Bulldogs Return Home To Face NC Central

Wednesday, December 4

Athens, Ga.

7:00 PM

University of Georgia

North Carolina Central

December 03, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Georgia Basketball Game Notes
Georgia (5-2) vs. N.C. Central (2-5)
Wednesday, December 4 at 7:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. (10,523)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer) | Affiliates
TV: None
Video: SEC Network+ Matt Stewart, play-by-play; Dean Keener, analyst)
Satellite: XM & Internet: 985
Last Meeting: First Meeting

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

Georgia Bulldogs
Coach: Tom Crean
16-23 in 2nd season at UGA
372-254 in 20th season overall
0	Donnell Gresham Jr.	7.7	5.3
6-3; 195; R-Sr.-Grad.; St. Paul, Minn.
4	Tyree Crump	9.3	2.6
6-1; 185; Sr.; Bainbridge, Ga.
5	Anthony Edwards	20.6	5.9
6-5; 225; Fr.; Atlanta, Ga.
20	Rayshaun Hammonds	14.1	8.9
6-9; 235; Jr.; Norcross, Ga.
25	Amanze Ngumezi	6.1	2.4
6-9; 235; Soph.; Savannah, Ga.

No.	Name	PPG	RPG

NC Central Eagles
Coach: LeVelle Moton
175-141 in 11th season at NCCU
175-141 in 11th season overall
2	Jibri Blount	16.3	9.3
6-7; 230; R-Sr.; Pittsburgh, Pa.
11	Randy Miller Jr.	14.3	2.4
6-2; 190; Sr.; Odenton, Md.
12	Jordan Perkins	4.9	3.4
6-1; 190; Jr.; Greensboro, N.C.
13	Justin Whatley	4.8	2.0
6-8; 235; R-Soph,; Chesapeake, Va.
24	Nicholas Fennell	7.5	4.0
6-3; 150; R-Soph,; Bowie, Md.

TEAM COMPARISON

2019-20 STATISTICS	GEORGIA	NC CENTRAL
Points Per Game	84.9	59.6
Opp. Point Per Game	78.9	69.1
Scoring Margin	+6.0	-9.5
Field Goal Pct.	.472	.384
Opp. Field Goal Pct.	.463	.445
3-Point Pct.	.314	.342
3-Pointers Per Game	7.0	6.5
Opp. 3-Point Pct.	.383	.339
Free Throw Pct.	.676	.692
Free Throws Per Game	17.0	12.4
Rebounds Per Game	39.9	32.8
Opp. Rebound Per Game	35.3	34.6
Rebound Margin	+4.6	-1.9
Assists Per Game	15.0	11.1
Turnovers Per Game	14.7	16.9
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.02	0.66
Turnover Margin	+1.4	-1.1
Steals Per Game	9.4	7.8
Blocks Per Game	3.6	2.9

The Starting 5...

Anthony Edwards was named SEC Freshman of the Week and to the all-tourney team of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational after averaging 22.3 ppg in Hawaii.
UGA has opened the season with three 90-plus point outings, the first time the Bulldogs have scored 90 or more three times in a row since Dec. of 2006.
Six Bulldogs scored in double-digit against The Citadel. The last time UGA did so was a 92-62 win over Appalachian State on Dec. 22, 2002.
The point tallies of Anthony Edwards (24) and Sahvir Wheeler (19) in the season opener were the second- and third-best ever by a freshman in their UGA debut.
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.

The Opening Tip

Georgia returns to action in Stegeman Coliseum for the first time two weeks on Wednesday when the Bulldogs host North Carolina Central at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Georgia's last home game was on Nov. 20 when the Bulldogs bested Georgia Tech, 82-78. The win was Georgia's fifth straight over the Yellow Jackets, just the fifth time in 196 all-time meetings that the Bulldogs have produced a five-game winning streak over their archrivals.

