UGA Basketball Gets Ready for Critical Home Game with LSU Tigers
The Starting Five
• Georgia returns to the friendly and increasingly raucous confines of Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday to host the LSU Tigers. The Bulldogs will play three of their next four games at home.
• Georgia is 12-1 at home this season, with capacity crowds for three of four SEC outings – wins over No. 6/7 Kentucky and No. 17/16 Oklahoma and a two-point loss to No. 1/1 Auburn.
• After playing six of eight games against top-25 teams in January, the Bulldogs flipped the calendar to February to find...six of seven outings versus teams ranked this week.
• With UGA at No. 23 on Jan. 13, Mike White has now led three programs with losing records the year before he arrived to the AP top-25 in less than three seasons...also doing so at La. Tech and Florida.
• Georgia has become one of the nation’s premier defensive teams under Mike White. Metrically, the Bulldogs currently rank in the top-25 nationally in defensive efficiency and effective FG pct defense.
The Opening Tip
The Georgia Bulldogs begin a stretch of three home dates over four games on Wednesday evening when they face LSU’s Tigers at historic Stegeman Coliseum.
That span is part of a grueling February slate for Georgia. After playing six of eight games against top-25 opponents in January, the Bulldogs will face foes ranked this week in six of seven contests during the year’s shortest month.
The Bulldogs are 15-7 overall and 3-6 in SEC play and projected as an NCAA Tournament team by virtually everyone predicting a bracket...including a No. 10 seed by ESPN.com on Tuesday.
Georgia’s balanced offense features seven players who have led the Bulldogs in one or more games. Two more players have posted double-figure scoring outputs. All told, those nine Bulldogs have produced 79 double-digit performances.
Asa Newell, who has been named SEC Freshman of the Week three times, leads a trio of Bulldogs averaging double figures at 15.2 ppg. He also paces UGA on the boards at 7.0 rpg. Among league leaders, Newell is ranked No. 15 in scoring and No. 11 rebounding. He also is No. 3 in the SEC and No. 46 nationally in field goal percentage (.550).
Silas Demary Jr. and Dakota Leffew are scoring at double-digit paces of 11.1 ppg and 10.9 ppg, respectively, for the Bulldogs. Demary Jr. also sports team-high averages of 2.9 apg and 1.7 spg.
Scouting The Tigers
LSU is 12-9 overall and 1-7 in the SEC entering Wednesday’s matchup. The Tigers were 11-2 in non-conference play, including victories over Kansas State, UCF and Florida State.
Cam Carter leads a solid 1-2 scoring punch for LSU at 17.3 ppg, followed by Jordan Sears at 14.8 ppg. Jalen Reed averaged 11.1 ppg before suffering a season-ending injury in the eighth game of the season against Florida State.
Series History With LSU
LSU owns a 71-49 advantage in the all-time series with UGA.
The two teams split a home-and-home series last season, with each team winning on its home floor.
In the Tigers’ last trip to Athens on Jan. 24 last season, Russel Tchewa’s three-point play with 2.3 seconds remaining lifted Georgia to a 68-66 win over the Tigers.
Tchewa grabbed an offensive rebound and powered in a layup while being fouled to secure his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Silas Demary Jr. led Georgia offensively for the second time in three games with 15 points.
After three ties and seven lead changes in the opening 14:00, Demary scored 11 straight Georgia points to put the Bulldogs up 32-24. Georgia remained on top until a three-point play by Jalen Cook gave the Tigers a 66-65 edge with 16 seconds remaining. Tchewa followed a missed 3-point attempt with his stick-back and free throw.
The rematch on Feb. 27 in Baton Rouge also went down to the final horn. A pair of LSU free throws from Will Baker with 15 seconds left, followed by a pair of misses on potential game winners by Bulldogs, propelled the Tigers to a 67-66 victory.
The back-and-forth final minutes featured six lead changes and two ties in the final 5:38.
Last Time Out
Asa Newell and RJ Godfrey scored 16 and 10 points, respectively, to lead Georgia in a 90-69 setback to No. 4/4 Alabama last Saturday.
Alabama used a 14-0 surge to break open a 10-10 game midway through the first half. The Bulldogs committed just six turnovers and collected 12 steals in the contest.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” head coach Mike White said. “There are some positives, though. You get beat 20 on the road, I know that may be a surprise for me to use the word positive, but I’m talking to myself as well. I’m talking to our guys in terms of just trying to keep it in perspective. We come into Alabama and have six turnovers and only had two or three loud ones. For the most part, made really good decisions, executed some stuff, got a lot of post touches, drew a lot of fouls.”