Bulldogs Face UNC Friday Night in the Dean Dome - University of Georgia Athletics

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (3-0) vs. North Carolina (3-0)
Date: Friday, November 13, 2026
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Dean Smith Center (21,750)
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
TV: ESPN2 (Kevin Brown, play-by-play; LaPhonso Ellis, analyst)
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network; Sirius 256 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix

The Starting 5

Georgia travels to Chapel Hill on Friday for the Bulldogs' first road contest of the 2026-27 season against North Carolina at the Dean Dome.
Though the Tar Heels own a 13-5 advantage in the all-time series, Georgia won the most significant of those matchups, an 82-77 decision in the 1983 Elite Eight at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
Of the 31,600 NCAA men's and women's basketball players this season, James Scott's career field goal percentage of .765 (254-of-332) is the highest among players who have met the NCAA minimum of 240 shots from the field to be ranked among career leaders.
Blue Cain has now started 77 consecutive games for Georgia dating back to the final eight games of his freshman season in 2024.
The Bulldogs posted a school-record 22 regular-season victories last season, reaching the 20-win plateau for the third straight campaign and securing a second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.

Keeping An Eye On…

Entering Today's Game - Among UGA's Career Leaders

Blue Cain is...
• 2 points from No. 37 Terranced Woodbury
• 8 points from No. 36 Jumaine Jones
• 18 points from No. 35 Joe Ward
• 28 points from No. 34 Travis Leslie
• 3 3FGs from No. 12 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• 26 3FGs from No. 11 Jody Patton
• 13 3FGAs from No. 10 Bernard Davis
• 14 steals from No. 16 Willie Anderson

THE OPENING TIP

Georgia makes its first road trip of the 2026-27 campaign on Friday, venturing to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina at the Dean Dome in a matchup of teams off to 3-0 starts.

The Bulldogs bested N.C. Central, Presbyterian and Florida Gulf Coast to christen their season. Those victories extended Georgia's winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum versus non-conference foes to 39 games, which ranks seventh nationally.

These Bulldogs are looking to continue the impressive and consistent growth under head coach Mike White, and possibly make some program history this winter.

Georgia reached the 20-win mark during each of the past three seasons, just the third time the Bulldogs strung together a trio of years hitting that plateau (joining 1996-98 and 2014-16). Georgia has never produced four straight 20-victory tallies.

The Bulldogs earned bids to the 2025 and 2026 NCAA Tournaments, just the fourth time they've secured back-to-back March Madness invitations (along with 1990-91, 1996-97 and 2001-02). Georgia has never appeared in three consecutive NCAA tourneys.

SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS

North Carolina improved to 3-0 on the young season with a 76-63 victory over Wyoming on Tuesday night. The Tar Heels' other wins are over Western Carolina and Wofford.

First-year head coach Michael Malone's squad sports a trio of Tar Heels scoring at a double-digit pace and five more players contributing between 7.3-8.3 points per game.

Terrence Brown leads Carolina on the offensive end, scoring 16.3 ppg, while Matt Able and Maximo Adams chip in 11.7 and 11.3 ppg, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina owns a 13-5 advantage in all-time meetings between UGA and UNC, including an 8-0 mark in Chapel Hill. Half of those contests were between 1917-32.

UGA and UNC last met on Nov. 18, 1998, when No. 11 Carolina defeated the Bulldogs, 65-58, at the Dean Dome.

Georgia did win the most meaningful matchup, and 82-77 decision in the 1983 NCAA East Regional final at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. James Banks was named the Regional's Most Outstanding Player after scoring 20 points in the Bulldogs' second-consecutive upset.

Georgia defeated the second-seeded Tar Heels after knocking off top-seeded St. John's, 70-67, in the "Sweet 16."

The Bulldogs were then the "other Cinderella" of the Final Four at The Pit in Albuquerque, dropping a 67-60 decision to N.C. State two days before Lorenzo Charles' improbable buzzer-beating game winner against Houston.

Georgia's Lady Bulldogs also reached the 1983 Final Four, making Georgia the first school to have both teams reach the NCAA Final Four in the same season.

LAST TIME OUT

Four Bulldogs scored 13 points apiece to lead Georgia in an 80-72 win over Florida Gulf Coast at Stegeman Coliseum on Monday night. Blue Cain, Kanon Catchings, Marcus "Smurf" Millender and Kareem Stagg all scored 13 points for Georgia.

