Bulldogs Open SEC Play in Knoxville

Saturday, January 5

Knoxville, Tenn.

3:30

University of Georgia

Tennessee

January 04, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (8-4) vs. No. 3 Tennessee (11-1)
Saturday, January 5 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678) in Knoxville, Tenn.
Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; XM: 383; Internet: 974. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)
TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan, play-by-play; Dane Bradshaw, analyst)
Video: SECN+

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Tom Crean
8-4 in 1st season at UGA
364-235 in 19th season overall
G	0	William Jackson	3.8	1.3
6-4; 185; Sr.; Athens, Ga.
G	1	Teshaun Hightower	8.2	2.8
6-5; 180; So.; Lithonia, Ga.
F	20	Rayshaun Hammonds	15.0	6.9
6-8; 235; So.; Norcross, Ga.
F	33	Nicolas Claxton	13.3	10.2
6-11; 220; So.; Greenville, S.C.
F	34	Derek Ogbeide	9.3	6.4
6-9; 250; Sr.; Atlanta, Ga

Pos	No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Tennessee Volunteers
Coach: Rick Barnes
68-45 in 4th season at UT
672-359 in 32nd season overall
G	0	Jordan Bone	14.3	2.4
6-3; 180; Jr.; Nashville, Tenn.
G	35	Yves Pons	4.4	3.6
6-6; 209; So.; Fuveau, France
G	5	Admiral Schofield	18.2	6.0
6-6; 241; Sr.; Zion, Ill.
F	2	Grant Williams	20.1	8.3
6-7; 236; Jr.; Charlotte, N.C.
F	11	Kyle Alexander	10.3	6.8
6-11; 215; Sr.; Milton, Ontario

TEAM COMPARISON

STATISTIC	GEORGIA	TENNESSEE
Points Per Game	79.2	85.5
Opp. Point Per Game	70.5	66.4
Scoring Margin	+8.7	+19.1
Field Goal Pct.	.477	.511
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.381	.377
3-Point Pct.	.346	.349
3-Pointers Per Game	6.8	6.7
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.299	.297
Free Throw Pct.	.738	.723
Free Throws Per Game	17.8	17.0
Rebounds Per Game	43.1	40.5
Opp. Rebound Per Game	34.9	34.7
Rebound Margin	+8.2	+5.8
Assists Per Game	15.1	21.2
Turnovers Per Game	16.7	11.7
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	0.91	1.81
Turnover Margin	-4.6	+2.0
Steals Per Game	5.8	5.8
Blocks Per Game	6.3	6.2

The Starting 5...

Georgia has already sold out 7 games this season, the most sellouts for the Bulldogs since they had 8 during the 2002-03 season.
Nicolas Claxton is the only SEC player to lead his team in points, boards, assists, blocks & steals in a game this season...and he's done it twice.
Derek Ogbeide enters the Tennessee game two rebounds shy of catching No. 11 Trey Thompkins among UGA's career leaders.
UGA's bench has outscored it counterparts in 11 games, with nine of those being by +10 or more. UGA's bench has a +191 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 christens the 2019 and SEC portions of its schedule with a bang on Saturday, traveling to Knoxville to face No. 3 Tennessee, the defending SEC co-Champions.

In fact, the Bulldogs will venture to the league's defending co-Champs during the first two weekend's of SEC play. Georgia will take on Auburn next Saturday on The Plains.

Series History With The Vols

Tennessee owns a 94-61 advantage in the all-time series between the Bulldogs and Volunteers, including a 57-16 edge in Knoxville.

UGA and UT split two meetings last season, with each team winning on its home floor. Tennessee's win in Knoxville in the regular-season finale snapped a five-game winning streak in the series by Georgia.

Up Next: Vandy Visits Stegeman

Georgia will return to the friendly – and increasingly crowded – confines of Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday night to host Vanderbilt at 6:30 p.m. Georgia is 6-1 at home this season and averaging 8,004 fans.

Welcome To The League, Coach

Tom Crean's initiation into the SEC might be considered hazing by some.

Georgia begins league play with six consecutive outings against teams currently ranked in the top-50 of the new NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.

Through games of Jan. 2, Tennessee was No. 5 in the NET rankings. Following Saturday's game, Georgia will face, in succession, No. 43 Vanderbilt, No. 19 Auburn, No. 11 Kentucky, No. 33 Florida and No. 27 LSU.

Dogs' Sellout Count Climbs To 7

The Tom Crean regime established some attendance records before the season even began by selling out three games. In early December, that count ascended to six sellouts. The Bulldogs then wrapped up 2018 with a capacity crowd against UMass on Dec. 30.

On Oct. 24, Georgia announced sellouts for the Florida and Kentucky games, the earliest sellout(s) in UGA Basketball history.

Two days later, the Texas game also sold out. Prior to this year, Georgia never had more than one sellout prior to the opener.

Dates with LSU, South Carolina and Ole Miss also sold out in December. The last time the Bulldogs had seven sellouts was in 2002-03 when they hosted eight capacity crowds.

