No. 7 Alec Kessler (1990)
• 9 points from No. 6 Walter Daniels (1979)
• 32 points from No. 5 Yante Maten (2018)
• 36 points from No. 4 J.J. Frazier (2017)
• 42 points from No. 3 Jacky Dorsey (1975)
• 55 points from No. 2 D. Wilkins (1982)
• 128 points from No. 1 D. Wilkins (1981)
Among UGA’s Freshman Leaders, Anthony Edwards is…
• 42 points from No. 1 Jacky Dorsey
Among UGA’s Freshman Leaders, Sahvir Wheeler is…
• 2 assists from No. 1 Litterial Green
Among SEC Freshman Leaders, Anthony Edwards is…
• 5 points from No. 10 Allan Houston, UT
• 12 points from No. 9 John Wall, UK
• 28 points from co-No. 7 Colin Sexton, Bama, and Ben Simmons, LSU
• 42 points from No. 6 Jacky Dorsey, UGA
Georgia’s SEC Tourney History
Georgia sports a 47-57 all-time record in 59 editions of the SEC Tournament.
The Bulldogs are 38-38 in SEC Tourney action since the event resumed in 1979 following a 27-year hiatus from 1953-79.
The Bulldogs won the 1983 and 2008 SEC Tournaments and finished as runners-up in 1940, 1981, 1988 and 1997. Georgia has reached the semifinals 15 times.
Series History
Georgia is 73-45 all-time versus Ole Miss, including an 8-2 record in SEC Tourney matchups.
Earlier this season on Jan. 25, the Rebels defeated the Bulldogs, 70-60, before a sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.
Jordan Harris notched what were then season-high efforts of 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Georgia, while freshmen Anthony Edwards and Sahvir Wheeler added 13 and 11 points, respectively.
After leading 35-29 at halftime, the Rebels quickly stretched their advantage to 11 points.
The Bulldogs countered with a 14-2 run and went up 43-42 on an Anthony Edwards 3-pointer with 12:31 left.
Ole Miss regained the lead just 27 seconds later and never trailed the rest of the evening.
In the most recent SEC Tournament meeting on March 15, 2014, Charles Mann scored on a layup through traffic in the lane with just 17 seconds left to lift Georgia past Ole Miss, 75-73 at the Georgia Dome.
Mann led Georgia’s four double-digit scorers with 16 points. Kenny Gaines and Brandon Morris added 12 points apiece, while J.J. Frazier chipped in 11. Marcus Thornton contributed nine points and 11 rebounds.
Ole Miss was led by Jarvis Summers’ 26 points. Marshall Henderson scored 19, but went 2-for-16 from three-point range.
In the first half, the Rebels jumped out to an early 18-7 lead, but Georgia responded with a 16-6 run, largely supported by two three-pointers apiece from Gaines and Frazier.
In the second half, neither team led by more than four points and the lead changed 13 times.
Mann tied the game for the 17th time overall and then gave Georgia the lead with a pair of free throws with 59 seconds left. A Summers jumper at the 47-second mark put Ole Miss up 73-72 before Mann’s layup gave the Bulldogs the lead.
After Henderson missed a 3-pointer, Thornton made the first of two free throws with three seconds left to close out the scoring.
Scouting The Rebels
Ole Miss enters the SEC Tournament with a 15-16 overall record after compiling a 6-12 mark in league play.
Breein Tyree’s average of 19.7 ppg paces a quartet of Rebels scoring at a double-digit pace. Tyree is the SEC’s second-leading scorer and sports 14 20-point and four 30-point performances this season.
Last Time Out…
Anthony Edwards scored a team-high 17 points – his 27th double-figure scoring output and 21st time leading Georgia offensively this season – in a 94-64 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge last Saturday.
The Tigers methodically turned a 12-11 deficit into a 30-19 lead and held the Bulldogs at distance the rest of the afternoon.
Edwards Climbs UGA Season, SEC Freshman Scoring Lists
Anthony Edwards enters the SEC Tournament ranked No. 8 among Georgia’s single-season scoring leaders and No. 11 on the list of the SEC’s top-scoring freshmen ever as outlined below.
Edwards’ 604 points is just 32 away from joining the top-5 season scoring efforts in the history of Bulldog basketball.