Georgia Travels to Arkansas For Tuesday Night Contest

Tuesday, January 29

Fayetteville, Ark.

7:00

University of Georgia

Arkansas

Georgia Travels to Arkansas For Tuesday Night Contest

January 28, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes Watch Live Listen Live Live Stats

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (10-9, 1-5 SEC) vs. Arkansas (11-8, 2-4 SEC)
Tuesday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Bud Walton Arena (19,200) in Fayetteville, Ark.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; XM: 392; Internet: 973. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)
TV: ESPNU (Roy Philpott, play-by-play; Daymeon Fishback, analyst)
Video: SECN+

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Tom Crean
10-9 in 1st season at UGA
366-220 in 19th season overall
G	0	Turtle Jackson	5.3	1.1
6-4; 185; Sr.; Athens, Ga.
G	4	Tyree Crump	10.4	2.1
6-1; 185; Jr.; Bainbridge, Ga.
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	13.2	6.4
6-8; 235; So.; Norcross, Ga.
F	13	E'Torrion Wilridge	3.6	2.5
6-6; 220; Sr.; Beaumont, Texas
F	33	Nicolas Claxton	12.8	9.4
6-11; 220; So.; Greenville, S.C.

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Arkansas Razorbacks
Coach: Mike Anderson
162-94 in 8th season at UA
362-192 in 17th season overall
G	5	Jalen Harris	8.5	2.7
6-2; 166; R-Soph; Wilson, N.C.
G	1	Isaiah Joe	14.4	2.5
6-5; 167; Fr.; Fort Smith, Ark.
G	13	Mason Jones	13.8	4.7
6-5; 207; Soph.; DeSoto, Texas
F	2	Adrio Bailey	6.3	3.4
6-6; 222; Jr.; Campti, La.
F	10	Daniel Gafford	16.2	9.2
6-11; 233; Soph; El Dorado, Ark.

TEAM COMPARISON

STATISTIC	GEORGIA	ARKANSAS
Points Per Game	75.8	78.1
Opp. Point Per Game	74.2	72.7
Scoring Margin	+1.7	+5.4
Field Goal Pct.	.466	.447
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.407	.412
3-Point Pct.	.341	.331
3-Pointers Per Game	6.9	7.6
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.319	.326
Free Throw Pct.	.728	.648
Free Throws Per Game	16.9	16.3
Rebounds Per Game	40.2	36.7
Opp. Rebound Per Game	35.2	37.9
Rebound Margin	+5.0	-1.3
Assists Per Game	14.7	16.7
Turnovers Per Game	16.8	14.1
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	0.87	1.19
Turnover Margin	-5.3	+2.6
Steals Per Game	5.9	8.4
Blocks Per Game	5.6	4.9

The Starting 5...

Georgia is averaging 8,762 fans over its 11 home dates, the highest tally since averaging a school-record 9,857 fans during 2002-03 season.
Nicolas Claxton leads the SEC and ranks No. 6 nationally in blocked shots at 2.9 bpg. His 54 blocks is the No. 10 season total in UGA history.
UGA's percentages of 66.7 on FGs and 70.6 on 3FGs against Texas rank fourth and third, respectively, all-time for the Bulldogs.
UGA's bench has outscored it counterparts in 14 games, with 11 of those being by +10 or more. UGA's bench has a +187 scoring margin.
UGA's coaching staff sports a combined 80 seasons of D-I experience (Crean-28, Scott-27, Dollar-23, Abdur-Rahim-12) with 38 postseason bids

The Opening Tip

Georgia travels to Fayetteville on Tuesday to face Arkansas in the Bulldogs' second of four consecutive SEC midweek road dates.

Georgia is coming off its most impressive outing of the season, a 98-88 win over Texas on Saturday as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Bulldogs posted the fourth-best single-game field goal percentage in school history (.667) and their third-highest 3-point percentage ever (.706) in the win.

Series History With The Hogs

Arkansas leads the all-time series between the Dogs and the Hogs, 22-15, including a 10-3 advantage in Fayetteville.

Up Next: Gamecocks On Saturday

Georgia will return to the friendly – and increasingly crowded – confines of Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday to host South Carolina.

The game will be the Bulldogs' fifth sellout of the season, with two more sellouts on the books for games against Ole Miss and LSU.

History In The Making

Tom Crean's inaugural season as the Bulldogs' head coach has carried historic ramifications for Georgia Basketball, both on and off the court. From an attendance standpoint...

