Anthony Edwards, Dawgs Start Season on Tuesday

Georgia vs. Western Carolina
Tuesday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
Watch: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Dean Keener, analyst)
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)
 
The Starting Five
• Georgia begins the 2019-20 campaign with its earliest season opener ever. The Bulldogs’ previous record for their initial outing was in 2013 on Nov. 8.
• The Bulldogs have com-piled an 81-33 all-time record in season openers, including a 35-6 mark when starting the season at Stegeman Coliseum.
• 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.
• Anthony Edwards is the highest rated recruiting in UGA history. He was tabbed No. 1 by 247Sports.com, No. 3 by rivals.com and No. 4 by ESPN.
• For the first time ever, Georgia sold out its Stegeman Coliseum season ticket allotment. The Texas A&M and Alabama games are already total sellouts. 
 
 
The Opening Tip
Georgia will christen their 2019-20 season on Tuesday evening when the Bulldogs host Western Carolina at Stegeman Coliseum at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
Earliest. Opener. Ever.
The Bulldogs will begin this season with their earliest opening contest in Georgia’s 115 seasons of basketball. The previous date for an initial outing was when UGA began the 2013-14 campaign on Nov. 8 with a 72-52 win over Wofford.
 
 
Keeping An Eye On . . . 
Entering the 2019-20 season, among UGA’s career Leaders
 
Tyree Crump is...
•   5 3FGs from No. 14 Terrance Woodbury
•   15 3FGs from co-No. 12s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison
•   8 3FGAs from No. 16 Ty Wilson
•   11 3FGAs from No. 15 Terrance Woodbury
•   12 3FGAs from No. 14 Jody Patton
•   18 3FGAs from No. 13 Turtle Jackson
 
 
Series History
Georgia is 6-0 all-time against Western Carolina, with all half-dozen matchups taking place here in Athens.
 
The Bulldogs won the initial meeting between the schools 100-64 on Dec. 4, 1993.
 
The most recent contest was also the closest in the series, a 65-63 decision on Dec. 21, 2013.
 
The Catamounts led by double digits twice in the second half and by a 58-50 count with just 5:44 remaining. An 11-0 run put Georgia on top but, the Bulldogs didn’t seal the win until a pair of Charles Mann free throws with 2.5 seconds left. Kenny Gaines and Mann, then freshmen, led Georgia with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Scouting The Catamounts
Western Carolina returns four starters who averaged double digits in the scoring column last season – Carlos Dotson (13.9 ppg), Kameron Gibson (13.6 ppg), Matt Halvorsen (11.6 ppg) and Onno Steger (11.2).
 
The Catamounts’ roster features eight returning letterwinners and seven newcomers – five freshmen and a pair of transfers.  
 
WCU’s Ahmir Langlais was a classmate and teammate of UGA’s Anthony Edwards at Holy Spirit Prep School in Atlanta. Last season, both Edwards and Langlais were named first-team All-State by the Georgia Independent Association (GISA) after leading the Cougars to a runner-up finish in the state tournament.
 
Western Carolina finished 7-25 overall and 4-14 in the Southern Conference in 2018-19, Mark Prosser’s first season as head coach in Cullowhee. Prosser arrived after spending the previous six seasons at Winthrop. 
 
 
Up Next: The Citadel In A Week
Georgia’s next game will be exactly a week from the opener. The Bulldogs will entertain The Citadel on Nov. 12.
 
 
It’s Games Time!
The Bulldogs will play seven games before Thanksgiving Day. 
 
Georgia begins the season with a four-game home stand with outings against Western Carolina, The Citadel, Delaware State and Georgia Tech.
 
The Bulldogs will then trek to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational for the first time ever. Georgia will face Dayton in the opening round on Nov. 25, the first of three games in as many days in Maui. The field for the Invitational also features Michigan State and Virginia Tech in UGA’s half of the bracket. The other four teams in the MJMI field are Brigham Young, tournament host Chaminade, Kansas and UCLA.
 
 
Dogs Already Off To Record Start
For the first time in program history, Georgia sold out the season ticket allotment for Stegeman Coliseum.
 
Tom Crean announced the accomplishment during Stegmania II, the Bulldogs’ preseason hype event on Oct. 11.
 
“I think it’s great,” Crean said following Stegmania. “We’re going to need them to be here and help us because we have a lot of growth to make with this team. You can’t win without them in the sense of having a great home-court atmosphere, and there’s no question that’s something we’re going to need. Having sold out of our season ticket allotment is a very good start to having just that this season and beyond.”
 
The ticket-selling records continued when Georgia put single-game tickets on sale on Oct. 24. That day, the Texas A&M (Feb. 1) and Alabama (Feb. 8) officially outings became sellout contests. 
 
That matched the mark for earliest sellouts in Georgia’s history, established last year when the Florida and Kentucky games quickly became ticketless events.
 
Prior to this year, Georgia had never sold out more than one game prior to beginning the regular season. 
 
 
Bulldogs in Openers
Georgia has compiled an 81-33 record in season-opening contests during the Bulldogs’ first 114 campaigns of basketball. That includes a 35-6 mark in openers here at Stegeman Coliseum.
 
Georgia’s most significant victory in an opener at the Coliseum also was its first. 
 
In the Bulldogs’ first-ever season opener in the Coliseum on Dec. 3 1964, UGA bested No. 13 North Carolina, 64-61.
 
In the first game of the Tom Crean era, Georgia raced to a 110-76 victory over Savannah State, the Bulldogs’ most points in the 2000s. The last time Georgia put up more was in a 113-74 win over Grambling on Nov. 27, 1999, at the Great Alaska Shootout. 
 
 
Crean’s Opening Outings
Tom Crean is 18-1 in season openers as a head coach. 
 
Crean was 8-1 to begin his nine seasons at Marquette from 1999-2008. He was a perfect 9-0 at Indiana from 2008-17 won his initial outing at Georgia last season.
 
The biggest season-opening victory for a Crean-coached team was three years ago when the No. 11-ranked Hoosiers defeated No. 3 Kansas, 103-99, in overtime at the Armed Forces Challenge in Honolulu.
 
The Hoosiers raced to an 8-1 start that season – including a second signature victory in November over eventual 2017 NCAA Champion North Carolina – before injuries decimated Indiana’s roster.