Category: UGA Men’s Basketball

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs (11-1) defeated the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (3-11), 81-65, on Sunday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum. Three scorers reached double figures led by sophomore guard De’Shayne Montgomery’s 22 points on the night.

Fast Facts
• After Montgomery’s 22-point effort, graduate guard Dakota Leffew followed with 19 points while freshman forward Asa Newell posted 14 points.
• Georgia has shot 50 percent or better from the field in three straight games, doing so for the first time since December 20-30, 2023.
• De’Shayne Montgomery’s season-high 22 points marks 38 points scored in 43 minutes of action through two games this season, having scored 20+ points in eight of his last nine games dating back to last season with Mount St. Mary’s.
• Asa Newell has now scored 10 or more points in 11 of 12 games this season including each of his last six games.
• The Bulldogs hounded the Buccaneers in bench points 51-5 on the night, marking the largest margin of the season.
• The Bulldogs’ 11-1 record marks the best start since the 2001-02 season. With another victory, Georgia would be off to its best start since the 1930-31 season.

Key Quote
“We got off to a pretty good start on the very front end and then I thought it was somewhat clean there the rest of the half.” Head coach Mike White said. “We missed some, and they made some. [Taje] Kelly’s a very, very difficult matchup and played his butt off. I thought number 22, their all-conference point guard, I thought he was really good with his decisions. We tried to pressure him the entire game, and he continued to be really solid. They executed well. Their physicality was a big factor early on, and our aura, our level of confidence changed a little bit. It was almost, and we prepared our guys for a dogfight, we really did, but credit Charleston Southern for, although our guys knew what was coming in terms of the block outs and the wall ups, the wrestling matches near the rim. Their physicality level was similar to the power teams that we’ve played to this point, and again, despite that preparation, it still was a factor.”

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will remain in Athens to close out their final non-conference game where they will face South Carolina State on Sunday, Dec. 29 with tipoff set at 2 p.m. ET at Stegeman Coliseum. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

ATLANTA — The Georgia Bulldogs (9-1) defeated the Grand Canyon Antelopes (6-3), 73-68, on Saturday night at State Farm Arena. Four scorers reached double figures on the night led by freshman Asa Newell’s 17 points paired with five rebounds.

Fast Facts
• After Newell’s 17-point effort, fellow freshman center Somto Cyril lit up the rim with 12 points powered by five dunks while graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence and sophomore guard Blue Cain each tallied 10 points, respectively.
• Somto Cyril was a force in the paint as he posted a career-high five blocks on the night while also notching eight boards, sitting one shy of his career best.
• Silas Demary Jr. matched a career-high eight rebounds on the night, last doing so on Nov. 17, 2023, against Miami (FL).
• Georgia outscored Grand Canyon 42-28 in the paint while winning the battle of blocks at 9-3.
• The Bulldogs are off to a 9-1 start to the season, doing so for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign (9-1 through 10 games).

Key Quote
“Really good team, and I thought [GCU] played really well,” head coach Mike White said. “I thought they defended at a really high level, and we never found offensive flow. They’ll win 30 games again, and they’ll go back to the tournament. And we’ll look back on this one as a learning experience. Very much a quality win, but we’re fortunate because it could have gone the other way.”

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will return to Athens where they will face Buffalo on Thursday, Dec. 19 with tipoff set at 7 p.m. ET at Stegeman Coliseum. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs (8-1) defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-5), 69-48, on Tuesday night at the Stegeman Coliseum. Three scorers reached double figures on the night led by freshman Asa Newell’s 20-point double-double paired with 11 rebounds.