Georgia announced sellouts of the Florida and Kentucky game on Oct. 24, the earliest sellout(s) in program history.
The Texas game became a sellout on Oct. 26. Before this season, UGA has never had more than one sellout prior to the season opener.
In December, the LSU, South Carolina and Ole Miss games sold out. Six sellouts represented the most in school history before the calendar change.
Georgia drew 9,018 fans for the season opener against Savannah State, UGA's biggest crowd for a home opener in 37 seasons...since Dominique Wilkins' sophomore year in Athens in 1981-82.
The UMass game on Dec. 30 sold out on gameday, giving Georgia a minimum of seven sellouts for the 2018-19 season. That represents the Bulldogs' most sellouts since having a school-record nine in 2002-03.
Georgia is averaging 8,762 fans for its 11 home games to date. That's the highest since averaging a school-record 9,857 fans during the 2002-03 season. On the basketball court:
Georgia defeated Savannah State, 110-76 in the season opener, the Bulldogs' most points in the 2000s since defeating Grambling, 113-74, on Nov. 27, 1999, at the Great Alaska Shootout.
Georgia's 66.7 percent FG percentage against Texas equals the No. 4 best mark in school history.
The Bulldogs' 70.6 percent 3-point percentage against Texas is the No. 3 mark in program history.

Welcome To The League, Coach

Tom Crean's initiation into the Southeastern Conference would probably be considered hazing by some.

Georgia began league play with six consecutive outings against teams that entered SEC competition ranked in the top-50 of the new NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.

In the Jan. 5 edition of the NET, the Bulldogs' first half-dozen SEC foes were ranked, in succession, as No. 7 Tennessee, No. 45 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Auburn, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 33 Florida and No. 27 LSU.

Most of those NET rankings held relatively true through the first few weeks of SEC play.

Following Saturday, those teams were in Sunday's NET as No. 6 Tennessee, No. 93 Vanderbilt, No. 27 Auburn, No. 7 Kentucky, No. 37 Florida and No. 16 LSU.

Every SEC team has now played six league games. The Bulldogs' opponents in that stretch averaged a NET ranking of 31.0. The next closest average was 42.0 for Alabama.

Dogs' Sellout Count Climbs To 7

The Tom Crean regime has established impressive attendance records with seven sellouts already on the books.

Four of those have been played – UMass, Kentucky, Florida and Texas. Georgia's next three home outings – South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU – also are sold out.

It should be noted that the 2,000 free seats reserved for UGA's student body must be filled for those "sellouts" to have capacity crowds of 10,523.

Dogs To Face Hogs In Fayettville

Georgia treks to Fayetteville this week for a Tuesday evening matchup with Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena.

The Bulldogs are currently 10-9 on the season and 1-5 in SEC play. Georgia is coming off its best outing of the campaign, a 98-88 victory over Texas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge last Saturday in which the Bulldogs shot 66.7 percent from the floor and 70.6 percent from 3-point range.

Sophomores Rayshaun Hammonds and Nicolas Claxton lead the Bulldogs.

Hammonds averages a team-high 13.2 ppg, which ranks No. 18 in the SEC. Among league statistical leaders, he also is No. 7 in free throw percentage (.831) and No. 14 in rebounds (6.4 rpg).

Claxton has been a "do-it-all" contributor for the Bulldogs. He is scoring 12.8 ppg and leads the league in both rebounding (9.4 rpg) and blocks (2.9 bpg). Claxton also paces Georgia in assists (42) and steals (26).

Tyree Crump, who scored a game-high 21 points against Texas, provides a third double-digit scoring average at 10.4 ppg.

The Razorbacks are now 11-8 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. Arkansas dropped a 67-64 decision at No. 14 Texas Tech on Saturday.

Daniel Gafford tops a trio of double-figure scorers for the Razorbacks at 16.2 ppg and is second in the SEC in rebounding at 9.2 rpg.

Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones are scoring 14.4 ppg and 13.8 ppg, respectively.

Series History With The Hogs

Arkansas owns a 22-15 lead in the all-time series with the Bulldogs, including a 10-3 advantage in Fayetteville.

Last season in Athens, Arkansas outscored Georgia 11-8 in a second overtime to give the Razorbacks an 80-77 victory over the Bulldogs on Jan. 23 at Stegeman Coliseum.

