The media met with the University of Georgia basketball team for the first time this fall, in preparation for the upcoming season, and Yante Maten mentioned the experience on the team as being a huge help.

 
With the departure of point guard J.J. Frazier, the Bulldogs will rely on their formidable front-court duo of Yante Maten and Derek Ogbeide to lead the team. Maten and Ogbeide both had breakout seasons and should have a huge say in the success of the Bulldogs.
 
 
Maten is the Bulldogs returning leading scorer as he averaged 18.2 points per game last season, but he was also impressive on the defensive side of the ball as he averaged 1.5 blocks per game. Maten was also named first-team All-SEC and his decision to return had to be news that coach Mark Fox was more than pleased to hear.
 
 

“We still got our core group of guys and most of them are experienced so it makes things easier when you have a lot of guys who know what to do and what not to do already so they can just help the next generation,” said Maten. “Everybody is trying to step up and fill in the gap that J.J.(Frazier) left off.”

 
 
On the other hand, Derek Ogbeide was an absolute rebounding machine for the Bulldogs last season as he led the team with an average of 7.6 rebounds per game. Ogbeide also became a more effective scorer as the season progressed and finished leading the team in field goal percentage with a .567
 
 
The Bulldogs have plenty of leaders on this team but with the talents of Ogbeide and Maten, they should have one of the SEC’s better frontcourts.
 
 

 
 
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