MBB Game Notes: Dogs To Face No. 12/11 Canes In Baha Mara Opener

Friday, November 17

Nassau, Bahamas

3:30

University of Georgia

Miami (Fla.)

MBB Game Notes: Dogs To Face No. 12/11 Canes In Baha Mara Opener

November 16, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (2-1) vs. No. 12/11 Miami (3-0))
Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship Semifinal
Friday, November 17 || 3:30 p.m. ET
Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center (2,000), Nassau, Bahamas
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (Flagship: WSB AM 750); (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, color analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer) | Affiliates
TV: CBS Sports Network (Chris Sylvester play-by-play; Kyle Macy, color analyst; Sam Hyman, sideline reporter)
Video Stream: cbssports.com
Audio Stream: georgiadogs.com
Satellite: SiriusXM 387
History: UGA leads, 2-1 (Full History)
Last Meeting: UGA, 69-67, on 12/22/92

Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach: Mike White Record at UGA: 18-17 (2nd season) Career Record: 261-145 (13th season)				Miami Hurricanes Head Coach: Jim Larrañaga Record at Miami: 258-149 (13th season) Career Record: 728-483 (40th season)
INDIVIDUAL		TEAM	STATISTIC	TEAM		INDIVIDUAL
Abdur-Rahim	16.0	71.7	Points Per Game	91.7	20.7	Poplar
DeLoach	.500	.391	Field Goal Pct.	.545	.609	Joseph
Abdur-Rahim	2.3	7.3	3-Pointers Per Game	11.7	4.7	Poplar
Abdur-Rahim	.412	.289	3-Point Pct.	.500	.700	Poplar
Abdur-Rahim	.852	.671	Free Throw Pct.	.787	1.000	Poplar
Tchewa	6.0	38.7	Rebounds Per Game	38.0	11.0	Omier
Hill/Thomasson	3.0	11.3	Assists Per Game	18.7	5.7	Pack
Hill/Thomasson	2.25	0.97	Assist-to-Turnover Ratio	1.37	3.67	Cleveland
Demary Jr.	2.3	8.0	Steals Per Game	10.7	3.0	Joseph/Omier
Cain	1.0	3.0	Blocks Per Game	7.7	1.7	Joseph
Thomasson	30.4		Minutes Per Game		34.5	Pack

The Starting 5...

Georgia faces Miami on Friday in the opening round of the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. The contest is one of 13 regular-season games – 42.9 percent of the schedule – the Bulldogs will play against teams featured in the final preseason edition of CBS Sports' Bracketology.
Georgia is the nation's only Power conference team to: 1) open its season with back-to-back games versus Power conference programs; and 2) face four Power conference foes in its first five outings.
Georgia's freshman and transfer recruiting classes both were ranked as high as No. 11. The Bulldogs were only one of three teams to have both of those groups ranked top-20 nationally by On3.com.
In Mike White's first season at Georgia, the Bulldogs upped their win total from the 2021-22 campaign by 10 victories. That equaled the second-biggest increase in regular-season wins by any Power conference men's basketball program.
Last season, Georgia became just the sixth SEC team in the last decade to up its win total by double digits in the regular season from the previous campaign.

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs continue their extremely challenging schedule to open the 2023-24 season on Friday when they face the Miami Hurricanes in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship. UGA and No. 12/11 UM will square off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon in the Baha Mar Convention, Arts and Entertainment Center in Nassau, Bahamas.

Georgia is the only Power conference team in the nation that: 1) opened the season with back-to-back matchups against other Power conference programs; and 2) will face Power conference opposition in four of its first five games.

The Bulldogs fell to Oregon in the season opener last Monday before rebounding to defeat Wake Forest a week ago in Athens. Following today's matchup with Miami, Georgia will take on either Kansas State or Providence on Sunday. The Bulldogs' "power play" doesn't stop in Nassau. Georgia will meet Florida State in Tallahassee on Nov. 29 and host Georgia Tech on Dec. 2. All told, six of the Bulldogs' first nine games are against Power conference competition.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim paces Georgia offensively at 16.0 ppg and has led the Bulldogs in the scoring column in twice in three games to date, after doing so once in 32 outings last season.

Miami, Final Four team last season, also is opening its campaign with plenty of Power conference opponents. The Hurricanes will play four "PC" foes in their first six games – UCF, Georgia, Kentucky and Notre Dame. UM is one of just three schools to play four Power conference teams in its first six games, joining Georgia and Florida.

Scouting The Canes

Miami is 3-0 on the young season and ranked No. 11 and No. 12 in this week's editions of the coaches and AP polls, respectively. Jim Larrañaga is in his 40th season as a head coach and sports a 728-483 overall record and a 258-149 mark in 12-plus campaigns in Coral Gables.