Georgia led for a majority of the game – 31:36 of 45 minutes to be exact – but the Razorbacks shot 57.1 percent from 3-point range in two overtime periods to seal the win.

Georgia raced to a 29-13 lead with 6:06 left in the first half. Arkansas trimmed that margin to five points at the half and then earned its first lead at 50-48 with 10:12 left in regulation.

Jordan Harris tied the game at 63-63 with five seconds left to force overtime. Harris made one of two free throws with 35 seconds left in the first extra period to tie the game at 69-69 before both the Hogs and Dogs both missed potential game winners thereafter.

Daryl Macon's three 3-pointers in the second overtime proved to be the difference.

Arkansas defeated Georgia, 85-67, in the last matchup in Fayetteville on March 4, 2017.

J.J. Frazier led Georgia with 24 points, including knocking down all 13 of his free throw attempts on the day.

Arkansas quickly pushed a one-point halftime lead to nine with 17:30 remaining, and Georgia never pulled closer than seven points thereafter. Frazier picked up his fourth foul with 15:07 left in the game, and the Razorbacks expanded their advantage to 14 points over the next two minutes.

Last Time Out...

Tyree Crump scored a game-high 21 points – largely due to shooting 6-of-8 from 3-point range – to lead five Bulldogs in double figures in a 98-88 win over Texas last Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum. The contest was part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

The Longhorns led 21-13 before a Crump 3-pointer ignited a 17-2 run that put Georgia up 30-23 with 9:27 left in the first half.

Texas tied the game twice in the closing minutes of the opening period and took a 48-46 lead on a bucket to open the second-half scoring, but the Bulldogs answered with a 13-4 run and never trailed thereafter.

Georgia outrebounded Texas, 36-22, and the Bulldogs' bench outscored UT, 26-18.

Dogs Shooting Blistering Percentages Against Longhorns

As outlined below, Georgia's overall and 3-point field goal percentages against Texas both rank among the top-5 in school history.

For good measure, the Bulldogs connected on 78.6 percent of their free throws.

"I'm not sure I've ever coached a team in my 19 years that's ever shot that well from all three spots on the floor," Tom Crean said.

UGA Single-Game FG Percentages
Rk.	Pct.	Site-Opponent	FG-FGA	Date
1.	.762	H-Chattanooga	32-42	12/19/80
2.	.702	H-Miss. State	40-57	2/28/01
3.	.692	H-Vanderbilt	45-65	2/12/86
4.	.667	H-Texas	32-48	1/26/19
	.667	H-Winthrop	40-60	12/21/93
	.667	H-Tennessee	32-48	3/12/83

UGA Single-Game 3FG Percentages
Rk.	Pct.	Site-Opponent	3FG-3FGA	Date
1.	.727	H-Alabama	8-11	2/6/88
	.727	A-Vanderbilt	8-11	2/14/90
3.	.706	H-Texas	12-17	1/26/19
4.	.700	A-Miss. State.	7-10	1/19/89
	.700	H-S. Carolina	7-10	1/22/00

Georgia Shuffles Lineup

After utilizing the same starting five for 12 of the first 16 games of the year, the Bulldogs have used a different quintet for each of the last four outings.

Teshaun Hightower, Turtle Jackson, Rayshaun Hammonds, Nicolas Claxton and Derek Ogbeide is the most common lineup.

Tyree Crump replaced Jackson for the Sam Houston State game. Jackson returned for the Illinois State contest; however, Fagan supplanted Hightower for all three games in the Cayman Islands.

Georgia returned to its initial lineup for 10-straight contests. The starting fives for the last four games are outlined below:

UK – Hightower, Jackson, Hammonds, Claxton, Ogbeide
UF – Hightower, Harris, Hammonds, Claxton, Ogbeide
LSU – Hightower, Harris, Hammonds, Wilridge, Claxton
UT – Jackson, Crump, Hammonds, Wilridge, Claxton

Bulldogs Are Shot Swatters

Georgia ranks among the nation's top shot-blocking teams. Entering this week, the Bulldogs ranked No. 7 nationally, averaging 5.6 bpg. Individually, Nicolas Claxton led the league and ranked No. 6 nationally at 2.9 bpg through games of Jan. 26.

Dogs' Depth Paying Dividends

Georgia's bench has outscored its counterparts 14 times...usually by a significant amount. The Bulldogs' reserves have been +10 or more in 11 outings, helping Georgia to a +187 scoring margin on bench points.