Fast Facts
• After Newell’s 20-point effort, graduate guard Dakota Leffew followed with 16 points while sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. finished with 11 points.
• Asa Newell’s double-double marked his second of the season while reaching double-digit scoring in eight of nine games played this season.
• Silas Demary Jr. posted a career-high five steals on the night, with all coming in the first half.
• Mike White‘s team held the Fighting Irish to 21 percent from 3-point shooting, marking the fifth time this season the Bulldogs have held an opponent to under 30 percent from the perimeter.
• Tyrin Lawrence set a new career high with seven assists, beating his previous best of five matched earlier this season on Nov. 24 against St. John’s.
• Georgia finished tonight’s game with only five turnovers, marking the first time the Bulldogs have recorded five or fewer turnovers since March 7, 2018 in the SEC Tournament first round against Vanderbilt.

Key Quote
“Really defended at a high level,” head coach Mike White said. “Love how we shared it – 19 assists to five turnovers – two games in a row where we’ve completely flip-flopped our turnover-assist ratio as it had been up until that point. So, we’re getting better in that category. Defended the three at a really high rate. I like the looks we got early, so we weren’t rattled there. I like the way we moved it. Probably a couple quick ones, although they were pretty open, but Notre Dame does a great job of forcing you to shoot jump shots and packing the paint. They’re incredibly disciplined and then they made it interesting. We got off to a really good start early second half and they went on a run there, it seems like, probably three or four minutes into the second half until probably about the 10-minute mark. It was pretty even there. And then we finished really strong.”

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will return to Atlanta where they will face Grand Canyon at the 2024 Holiday Hoopsgiving on Saturday, Dec. 14 with tipoff set at 6 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

NASSAU, Bahamas — The Georgia Bulldogs (5-1) fell to the No. 15 Marquette Golden Eagles (6-0), 80-69, on Saturday morning at the Imperial Arena at Atlantis. Four scorers reached double figures led by sophomore guard Blue Cain’s season-high 17 points on the day.

Fast Facts
• After Cain’s 17-point effort, graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence followed with 15 points alongside four boards and three assists. Graduate guard Dakota Leffew and sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. rounded out double-digit scoring with 11 and 10 respectively.
• Blue Cain’s five 3-pointers on the day matched his career high, last doing so against Missouri in the 2024 SEC Tournament first round.
• Silas Demary Jr. led the squad on the glass with seven rebounds, matching a season high (seven vs Georgia Tech).
• Dakota Leffew dished out five assists against Marquette, setting a new season high and marking his 18th career performance with five or more assists in a game.
• Despite the loss, the Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Eagles 34-31 on the day.
 
Key Quote
“Yeah, it was a hand-to-hand combat,” head coach Mike White said. “Probably as physical a game as I’ve been a part of. I mean, it was a two teams out there laying it on the line. And that’s what Marquette does and credit to those guys. They’ve got a program that’s established, and a team that will be in the top 10 by Monday. They were better than us. Our hope is to continue to grow.”
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back in their second game of the weekend when they face No. 22 St. John’s on Sunday, Nov. 24 with tipoff set at 11 a.m. ET at the Imperial Arena at Atlantis.

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs (3-0) defeated the North Florida Ospreys (3-1), 90-77, on Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum. Six scorers saw double figures led by junior forward RJ Godfrey’s second career double-double, notching career highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Fast Facts
• After Godfrey’s career night, sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. followed with 17 points, six boards and five assists. Graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence, freshman forward Asa Newell, sophomore guard Blue Cain and graduate guard Dakota Leffew rounded out double figure scoring with 15, 13, 11 and 10, respectively.
• With three blocks on the night, Asa Newell has recorded three or more blocks in each of his first three career games (last Georgia player with three or more blocks in at least three games was Nic Claxton in 2018-19 season).
• After matching his season-high with 17 points on the night, Silas Demary Jr. is the second Georgia player under Mike White to have multiple 15+ point and 5+ assist games in a season (Terry Roberts had 4 in 2022-23).
• Tyrin Lawrence posted a season-high 15 points with 11 coming in the first half.
• The Bulldogs never trailed on the night, outscoring the Ospreys 48-26 in the paint, the largest differential this season.
 
