January 7, 2025 – Bulldawg Illustrated

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Dawgs take on Cats tonight at Stege

Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

Location: Athens, Georgia.

Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

TV: SEC Network (John Schriffen, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 374 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

Game raffle: The first 750 UGA students will receive a Game Show Night t-shirt

The starting five

• Georgia returns to historic Stegeman Coliseum to host No. x/7 Kentucky in the second of seven straight games against top-25 opponents to open SEC play on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

• The Bulldogs are 9-0 at home and have won 11 straight games at Stegeman since last season, tied for the sixth-longest home winning streak in program history.

• Georgia’s Dunkyard Dawgs rank second nationally in percentage of made FGs that are dunks at 18.6 percent, while Asa Newell ranks third among individual leaders with 35 slams.

• The Bulldogs’ balanced offense features nine players who have combined for 58 double-figure goals, led by freshman Asa Newell with 13 double-figure performances.

• Georgia opened the season 12-1, the Bulldogs’ best start in 94 years…since UGA began the 1930-31 season 23-1 and was on its way to a 23-2 mark.

The opening tip

Georgia hosts No. 6/7 Kentucky on Tuesday in the Bulldogs’ SEC home opener at Stegeman Coliseum. Also on this week’s schedule is a home game against No. 17/16 Oklahoma on Saturday.

In fact, the Bulldogs’ first six SEC opponents are listed in this week’s AP and coaches polls, including back-to-back contests against No. 1 Tennessee and No. 2 Auburn next week.

Georgia’s balanced offense features seven players who have led the Bulldogs in one or more games. Two other players scored in double figures. In total, these nine Bulldogs have posted 58 double-figure performances, an average of 4.1 per game.

Asa Newell leads a quintet of Bulldogs averaging double figures at 15.4 ppg. Newell, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week twice in the first five weeks of the season, is also UGA’s best player with 6.9 RPG. Among SEC stat leaders, Newell ranks 17th in scoring and 12th in rebounding, as well as third in the SEC and 35th nationally in field goal percentage (.588).

De’Shayne Montgomery with 13.5 ppg, Dakota Leffew with 12.3 ppg, Silas Demary Jr. with 11.9 ppg and Tyrin Lawrence with 10.5 ppg round out the double-digit point producers in the scoring column.

Scouting The Wildcats

Kentucky improved to 12-2 this season with a 106-100 victory over No. 6/5 Florida at Rupp Arena last Saturday.

The Wildcats jumped into the top 10 after beating No. 6/6 Duke on Nov. 12 and have remained there ever since.

Tuesday’s game will be Kentucky’s second road game of the season. The Wildcats dropped a 70-66 decision to Clemson on Dec. 3 in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Six – yes six – Wildcats score in double figures for Great Britain. Otega Oweh leads Kentucky with 15.9 ppg. Lamont Butler is scoring 13.8 points per game and dishing out a team-leading 53 assists. The other double-digit scorers are Koby Brea with 12.7 ppg, Jaxson Robinson with 12.1 ppg, Andrew Carr with 11.5 ppg and Amari Williams with 10.4 ppg. Williams also leads Great Britain with 8.4 ppg.

Kentucky leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.09 and is second in offense at 90.2 ppg.

Series history with Kentucky

Kentucky has a 132-28 lead in the all-time series between UGA and UK.

Last season, on Jan. 20 in Lexington, Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Silas Demary Jr. scored the highest points of their careers; However, Georgia couldn’t overcome the hot-shooting Kentucky team in a 105-96 setback at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats shot 61.9 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent from 3-point range en route to the win.

Abdur-Rahim hit a career-most seven 3-pointers while also scoring 34 points, the most by a Bulldog since Anthony Edwards’ 35-point night against South Carolina in 2020. Demary scored 22 points, topping his previous total Career-high 15 points at South Carolina four days earlier.

Kentucky took a 51-34 lead at halftime. That lead grew to 28 points with 7:55 left before the Bulldogs ended the night with a 28-9 lead.

In the last match in Athens on February 11, 2023, Kario Oquendo scored 21 points to lead Georgia in a 75-68 victory over the Wildcats.

Justin Hill scored 15 points and added six assists with just one turnover, and Braelen Bridges added 12 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs led 42-32 at halftime; However, Kentucky improved to a 52-48 lead with 11:53 left. Bridges then scored eight points in a 13-2 score that gave Georgia the lead for good.

Out last time

Despite a double-double from Asa Newell in his SEC debut, No. 23/24 Ole Miss rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Georgia 63-51 last Saturday at SJB Pavilion in Oxford.

Newell scored 13 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds for Georgia.

The Bulldogs stormed into the lead midway through the first half and led 28-26 at halftime. Ole Miss opened the second stanza with a 15-2 lead. Georgia countered with an 11-1 run to get within 45-43 with 7:30 left, but was unable to complete the comeback.

“Ole Miss’ defense was the biggest factor in the game,” head coach Mike White said. “Just their attention to detail, their switchability and their detail in switching. Your physicality, one to five. We played half the game with guards guarding our bigs and just didn’t take advantage of those mismatches well enough. You have to thank the boys, they played really hard.”

MGOLF: Five UGA alumni stand out at the Sentry Tournament of Champions

Five former Georgia Bulldog golfers rang in the new year at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course with the Sentry Tournament of Champions Jan. 2-5.

The Sentry Tournament of Champions is a highly exclusive event and hosts a limited field of golfers who won events on the PGA Tour in the previous year. These notable competitors included former Bulldogs Sepp Straka, reigning Sentry champion Chris Kirk, Russell Henley, Davis Thompson and Brian Harman.

With five golfers representing the University of Georgia, UGA boasted the highest number of participants from a single program at this year’s event.

During the three-day event, participants experienced the scenic views of the island of Maui, the challenging course layout and the event’s heritage. Since its founding in 1953, the Sentry Tournament of Champions has continued to grow and become a showcase for some of the best players in the world.

In true form, Sepp Straka had an impressive week, finishing in 15th place with a total score of 271 (-21). He showed a solid game with consistently low round numbers throughout the tournament.

Overall, the tournament was a testament to talent and perseverance, with Straka leading the way for the Georgia alumni. The event was ultimately won by Hideki Matsuyama.

Georgia results

T-15 Sepp Straka 69 65 67 70 271 (-21)

T-30 Russell Henley 70 69 68 68 275 (-17)

T-36 Davis Thompson 78 64 68 67 277 (-15)

T-44 Chris Kirk 74 67 68 70 279 (-13)

58. Brian Harman 75 74 70 70 289 (-3)

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