It should be noted that the 2,000 free seats reserved for UGA's student body must be filled at those games for capacity crowds of 10,523 to be in attendance at the Bulldogs' half-dozen "sellouts."

The Dogs Are Drawing

Georgia averaged 8,004 fans for its seven non-conference outings, the second-highest figure in the 2000s.

That's the most since the Bulldogs averaged crowds of 8,792 during the 2002-03 non-conference campaign. That season featured only five non-league dates, with three of those being on weekends and a fourth against No. 2 Pittsburgh on New Year's Eve.

A Historic Opener

Georgia christened both the 2018-19 campaign and the Tom Crean era on Nov. 9 with an impressive evening on and off the court.

The Bulldogs secured a 110-76 victory over Savannah State, Georgia's most points in the 2000s. The last time the Bulldogs scored more than 110 points was in a 113-74 victory over Grambling on Nov. 27, 1999.

A crowd of 9,018 fans flocked to Stegeman Coliseum for the opener. That represented the most fans for a home opener since the Stegeman's capacity became 10,523 in 1994.

The was UGA's largest crowd for a home opener since a then-capacity crowd of 11,200 saw Georgia top Georgia Tech, 62-61, in 1981 during Dominique Wilkins' sophomore year.

"First things first, I want to say 'thank you' to everybody who was here," Crean said. "This is largest crowd on an opening night since they redid Stegeman, and it was fun. It was fun to see the enthusiasm that people have had turn into bodies and live energy and loud fans. That was tremendous."

Also on the scoring front, UGA's 59 first-half points were its most in a half since scoring 60 in the second period against Jacksonville State 11 years earlier...on Nov. 9, 2007.

Bulldogs Begin With Busy Stretch

Georgia played six games in the first 13 days of the 2018-19 campaign.

The season began with the Nov. 9 opener against Savannah State, a trip to Temple on Nov. 13 and a matchup with Sam Houston State on Nov. 16. The Bulldogs then played three games in as many days on Nov. 19-21 in the Cayman Islands Classic.

Georgia Opens SEC Play Vs. Vols

Georgia treks to Knoxville on Saturday to face No. 3 Tennessee in the SEC opener for both teams.

The Bulldogs are 8-4 to date and have won five of their last six outings. The lone setback during that stretch was a two-point loss to No. 20 Arizona State.

Sophomores Rayshaun Hammonds and Nicolas Claxton lead Georgia.

Hammonds averages a team-high 15.0 ppg and is one of only two players (along with Tennessee's Grant Williams) ranked among the SEC's top-10 leaders in scoring (No. 10), rebounding (No. 9), field goal percentage (No. 3) and free throw percentage (No. 5).

Claxton, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, is contributing 13.3 ppg and leads the league in rebounding and blocks by wide margins of 0.9 rpg and 0.6 bpg. Nationally, he is No. 15 in boards and No. 8 in blocks.

Tennessee is 11-1 overall and 8-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols' lone setback was to then-No. 2 Kansas.

Williams and Admiral Schofield provide Tennessee with one of the nation's top 1-2 scoring punches, averaging 20.1 ppg and 18.2 ppg, respectively. Individually, they rank 1-2 in the SEC.

Series History With The Vols

Tennessee owns a 94-61 lead in the all-time series between UGA and UT, including at 57-16 edge in Knoxville.

The Bulldogs and Vols split a pair of meetings last season, which each winning on its home floor. Tennessee's victory in the regular-season finale snapped Georgia's five-game winning streak in the series, the Bulldogs' longest string of success since winning six consecutive matchups between 1993-95.

In the final regular-season outing last March 3, Tennessee rallied in the waning moments to surge past Georgia en route to a 66-61 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Bulldogs led by four points with 3:10 remaining following a Yante Maten 3-pointer but could not hold off the Vols.

All told, Georgia led for 31:14 of game, including an 11-point margin twice late in the first half.

Tennessee closed the gap to one at 45-44 with 13:44 remaining, but did not take the lead until a Lamonté Turner 3-pointer that made it 55-53 with 6:23 remaining.

That was the first three ties and three lead changes the rest of the way. The Vols took the lead for good with 1:01 left.

Two weeks earlier in Athens, Maten's game-high 19 points led five Bulldogs in double digits as Georgia upset No. 18 Tennessee, 73-62, at a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum.

Maten started hot, scoring 11 points in the opening 10:59. That staked Georgia to a 13-8 lead it never relinquished the rest of the way. The margin grew to 21-12 before Tennessee closed the gap to two points at halftime.

The Bulldogs quickly regained control quickly after the intermission, pushing their lead back to double figures at 38-28 in less than three minutes.

The Vols made is a one-possession game twice thereafter, but Georgia answered each time. After Tennessee pulled within 54-51 at the 5:14 mark, Tyree Crump nailed a 3-pointer to open a 9-3 run that made it 63-54 with 94 seconds remaining.