Key Quotes:
“Good win for us,” head coach Mike White said. “North Florida is really good. They’ll be one of the better offensive mid-major teams in the country this year. A couple of high-major wins already on the road. We had to guard at a really high level, and I thought we did at times, and you look down at 7 [Liam Murphy]. I mean, these guys can really score it. Credit Coach [Matthew] Driscoll and his staff, the start that they’ve gotten off to. It’s unbelievable.”
 
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will go on the road for the first time in the regular season when they face in-state rivals Georgia Tech on Friday, Nov. 15 with tipoff set at 8 p.m. ET at the McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta.

Read more

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 83-78, in their home regular season opener Monday night at Stegeman Coliseum. Three scorers saw double figures as freshman forward Asa Newell led the charge with 26 points, matching Dominique Wilkins for the all-time program record for points scored in a freshman debut.

Fast Facts
• In addition to Newell’s team-leading 26-point debut, the freshman grabbed 11 boards off the glass and three blocks to record his first career double-double. Graduate guard Dakota Leffew and junior forward RJ Godfrey also found double figures scoring 18 and 10, respectively.
• RJ Godfrey joined Asa Newell in recording his first career double-double, scoring 10 points paired with 10 rebounds on the night.
• Dakota Leffew’s 18 points were powered by four three-pointers on the night, marking his 16th career game with four or more makes from behind the arc.
• Asa Newell’s debut performance marked the fourth time in the 2000s with a Bulldog recording 25+ points, 10+ rebounds and 3+ blocks in a game (Trey Thompkins vs New Orleans – 2009, Trey Thompkins at Tennessee – 2010, and Yante Maten vs LSU – 2018).
• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-25 on the night.

Key Quotes
“This team also has got a ways to go,” head coach Mike White said. “It’s easy when you’re at Charlotte and you’re up big late and there’s no game pressure on you and the things fall in and we’re getting tip dunks and what have you. Then you play Central Florida, who we all knew was a lot better than that. We probably weren’t that good. I hope to be that good in a couple months. Now it’s equal opportunity, a lot of stuff we were doing today, but that’s another area where we’ve got to grow and learn who we are. Who’s getting the ball and what spots at what time of the game and how we’re going to execute, what we can really hang our hat on. So, we’ll be able to learn a lot from this game.”

Up Next:
The Bulldogs will remain at home when they host Texas Southern in the first game of the Peach State Classic on Sunday, Nov. 10 with tipoff set at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Stegeman Coliseum.

ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the UCF Knights, 114-76, on Tuesday night in a preseason exhibition at Stegeman Coliseum. Five scorers saw double figure scoring as sophomore guard Blue Cain led the charge with 20 points powered by five three-pointers.

Fast Facts
• In addition to Cain’s team-leading effort, freshman forward Asa Newell shined in his first appearance at the Steg, tallying 19 points paired with a team-leading seven boards. Graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence followed with 17 points while sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. and junior forward RJ Godfrey recorded 16 and 14, respectively.
• Newcomers junior forward Justin Abson and freshman center Somto Cyril were towers in the paint, recording a combined five blocks with three and two, respectively.
• Lawrence came out hot to start, logging 13 of his 17 points on the night in the first half.
• The Bulldogs were a force on the glass, outrebounding the Knights 46-33 on the night.
• Georgia shot 61.8 percent from the floor with a 55.6 percent clip from behind the arc, stretching its largest lead to 43 late in the second half.

Key Quote
“The biggest thing that sticks out is that we had to talk a lot, especially at halftime about doing things differently in the second half,” head coach Mike White said. “I thought that Central Florida did a really good job of taking us out of what we were trying to run, the opposite end of the spectrum of playing at Charlotte. Different type tempo. Different type of athleticism. [UCF] had extension, ability and disruption defensively as opposed to Charlotte being heavily gap-oriented and very position-oriented.”

Up Next
The Bulldogs will open regular season action against Tennessee Tech on Monday, Nov. 4 with tip-off set at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Stegeman Coliseum.