Miami returns three starters – juniors Nijel Pack (13.6 ppg), Norchad Omier (13.1 ppg and 10.0 rpg) and Wooga Poplar (8.4 ppg) – and seven total letterwinners from last year's team which advanced to the NCAA Final Four. Six newcomers – five freshmen and a junior transfer – round out the Hurricanes' roster.

All five Hurricane starters are scoring at a double-figure pace this season. Poplar is averaging a team-high 20.7 ppg, largely due to connecting on a white-hot 70.0 percent (14-of-20) 3-pointers. In addition, Matthew Cleveland is chipping in 17.0 ppg, Omier adds 15.0 ppg and a team-high 11.0 rpg, Bensley Joseph contributes 12.0 ppg and Pack is producing 12.0 ppg and team-best 5.7 apg.

Series History With Miami

Georgia is 2-1 all-time against Miami entering Friday afternoon's first-ever neutral site matchup with the Hurricanes.

UGA and UM last met on Dec. 22, 1992, when Ty Wilson's 15-point performance led a quartet of Bulldogs in double figures in a 69-67 victory. Georgia rallied from a nine-point, 38-29 halftime deficit by outscoring the Hurricanes 40-29 following the intermission.

The Bulldogs and Hurricanes split their first two matchups. Despite a 32-point effort from Georgia's Joe Ward, Miami defeated the Bulldogs, 81-78, in the initial meeting in the series on Nov. 30, 1985, as part of the AMI Miami Classic. The other matchup was a 78-60 Georgia win in Miami behind 18 points from Litterial Green on Dec. 14, 1990.

Last Time Out

Jabri Abdur-Rahim's 13-point performance paced Georgia en route to a 64-54 decision over N.C. Central last Sunday at Stegeman Coliseum.

Justin Hill chipped in 11 points and Silas Demary Jr. added 10 points and a season-high four steals. Abdur-Rahim connected on only 1-of-5 shots from the field but was 10-of-11 at the line, including 8-of-8 in the second half.

Georgia trailed for only 23 seconds of the game's first 24:12 before N.C. Central used a 7-0 run to grab a 32-29 lead. A 3-pointer from Blue Cain ignited a 19-4 surge as the Bulldogs regained control.

"(We) found a way," head coach Mike White said. "Found a way against a program that as a staff we have a lot of respect for for the winning they've produced over a long period of time. Coach (LeVelle) Moton and his staff do a tremendous job. I thought they came in here and were really prepared. They dictated tempo. I thought they played incredibly hard and physical, took the fight to us, and we are fortunate to come away with the 'W.'"

Bulldogs Flip The Specialty Scripts

After being outperformed by Oregon in all four specialty stats in the season opener, the Bulldogs have done considerably better against Wake Forest and N.C. Central.

The most dramatic difference is closest to the basket. After the Ducks scored 28 more points in the paint, 48-20, the Bulldogs bested the Demon Deacons, 46-26, in paint points and followed that with a 26-18 edge over N.C. Central. That -28 is now +8 on the season.

Against Oregon, Georgia was -8 on points off of turnovers, -6 on second chance points and -6 on bench scoring. Two games later, the Bulldogs have season tallies of +13 (TOs), +3 (2nd) and +21 (bench) in those statistics, respectively.

BEWARE: Barking Bench Means Bulldogs May Bite

Getting "three stops in a row" is an extremely popular analytical indicator quoted by basketball coaches competing on just about every level. At Georgia, a sequence of three stops in a row is recorded as a "bite" for the Bulldogs.

If you notice various members of the bench barking loudly while Georgia is on the defensive end of the floor, that indicates that the Bulldogs have already posted two consecutive defensive stops and are just shy of taking a "bite" out of their opponent's offensive efforts.

A Challenging Slate Out Of The Gate

Georgia is the only Power conference team that opened the 2023-24 season with back-to-back outings against other Power conference programs. The Bulldogs began the year against Oregon from the Pac 12 in a Naismith Hall of Fame Series date at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before hosting Wake Forest from the ACC in the home opener.

The Power heavy schedule doesn't stop there. All told, Georgia will play four of its first five, five of its first seven and six of its first nine games against Power conference foes.

Following the win over N.C. Central, Georgia will face Miami, a 2023 Final Four participant, in the opening round of the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship and will play either Kansas State or Providence in its second outing in the Bahamas. In fact, Miami, Georgia's opening round opponent in Nassau, and Florida are the only other teams in the nation with a quartet of Power conference matchups in their first six games.

The Bulldogs other two Power conference dates in non-conference action are both versus ACC competition – at Florida State on Nov. 29 and versus Georgia Tech on Dec. 5.