The Deflection Objective

The deflection is an extremely key statistic for Georgia. Head coach Tom Crean regularly discusses the deflection and its significance.

"I was told a long time ago – and I don't think you can say it any better – deflections are barometer of active defense. It's any type of activity on the ball. It's a finger tip, a hand, blocked shots, chargers, a steal. That's what we're aiming for. I want our team at a deflection-to-turnover ratio of 3.5-to-1. To me, that is an optimal number."

"You will hear me talk a lot about it," Crean said in his press session following the Sam Houston State game. "Some of you will get tired of it, and some of you will buy into it."

The quote above gives a definition of the stat. The Bulldogs' season totals to date are below. Nicolas Claxton leads the team, including 18 deflections against Sam Houston State.

"I have only coached four other guys, and all four of them played in the NBA, that ever had more than 18 in a game," Crean said.

UGA Deflections
Player	Number
Nicolas Claxton	174
Rayshaun Hammonds	69
Teshaun Hightower	55
Turtle Jackson	51
E'Torrion Wilridge	50
Jordan Harris	46
Derek Ogbeide	41
Tyree Crump	41
Tye Fagan	35
Ignas Sargiunas	14
Amanze Ngumezi	13
JoJo Toppin	9
Christian Harrison	6
Connor O'Neill	2
Mike Edwards	1

Feel Free To Call Him "Ty-3" Crump

Claxton Doing It All For Dogs Nicolas Claxton is the only player in the SEC this season to – in the same game – lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals...and he's done so twice.

Claxton did so Nov. 27 against Kennesaw State with 16 points, 15 boards, four assists, two blocks and two steals. He repeated the feat Dec. 18 versus Oakland with 17 points, 13 boards, three assists, three blocks and a steal.

The last SEC player to lead his team in all five stats in multiple games in the same season was LSU's Ben Simmons, who did so three times during the 2015-16 campaign.

Claxton Joins Top-10 Swatters

Nicolas Claxton joined UGA's the top-10 single-season efforts for blocks on Jan. 15 against Kentucky, just the 16th outing of the season. Claxton is chasing a familiar name on that list...his father Charles as outlined below.

UGA Season Blocks Leaders
Rk.	No.	Player	Season	GP
1.	94	Charles Claxton	1995	28
2.	91	Richard Corhen	1984	30
3.	88	Lavon Mercer	1977	27
4.	83	Terrell Bell	1996	31
5.	76	Lavon Mercer	1980	27
6.	61	Yante Maten	2016	34
7.	60	Antonio Harvey	1991	29
8.	58	Charles Claxton	1994	30
9.	56	Lavon Mercer	1979	25
10.	55	Nicolas Claxton	2019	19

Feel Free To Call Him "Ty-3" Crump

More than two-thirds of Tyree Crump's successful FGs for Georgia have been from at least 20-feet, 9-inches away from the basket.

All told, 68.0 percent (104-of-153) of Crump's made shots from the floor for Georgia have been from behind the arc. In fact, 3-pointers directly account for 62.7 percent (312 of 498) of Crump's points at UGA.

Ogbeide Among Best Boarders

Derek Ogbeide began the season ranked No. 17 among UGA's career rebounding leaders with 614 boards.

Ogbeide joined UGA's top-10 during the Vanderbilt victory as outlined below.

UGA Career Rebounds Leaders
Rk.	No.	Player	Seasons	GP
1.	1116	Bob Lienhard	1968-70	75
2.	923	Terry Fair	1980-83	123
3.	893	Alec Kessler	1987-90	123
4.	889	Yante Maten	2015-18	128
5.	867	Jerry Waller	1964-66	75
6.	840	Charles Claxton	1992-95	116
7.	838	Lavon Mercer	1977-80	106
8.	763	Chris Daniels	2000-04	119
9.	739	Carlos Strong	1993-96	118
10.	726	Derek Ogbeide	2016-19	115

Hammonds Bounces Back

Rayshaun Hammonds rebounded quite well from his only two scoreless outings during the 2018-19 campaign.

After not putting up points at No. 3 Tennessee in the SEC opener, Hammonds scored a game-high 19 points against Vanderbilt.

Hammonds did not score versus Florida, but then had a team-high 18 points at LSU.

It took Hammonds a while to get going against the Commodores, though. He was held scoreless in the first half.

Tom Crean then asked for more from Hammonds at the half.

