Dogs Wrap Up Season-Opening Homestead - University of Georgia Athletics

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (2-0) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (1-1)
Date: Monday, November 9, 2026
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Location: Athens, Ga.
TV: SECN+ (Kaleb Frady, play-by-play; Marcus Thornton, analyst)
Streaming: SECN+
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 wraps up a three-game, eight-day homestand to open the 2026-27 season on Monday when the Bulldogs host Florida Gulf Coast at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Bulldogs are riding a 38-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents at Stegeman, which is the seventh-longest active string of such success nationally.
Georgia committed just three turnovers against Presbyterian, the fewest in a game since ... we're not sure. Research dating through the 1981-82 season hasn't found a game with three or fewer TOs.
There are more than 10,500 men's and women's DI basketball players this season. James Scott's career field goal percentage of .763 is the highest among those players who have made a minimum of 240 shots from the field.
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...
• 6 points from No. 39 Rashad Wright
• 11 points from No. 38 Bill Ensley
• 15 points from No. 37 Terranced Woodbury
• 21 points from No. 36 Jumaine Jones
• 31 points from No. 35 Joe Ward
• 6 3FGs from No. 12 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• 29 3FGs from No. 11 Jody Patton
• 5 3FGAs from No. 11 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• 19 3FGAs from No. 10 Bernard Davis
• 15 steals from No. 16 Willie Anderson

The Opening Tip

Georgia hosts Florida Gulf Coast on Monday in the third of three consecutive home dates to open the 2026-27 campaign.

The Bulldogs topped N.C. Central, 78-62, last Monday and bested Presbyterian, 91-77, on Friday. Those victories extended Georgia's winning streak at Stegeman Coliseum versus non-conference foes to 38 games, which ranks seventh nationally.

The Bulldogs are off to a solid start 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 EAGLES

Florida Gulf Coast arrives in Athens with a 1-1 record on the young season. The Eagles dropped a 96-95 overtime decision at UCF in their season opener before bouncing back to top New College of Florida last Friday.

The Eagles' high-flying offense is averaging 92.0 and features four double-figure scorers. Bryson Lucas sports team-leading averages of 18.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, followed closely by Justin Houser at 17.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg. Chase Konieczny adds 15.0 ppg, while Darren Wiliiams chips in 12.0 ppg.

The only starter not scoring at a double-digit clip owns perhaps the most eye-catching statistic of any Eagle. Freshman Turk Brown has dished out 14 assists without committing a turnover in FGCU's first two games.

SERIES HISTORY VS. FGCU

Monday's game will be the first ever between UGA and FGCU on the hardwood.

Georgia is 23-3 all-time against schools currently competing with the Eagles in the eight-team Atlantic Sun Conference – 12-0 vs. Jacksonville, 2-0 vs. North Florida, 1-0 vs. Bellarmine, 1-0 vs. Lipscomb and 7-3 vs. Stetson.

LAST TIME OUT

Blue Cain's 20-point outburst led a quintet of Bulldogs in double figures in a 91-77 victory over Presbyterian last Friday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

Cain reached the 20-point plateau for the fifth time in his career and was joined in double figures by Kanon Catchings and Marcus "Smurf" Millender both with 12 points while Freddie Dilione V and Kareem Stagg added 10 points apiece.

The Bulldogs led 38-35 with 3:58 left in the first half before closing out the period on an 8-1 run to build a double-digit 46-36 edge at the break. Georgia never allowed the Blue Hose closer than eight points in the second stanza.

"We went out there and did what we were supposed to do on the offensive end," Millender said. "On the defensive end, we need to be much better than what we did and what we displayed tonight, and that's just going to come with time and practice."

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

Georgia committed just three turnovers in its 91-77 victory over Presbyterian. That represents 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, while some guy named Marcus Thornton grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Caldwell-Pope 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.

Thornton enjoyed a stellar career at Georgia from 2010-15, playing in a school-record 133 games and helping lead the Bulldogs to NCAA Tournament bids in 2011 and 2015. Among Georgia's career leaders, he also ranks No. 15 in rebounds (664) and No. 10 in blocked shots (120). Thornton will serve as the color analyst for the SEC Network + production of Monday's game against FGCU.

AMERICA'S MOST ACCURATE SHOOTER

Senior James Scott has connected on 251 of his 329 field goal attempts during his collegiate career. Scott's shooting percentage of 76.3 is the highest of any basketball player – men's or women's – competing at the NCAA I, II and III levels this season who has made at least 240 shots from the field.

According to the NCAA, there are more than 10,500 players "rostered" on Division I men's and women's basketball teams this season. The Division II and III seasons are yet to begin; however, no returning player at those levels is shooting better than the top-5 DI players.

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. 40 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.

DOGS SPORT STRONG RECORD IN OPENERS

With its win over N.C. Central, Georgia improved to 88-34 (.721) in season openers during the Bulldogs' 122 seasons of basketball. That includes a 41-5 (.891) mark in season openers at Stegeman Coliseum.

Since Stegeman was christened late in the 1963-64 season, the Bulldogs are 58-6 (.906) in their first home game of each season.

Georgia's most significant win in to begin a season 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.

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.

BULLDOGS RETURN FOUR STARTERS FROM NCAA TOURNEY TEAM

Georgia returns four season-ending starters from last season – 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.

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.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

View the full game notes PDF.

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Players Mentioned

Blue Cain

Kanon Catchings

Freddie Dilione V

James Scott

Kareem Stagg