Last week, Georgia ventured to the Maui Jim Maui Invitational for the first time ever. The Bulldogs posted a 1-2 record in the 50th state, with setbacks to Dayton and No. 3 Michigan State and a victory over Chaminade. Anthony Edwards earned all-tournament honors after averaging 22.3 points in Maui, including a 37-point outburst against the third-ranked Spartans.

The N.C. Central matchup is one of 14 games the Bulldogs will play this season against teams featured in the final preseason edition of Bracketology released on ESPN.com on Nov. 4.

Promotions

Wednesday's game is "Beat the Stress Night: and should provide for a nice study break for UGA students preparing for Final Exams, which begin on Friday.

It is National Cookie Day and the first 1,250 students will receive a free cookie courtesy of Subway. UGA students who check in using the Commit to the G app are eligible for prizes throughout the game, including tickets to the SEC Football Championship, Apple Air Pods, an Apple Watch, a Nintendo Switch, a Fit Bit, a Roku, Beats Ear Buds, an Echo Show and a Visa Giftcard.

Series History

Tonight's matchup is the first ever between the Bulldogs and the Eagles.

Georgia is 15-0 all-time against teams competing with N.C. Central in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), including a 100-66 victory over Delaware State on Nov. 15.

Entering Tonight's Game . . . Among UGA's career Leaders

Tyree Crump is...
• 2 3FGs from co-No. 12s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison
• 8 3FGs from No. 11 K. Caldwell-Pope
• 6 FGAs from No. 11 Ray Harrison
• 18 FGAs from No. 10 K. Caldwell-Pope

Scouting The Eagles

N.C. Central, which has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons, returns a pair of starters – Randy Miller Jr. and Jordan Perkins – and four letterwinners from last season's team.

Miller, Perkins and Jibri Blount all earned preseason All-MEAC honors.

The Eagles captured the MEAC Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, a first in the conference since the late-1980s.

N.C. Central was picked to repeat at league champions in preseason voting of league coaches and sports information directors. The Eagles and Bethune-Cookman both received eight first-place votes; however, NCCU edged the Wildcats on points awarded for predicted finish. On a side note, Bethune-Cookman is coached by Ryan Ridder, the brother of Georgia graduate assistant Reed Ridder.

Last Time Out...

Anthony Edwards' buzzer-beating 3-pointer lifted Georgia to an 80-77 victory over Chaminade in the Bulldogs' final game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.

Edwards finished the game with 24 points and averaged 22.3 points in a trio of outings in Maui en route to earning a spot on the all-tournament team. Rayshaun Hammonds chipped in a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards against the Silverswords.

Though the Bulldogs led for much of the contest, Georgia could never gain considerable distance from the tournament hosts. The Bulldogs grabbed a 69-60 lead with 8:33 remaining before Chaminade rallied.

The Silverswords eventually knotted the score at 77-77 with 10 seconds remaining before Edwards' long jumper with 0.6 of a second left on the clock.

Edwards Earns SEC Honor

Anthony Edwards was tabbed the SEC's Freshman of the Week on Monday following his performances in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational last Monday-Wednesday.

Most notably, Edwards poured in 37 points against No. 3 Michigan State last Tuesday, including a 33-point explosion in the second half. Edwards' effort equaled the No. 11 single-game scoring tally in Georgia's history and represented the most points by a Bulldog freshman since Jacky Dorsey scored 41 versus LSU on Jan. 20, 1975.

Dogs Prominent In SEC Stats

Entering this week, Anthony Edwards and Rayshaun Hammonds ranked second in the SEC in scoring and rebounding, respectively.

Edwards' 20.6 ppg average trailed Vanderbilt's Aaron Nesmith at 23.7 ppg.

Hammonds, Florida's Kerry Blackshear and Mississippi State's Reggie Perry all were averaging 8.9 rpg. Blackshear's 8.875 rpg was slightly higher than the 8.857 rpg average of Hammonds and Perry.