"It was quick," Crean said. "It wasn't bad. It wasn't in my top-100 challenges. I've had a few. It's like, 'We need more. This isn't good enough.' He comes out in the second half and bangs that first shot, looks good doing it. It's important. He has another gear in him. It's our job to keep pulling it out of him."

Hammonds hit a 3-pointer 14 seconds in to the second half and eventually scored a dozen points in the first 7:24 of the period.

Ogbeide Enjoys Fruitful Stretch

Derek Ogbeide enjoyed most productive offensive three-game stretch of his career against UMass, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

Ogbeide put up 12 points against the Minutemen, a season-high 17 in Knoxville and 15 versus Vanderbilt...an average of 14.7 ppg while shooting 62.4 percent from the floor.

That marked the second time Ogbeide has had three-straight double-digit outings. He averaged 11.3 ppg while connecting on 58.3 percent of his field goal attempts against LSU, Auburn and Arkansas in the final three regular-season games of 2016-17.

Claxton Named SEC POTW

Nicolas Claxton was tabbed the SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 31, a day after his game-high tallies of 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against UMass.

Claxton recorded his sixth double-double of the season while connecting on 8-of-13 shots from the field and converting on 3-of-3 trips to the line versus the Minutemen. He grabbed 10 defensive rebounds, one less than the UMass entire roster grabbed as a whole on that end of the floor.

Maten Earns G League Honor

Yante Maten, the 2018 AP SEC Player of the Year for Georgia, enjoyed a very productive month of December.

Maten, a two-way player with the Miami Heat and the Sioux Falls Skyforce, was named NBA G League Player of the Month. In nine games, he averaged 29.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 59.0 percent from the field, 47.4 percent from 3-point range and 80.3 percent from the line. Maten's month was highlighted by a 42-point, 14-rebound performance against Stockton, one of his seven December double-doubles.

"I'm definitely enjoying my time in Sioux Falls," Maten said. "I'm being used a lot. I'm trying to make the best out of every opportunity and every game. I'm just exited to come out and prove a point every night."

Perfect Against "The Enemy"

With its 70-59 win over Georgia Tech on Dec. 22 at McCamish Pavilion, Georgia's Class of 2019 secured a unique spot in the Bulldogs' history.

In the first 113 seasons of Georgia Basketball, only four, four-year Bulldogs finished their careers undefeated against the Yellow Jackets – the tandems of James Banks and Vern Fleming (1980-84) and Richard Corhen and Gerald Crosby (1981-85).

That number more than doubled with this year's victory as Mike Edwards, Turtle Jackson, Connor O'Neill, Derek Ogbeide and E'Torrion Wilridge joined that quartet. Christian Harrison also went undefeated against Tech, but only played two seasons in Athens after transferring from Troy. Those Bulldogs not only won each game, the did so by double figures. The last time Georgia posted four-consecutive double-digit wins over the Jackets was a stretch covering the 1908-09 through 1913-14 seasons

To adhere to "truth in advertising" principles...it should be noted that UGA and GT played at least twice each season from the beginning of the series through 1981-82.

Hammonds Puts Up Rare Stat Line

Rayshaun Hammonds poured in a career-high 31 points while not turning the ball over once versus Illinois State.

Hammonds is the only SEC player this season to put up 30 points with no turnovers. Only two SEC players did so last season – Vanderbilt's Jeff Roberson and Terence Davis from Ole Miss.

Hammonds, Yante Maten and Jumaine Jones are the only Bulldogs to do so in the last 20 seasons as outlined below.

30 Points, 0 Turnovers
Player	Pts.	Opponent (date)
R. Hammonds	31	Illinois State (11/19/18)
Y. Maten	30	Charleston Southern (12/17/16)
Y. Maten	30	Kansas (11/22/16)
J. Jones	34	Kentucky (1/26/99)

Career-High Outings Against ISU

Rayshaun Hammonds and Nicolas Claxton exploded for career-high outputs of 31 and 22 points, respectively, against Illinois State.

Hammonds scored 31 points in 31 minutes. He scored 18 first-half points, almost topped his previous best effort of 21 points before intermission. Claxton did much of his damage after the break with 14 second-half points.

Excitement Surrounds Bulldogs

Tom Crean was hired as the Bulldogs' head coach on March 15 and created an off-season buzz surrounding Georgia Basketball that it hasn't been seen since Dominique Wilkins' days in Athens during the early-80s.

Before this season, Georgia had never sold out more than one game before its opener.