A see-saw first half saw two ties and seven lead changes. Georgia led by three at the intermission and throughout the entire second stanza despite a pair of dramatic runs. The Bulldogs opened the period with a 19-2 spurt to go up 63-43. The margin bulged to 23 points before FGCU responded with a 23-4 surge to pull within 72-68 with 6:12 remaining. An Andrew Osasuyi stickback ignited an 8-0 effort by Georgia to regain a 12-point lead.

In a statistical rarity, the Bulldogs' defense forced six team turnovers – four shot clock violations and a pair of 5-second and 10-second counts.

"Our mantra in this program is growth every single day," head coach Mike White said. "We have got to get better tomorrow and we have got to learn from this, but we got better tonight because we showed good glimpses."

AMERICA'S MOST ACCURATE SHOOTER

Shoutout to Jenn Rodgers at the NCAA for determining that as of Wednesday there were 31,600 men's (15,833) and women's (15,767) players on Division I, II and III basketball teams this season.

Why is that important? Because Georgia's James Scott has the highest career field goal percentage of all of those guys and girls who have met the NCAA minimum of 240 shots from the floor to be listed among active career leaders. Scott has connected on 254 of his 332 shots during his collegiate career – including all eight this season – giving him a sterling 76.5 percent conversion rate.

CAIN CLIMBS CAREER LEADERS LEDGER

Blue Cain began the season ranked No. 43 among Georgia's career scoring leaders with 1,023 points. He has since climbed to No. 38 on the Bulldogs' all-time leaders ledger and is quickly approaching ascending even more.

Of note, Cain passed current Georgia assistant coach Jarvis Hayes at the No. 41 spot during his 15-point performance against N.C. Central in the season opener. He moved from No. 43 to 40 in the matchup with the Eagles and then from No. 40 to No. 38 against Florida Gulf Coast.

Cain has now started 77 consecutive games for the Bulldogs dating back to the final eight outings of his freshman season when Georgia advanced to the NIT semifinals.

FOUR STARTERS FROM NCAA TOURNEY TEAM

Georgia returns four season-ending starters from the 2025-26 campaign – seniors Blue Cain and Marcus "Smurf" Millender, junior Kanon Catchings and sophomore Kareem Stagg.

The Bulldogs are one of just three Power Conference teams to have 80 percent of their starting five back from their final game last season. Colorado and Florida are the only other programs with a quartet of final game returning starters.

AND THE FUTURE GOT BRIGHTER THIS WEEK TOO

Jarvis Hayes Jr. and Justin Wise, the top-2 shooting guards in the 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2027, both signed to play collegiately for Georgia this week. Hayes has been tabbed No. 1 by the media outlet, while Wise is No. 2.

Hayes and Wise provide Georgia with a recruiting class ranked No. 14 by On3/rivals and No. 12 by 247Sports. They are the ninth and 10th top-100 prep prospects to ink with Georgia since Mike White's arrival in Athens in 2022.

Wise is listed as high as the No. 49 overall prospect by USA Today. He was named Georgia's 4A Player of the Year in 2025 after leading North Oconee to its second straight state championship and also is a three-time all-state honoree by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Wise was named Most Valuable Player of the state championship contests as both a freshman and a sophomore, scoring 19 points against Holy Innocents in 2024 and 27 versus Pace Academy in 2025.

Hayes is one of the highest-rated prospects to sign with the Bulldogs since the advent of internet recruiting services. Listed at No. 23 nationally by ESPN, he is the fourth-highest prospect to sign with the Bulldogs since the network began recruiting rankings in 2007 behind only Anthony Edwards (No. 4 in 2019), Asa Newell (No. 12 in 2024) and Trey Thompkins (No. 21 in 2008).

Both of Hayes' parents were standout student-athletes for Georgia. His dad, Jarvis, who is currently an assistant coach with the Bulldogs, was a two-time All-American and the No. 10 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. His mother, the former Illia Miles, was a two-time All-American sprinter for the Bulldogs.

GEORGIA TO FACE POWER-PACKED NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

North Carolina is the first of six Power Conference foes the Bulldogs will face during their non-conference schedule.

Georgia will play four ACC schools – the Tar Heels, at Georgia Tech on Nov. 20, against Boston College in Athens for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Dec. 1 and versus Duke at Madison Square Garden as part of the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 8. In addition, the Bulldogs will take on two Big 12 foes at the ESPN Events Invitational – Cincinnati on Thanksgiving Day and UCF on Nov. 27.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MARCH TO SAMPLE THE MADNESS

Georgia is predicted by most bracketologists to make a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance next March. In the final preseason versions released in late October, the Bulldogs were tabbed to be a No. 9 seed by CBS Sports and a No. 10 seed by ESPN.