Dogs Open At A Torrid Pace

Georgia opened the season by scoring 91, 95 and 100 points in the Bulldogs' first three outings. That marked the first time UGA scored 90 or more points in three consecutive games since December 2006.

That season, the Bulldogs defeated Gardner-Webb, 96-67, on Dec. 2; topped No. 16 Gonzaga, 96-83, on Dec. 16; and bested Jacksonville, 93-77, on Dec. 19.

The Collegiate Canine Strikes

All of graduate transfer Donnell Gresham Jr.'s career-high statistics came from his 90 games played during four seasons at Northeastern...until the Georgia Tech game.

Gresham connected on 11-of-13 trips to the free throw line against the Jackets, topping his previous marks.

Gresham scored 13 points versus Tech, his second double-digit output as a Bulldog and his 31st as a collegiate canine.

Gresham notched 29 double-digit scoring performances in his four seasons as a different breed of dog – Northeastern Husky.

Feel Free To Call Him "Ty-3"

Tyree Crump continued a familiar theme to his scoring this season, with 14 of his 22 made field goals coming from behind the 3-point arc. More than two-thirds of Crump's made shots from the floor at UGA have come on shots from 3-point range.

Crump has knocked down 141 3-pointers in his three-plus seasons in Athens. That accounts for 68.1 percent of his 207 made field goals at Georgia.

Among Georgia's career leaders, Crump currently ranks No. 14 in 3-point makes – two away from co-No. 12s Ty Wilson and Ray Harrison – and No. 12 in 3-point takes – six from Harrison at No. 11.

Fagan Perfect In Career-High Day

Tye Fagan scored a career-high 11 points against Dayton in the opening round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in an extremely efficient fashion. Fagan connected on 5-of-5 shots from the field against the Flyers, including his only 3-point attempt on the day.

Before that, Fagan's top offensive performances as a Bulldog were early last season. He notched eight points in three of the first four games of his freshman year – against Temple, Sam Houston State and Illinois State.

Fans Flocking To Stegeman

Georgia has drawn 35,152 fans for its first four games at Stegeman Coliseum this season – the second-best tally in school history.

Georgia's best four-game home attendance mark to begin a season was 38,741 in 1981-82, Dominique Wilkins' third and final season at UGA. At that point, the Coliseum's seating capacity was 11,200 (it's 10,523 today) and that quartet of outings included outings against Georgia Tech, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Last season, the Bulldogs broke their total attendance record by more than 9,000 fans.

Dogs' Freshmen Among UGA's Best

Georgia's recruiting class was consistently ranked among the nation's top-10 groups – No. 5 by ESPN.com, No. 6 by rivals.com and No. 10 by 247Sports.com.

Headlining the class is Anthony Edwards. The Atlanta native, who tabbed the nation's best prospect by some, announced his commitment on national television on Feb. 11. He is the Bulldogs' highest rated recruit ever.

Dominique Wilkins was the most hyped recruit in Georgia history in 1979. Individual rankings for that class are believed to be unavailable. It also featured future stars such as Ralph Sampson, Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Clark Kellogg and Sam Bowie.

In the internet age, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the highest ranked player in the 247Sports.com composite to enroll at UGA at No. 12 in 2011. Louis Williams signed with the Bulldogs as the No. 6 prospect in the 2005 composite but opted to enter the NBA Draft.

The Bulldogs' highest recruiting class ever was a quintet listed at No. 2 in 1992 when UGA inked four of the nation's top-100 prospects – Shandon Anderson, Terrell Bell, Pertha Robinson and McDonald's All-American Carlos Strong – in the fall. Georgia then added Cleveland Jackson, the national Junior College Player of the Year, in the spring signing period.

Additional top classes at Georgia include those in 1979 and 1980 which featured four McDonald's All-Americans between them. The Bulldogs signed Wilkins and Terry Fair in 1979 and followed that with Vern Fleming and James Banks a year later.