This fall, the Bulldogs had three sellouts – Florida, Kentucky and Texas – in October.

In addition, the number of contributors and the amount donated to UGA's Basketball Enhancement Fund (BEF) set records by considerable margins. The BEF tally topped $1 million for the first time ever and as of Nov. 7 had bettered the previous watermark by just shy of 25 percent.

UGA Loaded With Peach Products

Nearly three-fourths of Georgia's roster played high school hoops in the Peach State. Eleven of 15 Bulldogs – that's 73.3 percent to be exact – did so. The list includes: seniors Christian Harrison (Woodward Academy), William "Turtle" Jackson (Athens Christian School), Connor O'Neill (Blessed Trinity Catholic High) and Derek Ogbeide (Pebblebrook High); juniors Tyree Crump (Bainbridge High) and Jordan Harris (Seminole County High); sophomores Rayshaun Hammonds (Norcross High) and Teshaun Hightower (Collins Hills High); and freshmen Tye Fagan (Upson-Lee High); Amanze Ngumezi (Johnson High) and JoJo Toppin (Norcross High).

Fagan Owns Unique Record

The first recruit to commit to Tom Crean at Georgia certainly brought a winning résumé.

Spring signee Tye Fagan helped Upson-Lee High School to back-to-back state titles and 63 consecutive victories as a junior and senior. The Knights' effort represents the third-longest winning streak in Georgia boys' high school hoops history.

"Any time you add a championship-winning player and person to your program, it's great," Crean said. "But I can't recall ever signing anyone that was 63-0. That's unique."

Georgia's loss at Temple on Nov. 13 represented Fagan's first setback representing his school since an Upson-Lee setback to New Hampstead on Feb. 17, 2016 in the first round of the 2016 state tournament...providing a span of exactly 1000 days between those losses.

Inaugural StegMania A Success

Tom Crean arrived in Athens with a distinct vision. One thing he wanted to create was an preseason event to display the new energy and enthusiasm around Georgia Basketball.

On Friday, Oct. 5, the first-ever StegMania drew a crowd of more than 5,000. It was, by all measures, a significant success.

UGA students lined up around the Coliseum to receive commemorative "StegMania" t-shirts. A lengthy autograph session with a distinct family feel wrapped up the festivities.

StegMania itself was packed with pyrotechnic player intros, a high-flying dunk contest, a dance battle with the Georgia Lady Bulldogs, an impromptu performance of the hit song "Rolex" by hip-hop artists Ayo & Teo and a scrimmage with Crean "mic'd up."

"When you're brand new coming into something like this, you really don't have an expectation," said Crean after the event. "But if I would've had one, it would have exceeded it. When I saw people in line to get into the Coliseum, I got a lump in my throat. It was awesome because you never take it for granted. Hopefully, everyone walks out of here knowing that they matter."

The Leftiest Lads In The Land

The Bulldogs' roster features six – count 'em on two hands – left-handed players. Georgia's southpaws include Nicolas Claxton, Tye Fagan, Rayshaun Hammonds, Jordan Harris, Derek Ogbeide and JoJo Toppin.

We're relatively confident that tally is the most any NCAA Division I basketball team will suit up during 2018-19.

During the summer months, J.D. Hamilton of the NCAA sends out a laundry list of questions to the nation's Division I men's basketball SIDs. The inquiries can range from statistical – what school has the most 2,000-point scorers – to staff – who has the nation's most experienced coaching staff – to roster related – who has the most newcomers.

Round 1 of the email on September 5 including the following offering from Athens: "Georgia has six left-handed players. Does any other team in the country have as many or more players who are left-handed?"

Not that SIDs are bound to answer every request, but that question received no replies. So, the ask was modified for a second email correspondence sent out by Hamilton on September 26 to read: "Georgia has six left-handed players. Does any other team in the country have as four or more players who are left-handed?"

That led to Tennessee (D.J. Burns, John Fulkerson, Jalen Johnson and Yves Pons), Washington (David Crisp, Elijah Hardy, Bryan Penn-Johnson and Nate Roberts) and Winthrop (Adam Pickett, Jermaine Ukaegbu, Kyle Zunic and Raivis Scerbinskis) supplying lists of four.

While nothing is official, Georgia will claim the unofficial title of the leftiest team in America until proven otherwise.

And for full effect, the above headline should be read in a voice immitating Dan Magill, the greatest Bulldog of all time. If you're not familiar with Coach Magill, ask.