Men's Basketball Begins 121st Season against Bellarmine

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (0-0) vs. Bellarmine (0-0)
Date: Monday, November 3
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Location: Athens, Ga.
TV: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 386 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5

Georgia christens its 121st basketball season on Monday by hosting Bellarmine in the second game of a doubleheader at Stegeman Coliseum also featuring UGA's Lady Bulldogs vs. Alabama State
Georgia is coming off its best season in a decade, which culminated in the Bulldogs earning their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2015 and reaching the 20-win plateau for the second straight year.
Mike White enters the Bellarmine contest one victory shy of his 300th career win. White's 56 at UGA represent the most ever by a Georgia men's basketball head coach in his first three in Athens.
The Bulldogs are riding a 27-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents at Stegeman Coliseum and are 41-13 (.759) at home under Mike White.
Georgia defeated Georgia State and Troy in a pair of preseason exhibitions. Two Bulldogs scored in double figures in both games – Jeremiah Wilkinson (17 vs. GSU, 13 vs. TU) and Blue Cain (13 vs. GSU, 11 vs. TU) – while Kanon Catchings paced Georgia on the boards (nine vs. GSU, eight vs. TU).

The Opening Tip

The Georgia Bulldogs will christen their 2025-26 campaign on Monday by hosting Bellarmine at Stegeman Coliseum at approximately 7:30 p.m. The matchup is the second of a season-opening doubleheader which also will feature the Georgia Lady Bulldogs against Alabama State at 5:00 p.m.

Georgia is looking to continue the impressive and consistent improvement the Bulldogs have shown under head coach Mike White.

In his first season, the Bulldogs upped their regular-season win total from 2021-22 by 10 victories, the second-largest increase of any Power conference program. In 2034-24, Georgia earned its first postseason bid since 2017 and while advancing to the semifinals of the NIT, reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2016. Last season, the Bulldogs earned their first NCAA Tournament bid in a decade and again posted 20 victories

That success includes 56 victories in White's first three season, the most wins a UGA men's basketball coach in his first trio of campaigns ever..

Bulldogs Take On Bellarmine For First Time

Monday's matchup with the Bellarmine will be the first ever between UGA and BU.

Georgia is 25-3 all-time against the programs currently competing with Bellarmine in the Atlantic Sun Conference – 12-0 vs. Jacksonville; 7-3 vs. Stetson; 2-0 vs. Eastern Kentucky and North Florida; and 1-0 vs. Austin Peay and Lipscomb, .

Scouting The Knights

Doug Davenport will be making his debut as Bellarmine's head coach against Georgia. He is no stranger to the Knights, however. Davenport played for Bellarmine from 2006-10, is the son of previous head coach Scott Davenport and has been a member of the BU staff for the nine seasons.

Bellarmine was 5-26 last season, including a 2-16 mark in ASUN outings. The Knights' roster features seven returnees – including starters Tyler Doyle, Kenyon Goodin and Jack Karasinski – and nine newcomers – four transfers and five freshman. Karasinski was BU's leading scorer last season and ranked No. 7 in the ASun at 15.4 ppg.

Bellarmine won its only preseason exhibition, 83-57 over Division III Centre last Wednesday (Oct. 29). A pair of transfers led the Knights as Donovan Hunter and Brian Waddell scored 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Scott Davenport retired following last season after an illustrious career. A two-time Hugh Durham Award as the nation's top mid-major coach, he is BU's all-time winningest coach at 426-197 (.684). Davenport was the Division II National Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading the Knights to a national title. Bellarmine also reached the D-II Final Four in 2012, 2015 and 2017. After the program ascended to Division I in 2020, Davenport led the Knights to the ASUN Tournament title in 2022.

Last Time Out

Kanon Catchings' posted team-high tallies of 15 points and eight rebounds to lead Georgia to an 81-65 victory over Troy in an exhibition outing on Oct. 26.

The Bulldogs seized control in the first half and built a 40-22 lead at the intermission. The Trojans opened the second stanza on a 19-7 surge to trim that margin to 47-41 with 12:22 remaining.

Catchings scored seven points and assisted another bucket in a span of just 87 seconds to ignite a 14-2 run that pushed Georgia's lead back to18 points at 61-43.

Three more Bulldogs scored in double figures, with Blue Cain adding 13 points and Justin Bailey and Somto Cyril chipping in 11 apiece.