UGA's Freshman Class Ranks Among Largest In The Nation

The Bulldogs' class of nine freshmen ranks as the third-largest in D-I hoops this season.

Navy, TCU and Utah sport a nation-leading 11 freshmen on their rosters. Air Force has 10 freshmen. In addition to Georgia, Louisville and Memphis also have nine freshmen.

On this list, "freshman" is defined as a player who is a freshman eligibility wise who is competing at that school for the first time this season...so there are some redshirts.

A Historic String Of Success

The Bulldogs' five-game winning streak over Georgia Tech marks only the fifth time in 196 meetings that Georgia has captured five consecutive victories over the Yellow Jackets on the hardwood.

The Bulldogs' longest streak in the series is seven consecutive wins twice in spans from 1908-21 and 1980-85. The second-longest is five games three times, covering 1929-31 and 1939-41 and the current 2015-19 stretch.

The first four wins over Tech in the current streak were by double figures. The only other time UGA posted four consecutive, double-figure Ws over GT was more than a century ago between 1908-09 and 1913-14.

The past two seasons have provided signature moments for Georgia's seven four-year seniors.

Prior to last December, only four four-year letterwinners for the Bulldogs finished their careers with a perfect record against Tech – James Banks, Vern Fleming, Richard Corhen and Gerald Crosby.

That fraternity more than doubled when Mike Edwards, Turtle Jackson, Derek Ogbeide, Connor O'Neill and E'Torrion Wilridge joined the fold at McCamish Pavilion last year and added two more brothers in 2019 in Tyree Crump and Jordan Harris.

It should be noted that UGA and GT played two or more times every season from 1924-82. Since then, they have met once per year, making an undefeated run a little less taxing.

Dogs Dish The Ball Against DSU

Georgia recorded 30 assists on the Bulldogs' 40 made baskets in their 100-66 win over Delaware State on Nov. 15.

That was the most assists by Georgia since the Bulldogs had 32 against South Carolina State on Nov. 21, 2006.

Six Double-Digit Bulldogs

A half-dozen Georgia players posted double-figure scoring outputs against The Citadel on Nov. 12 – the first time six Bulldogs scored 10 or more points in just under 17 years. Anthony Edwards had 29 points; Tyree Crump and Donnell Gresham Jr. added 13 apiece; and Rayshaun Hammonds, Amanze Ngumezi and Sahvir Wheeler each chipped in 10.

Prior to that, you had to go back to a 92-62 win over Appalachian State on Dec. 22, 2002 to find a contest with six Bulldogs in double figures. In that game, Steve Thomas scored 18 points, followed by Ezra Williams (13), Chris Daniels (12), Jarvis Hayes (11), Rashad Wright (11) and Jonas Hayes (10).

Earliest. Opener. Ever.

The Bulldogs' Nov. 5 contest against Western Carolina was the earliest opening contest in Georgia's 115 seasons of basketball. The previous mark for an initial outing was against Wofford on Nov. 8, 2013.

Edwards, Wheeler Star In Debut

Anthony Edwards and Sahvir Wheeler poured in 24 and 19 points, respectively, in the season opener against Western Carolina. Those tallies represent the second- and third-most points ever by a freshman in their first game in a Bulldog uniform as outlined below.

Edwards came within a bucket of Dominique Wilkins' school record against Troy on Nov. 30, 1979.

Since NCAA rules change to allow freshmen to compete in basketball beginning with the 1972-73 season, 23 Bulldogs have scored in double figures during their first collegiate contest at UGA.

Top Tallies In First Game At UGA
Year	Player	Points
1979	Dominique Wilkins	26
2019	Anthony Edwards	24
1979	Terry Fair	19
2019	Sahvir Wheeler	19
1998	D.A. Layne	18
2007	Jeremy Price	18
2004	Sundiata Gaines	17
2017	Rayshaun Hammonds	17
2011	Kentavious Caldwell-Pope	15