Last Time Out...

Nicolas Claxton's third-straight double-double led Georgia to a 81-72 victory over Massachusetts before a sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum on Dec. 30.

Claxton scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Rayshaun Hammonds added 18 points, Tyree Crump chipped in 14 and Derek Ogbeide contributed 12.

The Bulldogs raced to a 12-2 lead less than five minutes into the game and never trailed. Georgia led 43-32 at the intermission following a last-second 3-pointer from Hammonds.

The Bulldogs led by double figures for all but 46 seconds of the second half, with the 19-point margin of victory also representing Georgia's largest lead of the day.

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 was 8-of-13 from the field and 3-of-3 at the line versus the Minutemen. He grabbed 10 defensive rebounds, one less than the UMass roster grabbed as a whole on that end of the floor.

Bulldogs Are Shot Swatters

Georgia ranks among the nation's top shot-blocking teams.

Through games of Jan. 2, Georgia ranked No. 4 nationally in blocked shots, averaging 6.3 rejections per game.

Nicolas Claxton leads the Bulldogs' blockers and ranked No. 8 nationally at 3.1 bpg.

Dogs' Depth Paying Dividends

Georgia's bench has outscored its counterparts in 11 of 12 games...consistently doing so by a significant amount. The Bulldogs' bench has been +10 or more nine times, pushing UGA's scoring margin on bench points to an eye-catching +191 for the season.

Claxton Doing It All For Dogs

Nicolas Claxton is the only player in the Southeastern Conference this season to – in the same game – lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals...and he's done so twice.

The sophomore from Greenville, S.C., native did so Nov. 27 against Kennesaw State with 16 points, 15 boards, four assists, two blocks and two steals. He again did versus Oakland on Dec. 18 with 17 points, 13 boards, three assists, three blocks and one steal.

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	114
Rayshaun Hammonds	43
Teshaun Hightower	42
E'Torrion Wilridge	36
Jordan Harris	34
Tye Fagan	32
Turtle Jackson	30
Tyree Crump	29
Derek Ogbeide	29
Amanze Ngumezi	12
Ignas Sargiūnas	8
JoJo Toppin	7
Christian Harrison	3
Connor O'Neill	2
Mike Edwards	1

Giving Some Credit Where It's Due

A couple of "specialty statistics" common to box scores track points off turnovers and second-chance points.

In an effort to better indicate "hustle stats," the lists below credit the Bulldog who created the opportunity for those points instead of the player who capitalized on it.

For "points off turnovers," the points are awarded to the player whose steal created the subsequent points. A large number of those are credited to the team if a steal did not create the TO.

For "second-chance points," the points are awarded to the player who grabbed the offensive rebound that resulted in those points, not the player who ultimately scored them.

Points Off TOs (who stole it)
Player	No.
Nicolas Claxton	20
Teshaun Hightower	16
Tyree Crump	9
Jordan Harris	9
Rayshaun Hammonds	8
Turtle Jackson	8
E'Torrion Wilridge	7
Tye Fagan	4
Derek Ogbeide	3
Mike Edwards	2
Christian Harrison	2
Ignas Sargiūnas	2
Team	88

2ND-CHANCE POINTS (who boarded it)
Player	No.
Nicolas Claxton	41
Rayshaun Hammonds	27
Derek Ogbeide	26
Tye Fagan	18
Team Rebounds	11
Teshaun Hightower	8
Amanze Ngumezi	8
Jordan Harris	4
Christian Harrison	4
Turtle Jackson	4
Ignas Sargiūnas	4
JoJo Toppin	4
Tyree Crump	3
Connor O'Neill	2
E'Torrion Wilridge	2

Ogbeide Already Ranks Among Bulldogs' Best Boarders Ever

Derek Ogbeide began his senior season with 614 rebounds and ranked No. 17 among the Georgia's career leaders.

Ogbeide has since ascended to No. 12 on that ledger and is just two boards shy of the current No. 11 Trey Thompkins and 14 rebounds away from joining the Bulldogs' top-10 career leaders.

Feel Free To Call Him "Ty-3" Crump

Tyree Crump has scored nearly two-thirds of his career points at UGA on shots from 20-feet, 9-inches from the basket...and beyond.

With a 28 3-pointers this season and 91 for his career, 3-pointers directly account for 273 of Crump's 435 (62.8 percent) points at UGA.

Now 67.9 percent (91-of-134) of his made shots from the floor at UGA are trifectas.

Devils Were Dogs' Second Top-25 Foe

Arizona State represented the second ranked opponent for Georgia this season.

The Bulldogs also faced No. 16 Clemson in the semifinals of the Cayman Islands Classic.

The last time Georgia played two ranked teams prior to the start of SEC play was during 2011-12. That season, the Bulldogs faced No. 1 Indiana (coached by guess who?) and No. 11 UCLA in back-to-back contests of the Progressive Legends Classic in Brooklyn on Nov. 19-20.

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.