From November through the end of the campaign, Georgia will face a schedule loaded with other teams expected to be in next March's first-ever Field of 76.

ESPN predicts the Bulldogs will play exactly half of their 32 regular-season dates versus NCAA tourney teams, facing Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida (twice), Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma (twice), Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

CBS one-ups that prognostication with all of the aforementioned teams plus LSU in its bracket.

BULLDOGS LOOK TO BETTER MEDIA'S EXPECTATIONS ... AGAIN

Georgia was predicted to finish 11th in the Southeastern Conference in preseason balloting of selected league and national media in association with Tipoff '26, the SEC's Media Days for hoops.

The Bulldogs will attempt to outperform the media's expectations for a fifth-consecutive season under Mike White.

In fact, Georgia is the only SEC men's basketball program to finish better than the media's predictions in each of the past four seasons.

The Bulldogs' best differential was last season when they were voted to finish 14th but cut that in half and finished 10-8 in league action while tying for seventh. That was Georgia's highest SEC effort since tying for sixth in 2016.

In previous seasons under White, Georgia was predicted 13th in 2022-23 and finished 11th, tabbed 12th in 2023-24 and ended up 11th and projected 12th in 2024-25 and placed ninth.

IN SEVERAL WAYS, 2025-26 BULLDOGS WERE GEORGIA'S BEST EVER

Georgia's school-record 22 regular-season wins last season was just the tip of the iceberg for what was accomplished during the 2025-26 campaign.

Additionally, those Bulldogs established the program's following season records for:

Total points with 2,951 in 33 games (previously 2,764 points in 37 games in 2023-24).
Scoring average at 89.4 over 33 games (previously of 82.7 ppg in 1989-90).
Field goals with 1013 makes in 33 games (previously 997 FGs in 1982-83).
3-pointers with 324 in 33 games (previously 300 trifectas in 37 games in 2023-24).
3-point attempts with 960 in 33 games (previously 883 3FGAs in 37 games in 2023-24).
Blocked shots with 199 in 33 games (previously 175 rejections in 34 games in 2015-16).

SMURF & KEMO ARE LATEST BROTHERLY BULLDOGS

Marcus "Smurf" Millender and Kemauri "Kemo" Millender are the fifth set of brothers to play for the Bulldogs. The brothers believed the 2021-22 season at Clear Brook High School ended their playing days together before they were reunited in Athens this summer.

The Millenders are joining a ledger brotherly Bulldogs that includes current assistant coaches Jarvis and Jonas Hayes, as well as Willie and Shandon Anderson, Chad and Alec Kessler and Mike and Matt Bucklin.

DOGS HAVE FEWEST TURNOVERS SINCE ... UMMMMM, WE'RE NOT SURE

Georgia committed just three turnovers in its 91-77 victory over Presbyterian on Nov. 6. That represented the first time the Bulldogs have had three or fewer turnovers in a game since at least 1981. Box scores going back through the 1981-82 season found no games with that few TOs.

In fact, there was only one contest with less than five turnovers in that span – a 70-68 overtime victory at Mississippi State on Feb. 11, 2012. That day, Georgia actually turned the ball over on each of its first two offensive possession during the game's first 81 seconds and then played the following 43:39 with just two more giveaways.

Then-freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the Bulldogs with 20 points in Starkville. He went on to be 2013 SEC Player of the Year before becoming the No. 8 overall pick in the NBA Draft that spring. He is currently in his 14th season in the league – his first with the Philadelphia 76ers – and has won a pair of NBA titles with the Lakers in 2020 and Denver in 2023.

SPEAKING OF KCP REFERENCES

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a starter on the Denver Nuggets' 2024 NBA Championship squad coached by North Carolina head coach Michael Malone.

KCP started all 76 regular-season games he played for Denver that season, contributing 10.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Caldwell-Pope earned his second NBA title in four seasons after also helping the Los Angeles Lakers secure the 2020 championship. In the process, KCP became just the 33rd player in NBA history to win championships with multiple teams.

In the decisive 94-89 win over the Miami to clinch the title, Caldwell-Pope recorded an extremely thorough line score of 11 points, four rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals.

He also made several critical plays in the game's final seconds. Caldwell-Pope stole a Jimmy Butler pass with 27.1 seconds on the clock and was fouled three seconds later. With Denver shooting just 9-of-19 from the free throw line at that point, Caldwell-Pope knocked down both attempts to push the margin back to three. Caldwell-Pope then grabbed a defensive rebound with 9.1 seconds remaining and dribbled out the clock.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

View the full game notes PDF.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Blue Cain

Kanon Catchings

Andrew Osasuyi

James Scott

Kareem Stagg