All told, 24 of Georgia's 31 regular-season games (.774) are against Power conference teams.

Georgia Impressive In Stegeman Openers

With last Friday's win over Wake Forest, Georgia improved to 55-6 in home openers at Stegeman Coliseum.

The matchup with the Demon Deacons represented the first time since the 2017-18 season that Georgia's home opener was not also the initial outing of the season.

The Bulldogs are now 17-1 in Stegeman openers that were not season openers.

Cain, Demary Make Their Marks In Collegiate Debuts

Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. made key contributions for Georgia in their collegiate debuts against Oregon in the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic.

Demary became the first true freshman to get a starting nod for the Bulldogs in a season opener since Anthony Edwards in 2019. The Raleigh, N.C., native produced a thorough linescore of eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Cain became the first true freshman to notch a double-digit scoring output in the season opener since Edwards and Sahvir Wheeler did so in 2019. Cain posted 12 points off the bench by connecting on 5-of-11 shots from the field and matched Demary for the team high with two steals.

Georgia Signs Top-10 Prospect Asa Newell

Georgia opened the NCAA's early signing period with a bang on Nov. 6 when the Bulldogs signed Asa Newell, the No. 8 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2024.

Newell is the fifth top-100 prospect to sign with Georgia in the last two classes.

The younger brother of current Bulldog Jaden Newell, Asa is a 6-10, 215-pound power forward and a consensus five-star recruit. Asa is the second-highest ESPN.com and third-highest 247Sports.com ranked recruit to sign with Georgia during the internet era. He trails only Anthony Edwards (No. 4 in 2019) on the ESPN.com ledger and only Edwards (No. 2) and Lou Williams (No.6 in 2005) in the 247Sports.com composite. Edwards went on to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, while Williams elected to turn pro and has enjoyed a 17-year NBA career that includes three NBA Sixth Man of the Year awards.

Newell was a member of USA National Teams for FIBA World Cup tournaments during the past two summers, helping the USA capture a Gold Medal at the 2022 U17 tourney in Malaga, Spain and finish fourth at the 2023 U19 event in Debrecen, Hungary.

Newell is in his second season at Montverde Academy in Montverde, Fla., which finished 23-3 and finished No. 2 nationally in the SCNext Top 25 high school boys' basketball rankings last season.

Both Packs of New Bulldogs Highly Rated

Georgia was one of three programs with both its freshman and transfer recruiting classes ranked among the nation's top-20 groups by On3.com. The Bulldogs' five transfer were tabbed as at No. 11, while the freshmen were featured at No. 18.

All four of Georgia's freshmen were rated as top-100 prospects in the Class of 2023 by various recruiting services. The highest rankings were: Blue Cain at No. 53 by On3.com, Silas Demary Jr. at No. 56 by Rivals.com, Dylan James at No. 78 in the 247Sports.com and Mari Jordan at No. 87 by ESPN.com.

As a class, the freshman were ranked No. 11 by Rivals.com, No. 15 in the 247Sports.com composite, No. 18 by On3.com and No. 20 by 247Sports.com. Georgia's freshmen were the second-highest ranked class in the SEC 247Sports.com's composite ledger of the average ranking of those recruiting services. Ten of 14 SEC schools were ranked among the nation's top-50 freshman classes in the 247Sports.com composite.

A "March Madness" Pedigree

Seven Georgia players have played in the NCAA Tournament at previous schools.

Third-year Bulldog Jabri Abdur-Rahim was a member of Virginia's roster in 2021 when the Cavaliers won the ACC regular-season title en route to March Madness.

Frank Anselem-Ibe, Justin Hill and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, who are in their second seasons in Athens, also reached the Big Dance. Anselem-Ibe helped Syracuse reach the 2021 Sweet 16. Hill led Longwood to the 2022 tournament. Moncrieffe played in the 2021 NCAA Tournament while at Syracuse.

Georgia newcomers Jalen DeLoach, RJ Melendez and RJ Sunahara bring NCAA Tournament experience as well. DeLoach helped VCU earn an NCAA bid last spring. Melendez was on Illinois teams that reached the 2022 and 2023 tourneys. Sunahara played in a trio of Division II tournaments at Nova Southeastern, including the Sharks perfect 36-0 march to the 2023 national title.

In addition, Russel Tchewa's Texas Tech team was on the NCAA bubble in 2020 before the championship was canceled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunahara Takes One For the Team...accepts new nickname

It's not uncommon for basketball teams to have multiple players with the same first name, but that usually occurs with a rather common name. When a pair of "RJ's" transferred to Georgia during the offseason, it left the coaching staff scratching their heads.