"That's what you see every day with Kanon," head coach Mike White said. "He's a developing player on the glass and play-making for others and defending. He's blocking shots and impacting the game positively in other ways than making jump shots and attacking the rim. He's a really gifted, effortless shot-maker. He can rise up above you and shoot it as if it's not contested because he's 6-9, plus he's got a really high quick release."

Bulldogs Sport Strong Record In Initial Outings

Georgia has compiled an 86-34 (.717) record in season openers during the Bulldogs' 120 seasons of basketball. That includes a 39-5 (.886) mark in season openers at Stegeman Coliseum.

Since Stegeman was christened late in the 1963-64 season, the Bulldogs are 56-6 (.903) in their first home game of each season.

Georgia's most significant win in a season opener at Stegeman also was its first season opener in the arena. The Bulldogs bested No. 13 North Carolina, 64-61, in their first game of the 1964-65 season on Dec. 3 1964.

Mike White In Season Openers

Mike White has a 10-4 mark in season openers during his coaching career.

White was 2-2 in initial outings at Louisiana Tech and then 6-1 in the first contests at Florida. He is 2-1 in his two openers with the Bulldogs.

Preseason Analytics Like the Bulldogs

Coming off its best season in a decade, Georgia begins the 2025-26 campaign with its highest preseason projections ever among two of college basketball most popular metrics.

The Bulldogs are listed at No. 32 according to BartTorvik.com and No. 44 by KenPom.com as outlined below.

In Torvik projections dating back to 2008, Georgia's previous preseason high was No. 38 last November.

In KenPom's predictions, which began in 2002, the Bulldogs' best preseason listing was No. 27 in 2014-15.

Another metric, EvanMiya.com, lists Georgia at No. 40 in its preseason projections. That site also ranks individual players and believes the Bulldogs have the deepest roster in the SEC. Georgia has nine players ranked in EvanMiya's top 551 players in the country. That ties Vanderbilt for the most players in that range. Trailing the Dogs and the Dores are Arkansas and Kentucky with eight; Florida, Oklahoma and Texas with seven; Mississippi State, Missouri and Texas A&M with six; and Alabama and LSU with five.

Recent Metrics

Top-10 AP Opponents
	Torvik		KenPom
Season	Pre	Post	Pre	Post
2019-20	58	88	55	95
2020-21	104	93	95	95
2021-22	237	193	159	219
2022-23	126	159	93	154
2023-24	88	73	57	84
2024-25	38	34	65	38
2025-26	32		44

A "Stegtacular" Home Court Advantage

Georgia's home court advantage? It's real and it's Stegtacular.

The Bulldogs were 15-3 in Athens last season, matching the program record for home wins in a single season. Georgia also won 15 home games during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 campaigns; however, those tallies include an NIT victory.

The Bulldogs won their first 11 home contests, building a 13-game home winning streak dating back to the 2023-24 seasons. After producing just eight double-digit home winning streaks in Georgia's first 116 seasons of basketball, the Bulldogs have produced three double-digit winning streaks at Stegeman during Mike White's three seasons alone.

White's success at Stegeman is not confined to his UGA tenure. He was 7-1 in Athens as a visiting head coach, leading Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and compiling a 6-1 mark at Florida from 2015-22.

With a 41-13 home mark since becoming Georgia's coach, White is a combined 48-14 (.774) in Stegeman. He is a perfect 27-0 versus non-conference competition at home with the Bulldogs.

Georgia opens the 2025-26 campaign with a two-game winning streak at Stegeman. That began with an 88-83 upset of No. 3 Florida on Feb. 25 and continued with a 79-68 decision over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale.

Thelen Provides One Association With Bellarmine

While Georgia has never played Bellarmine before, there is one tie between the two programs – Jake Thelen.

Thelen started every game he played in three seasons at Bellarmine from 2012-15 and helped the Knights compile a 78-20 record, reach the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and advance to the Final Four in 2015. Thelen was a consensus first-team All-American and named the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Player of the Year in 2015.

Thelen served as Georgia's Director of Basketball Operations for three seasons. He was 25 when he joined the Bulldogs' staff in 2018, Thelen the nation's youngest "DOBO" at a Power 5 school. He is currently the head coach at Covington Catholic High School in Covington, Ky., across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

View the full game notes PDF.

University of Georgia Athletics

Men's Basketball Begins 121st Season against Bellarmine

Players Mentioned

Justin Bailey

Blue Cain

Kanon Catchings

Jeremiah Wilkinson

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