"We're going to have to figure this out," Mike White quipped to the media when discussing the Bulldogs' summer trip to Italy.

It didn't take long for RJ Sunahara to become "Sunny"...at least while he's on the basketball court. Even though his name is pronounced "soon-ah-hara," the 2023 Division II National Player of the Year is now "Sunny." Actually, the nickname fits quite well with Sunahara's Hawaiian heritage.

Bulldogs Tops A-Sun Favorite EKU In Exhibition

Six Bulldogs scored in double figures at Georgia defeated Eastern Kentucky, 99-82, in an exhibition game benefiting the American Red Cross at Stegeman Coliseum on Oct. 30.

EKU returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from a 23-14. The Colonels are the preseason favorite of both media and coaches to win the Atlantic Sun Conference this season and have been a consistent member of ESPN's Bracketology throughout the summer and preseason.

RJ Melendez Georgia with 21 points and added nine rebounds, while Russell Tchewa notched a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. In addition, Noah Thomasson added 15 points and Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. all chipped in 12.

As a team, Georgia shot 54.8 percent from the field.

"I thought we did some good things and we've got a lot to work on," head coach Mike White said. "I was very pleased with their tenacity defensively, and progression and tempo offensively. It was a really fast-paced game."

Georgia opened the game with a 6-0 surge 73 seconds into the contest and lead throughout the entire opening half. The Bulldogs kept the Colonels at bay, ending the half on a 13-3 run and carrying a 21-point lead headed into the locker room. From there, Georgia controlled the second half and was ahead by as many as 24 points.

Forza Dogs...Georgia's Tour Of Italy

Georgia got a jump on preparations for the 2023-24 season during the summer when the Bulldogs ventured to Italy for a three-game international tour from July 20-29.

On the the hardwood, Georgia defeated different teams from the Italian Club Orange Basket Bassano by 39.3 points per game. Each Bulldog dressed out for two of the three games, with nine different players recording one or more double-figure scoring outputs.

Away from basketball, Georgia spent four days in Rome, one day in Florence and two days in Sorrento. The team toured the traditional sites such as Vatican City, The Colosseum, The Forum, Pompeii, Amalfi and Positano. The Bulldogs also enjoyed a cooking class where they prepared – and then dined on – their own pasta and tiramisu.

Designer Genes

We believe that Georgia Basketball's family tree may be the most athletic in the country. Almost every Bulldog has immediate family who competed at the collegiate or professional levels, including:

Jabri Abdur-Rahim – his dad, Shareef, was a 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, 2002 NBA All-Star and current president of the NBA's G League; and five of his uncles (Amir, Muhammad, Tahir, Bilal and Malik) played college basketball.

Blue Cain – his mom, the former Myriah Lonergan, played basketball at George Washington and is in GWU's Athletic Hall of Fame; his dad, Chris, played golf at Duke; and his sister, Sophie, is a senior setter on Appalachian State's volleyball team.

Jalen DeLoach – his brother, Kalen, is in his third season as a starting linebacker at Florida State; and his sister, Taylor, was a Big Ten champion in the 400-meter relay at Ohio State.

Silas Demary Jr. – his dad, Silas Sr., played at Virginia State and was the 2005 Arena Football League Defensive Player of the Year for the L.A. Avengers.

Justin Hill – his dad, Keith, played basketball at Michigan State and New Mexico State, where he helped the Aggies reach the NCAA Tourney; his mom, the former Donna Holt, played basketball at Virginia, where she was 1988 ACC Player of the Year and was named to the ACC's Silver Anniversary team in 2002;

Dylan James – his brother, Dorian, is a redshirt senior of North Florida's basketball team; and two additional siblings – brother Darius and sister Charla – played basketball at Lynn University.

Markel Jennings – is distant cousins on his dad's side with NFL players Vernon and Vontae Davis, who both were multiple Pro Bowl selections.

Brandon Klatsky – his dad, Brian, played college basketball at DIII Skidmore; and his brother, Alex, is a redshirt senior on Florida's basketball team.

Jaden Newell – his brother, Asa, the No. 8 overall prospect in 247Sports.com Class of 2024 composite rankings, has signed to join him in Athens next season.

RJ Sunahara – his dad, Reed, was a two-time All-American in volleyball at UCLA and is the current women's volleyball coach at West Virginia; his mom, the former Laura Rekstis, played volleyball at Cincinnati; his grandfather, Peter Rekstis, played football at Cincinnati; his uncle, Chet Moeller, played football at Navy and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Noah Thomasson – his dad, Leon, played football at Texas Southern and for the Atlanta Falcons; and he's distant cousins with Spud Webb on his mom's size.