Georgia hosts Hampton in midweek matchup

Georgia (5-2) vs. Hampton (1-5)

Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 7:00 p.m.

Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) in Athens, Ga.

Series History: First meeting

Last meeting: N/A

Video: SEC Network + (Jeff Dantzler, pbp; Marcus Thornton, analyst)

Audio: Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network (WSB AM 750; SiriusXM: 380; SXM App: 970) (Scott Howard, pbp; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• UGA hosts Hampton in the middle outing of a 3-game, 6-day homestand at Stegeman Coilseum.

• UGA assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen was on the Hampton staff from 2011-16 and helped the Pirates to 2 NCAA bids.

• Mike White enters the Hampton game just two victories shy of his 250th career win as a head coach.

• UGA’s bench has scored 191 points and posted a +132 margin over its opponents’ reserves to date.

• Over his last 3 games, Justin Hill is averaging 14.3 ppg while making 59.1 pct. of his FGs and 78.6 pct of his FTs.

The Opening Tip

Georgia hosts Hampton on Wednesday in the middle matchup of a three-game, six-day homestand for the Bulldogs.

Georgia topped ETSU, 62-47, on Sunday and will entertain Florida A&M on Friday evening. All told, the Bulldogs will play three games at Stegeman Coliseum in roughly a span of 128 hours this week.

Following the date with the Rattlers, Georgia will complete its pre-Finals slate by traveling to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech next Tuesday in an ESPN2 nationally televised showdown.

Keepin An Eye On: Entering Today’s Game . . .

Mike White is...

• 2 wins from 250 for his career

Braelen Bridges is...

• 100 points from 1,000 for his career

• 50 rebounds from 500 for his career

Jailyn Ingram is...

• 70 points from 1,500 for his career

• 16 rebounds from 700 for his career

Non Series History With Hampton

Wednesday night’s contest will be the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Pirates.

The Bulldogs own a 13-0 record in all-time outings against teams currently competing with Hampton in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Among those schools, Georgia is 3-0 versus Charleston; 2-0 versus both Northeastern and William & Mary; and 1-0 versus Delaware, Elon, Hofstra, North Carolina A&T, Stony Brook and Towson.

The Bulldogs’ last game against a CAA school was a 76-58 win over Northeastern on Dec. 22, 2020.

Scouting The Pirates

Hampton arrives in Athens with a 1-5 record on the season. The Pirates are coming off a 97-70 setback at Wake Forest last Saturday.

Russell Dean leads a trio of players scoring at a double-digit pace for Hampton. He is averaging 14.2 ppg, while Marquis Godwin and Jordan Nesbitt are adding 12.3 and 12.2 ppg, respectively. Nesbitt also paces the Pirates in the rather uncommon trio of rebounding (6.5 rpg), assists (3.8 apg) and blocks (0.8 bpg).

Last Time Out

Kario Oquendo, Justin Hill and Terry Roberts all scored in double figures and notched season-high stats to lead Georgia in a 62-47 win over East Tennessee State last Sunday.

Oquendo posted 16 points, largely due to to connecting on 4-of-8 shots from 3-point range. Both his takes and makes from behind the arc represented the most by a Bulldog this season.

Hill popped for 14 points and equaled his season-best effort with four assists.

Roberts’ 12-point performance topped a linescore that included a team-high tallies of six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Both his assist and steal numbers were single-game highs for Georgia this season.

The first half featured a series of runs, with the Bulldogs racing to a 9-1 lead before ETSU countered with a 12-0 surge to go up 13-9. Georgia punched back to build a 25-15 advantage.

The Bucs eventually tied the game at 36-36 with 15:38 remaining before a 12-0 run put the Bulldogs in contol. Georgia led by double-figures for all but 33 seconds of the final 8:01 of the day.

Miskdeen Was Once A Pirate

Georgia assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen enjoyed a successful five-season stint on the coaching staff at Hampton from 2011-16. He spent the first two campaigns as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach.

The Pirates earned postseason bids in each of his final three seasons, including back-to-back NCAA bids. In 2015, the sixth-seeded Pirates won four games to capture the MEAC Tournament title and then beat Manhattan in the “First Four” to garner the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win. The following year, Hampton won it’s second straight MEAC tourney after securing the regular-season title as well.

In addition, Miskdeen served as Hampton’s director of basketball operations during the 2008-09 season before moving into the coaching ranks.

White Closing In On Milestone

Mike White enters Wednesday’s game with 248 victories, just two wins shy of his 250th as a collegiate head coach.

White compiled a 101-40 record in four seasons in Louisiana Tech from 2011-15. That included 27-win efforts in each of his final three seasons in Ruston which helped give him the best winning percentage (.716) of any coach in program history.

In seven campaigns at Florida from 2015-22, White posted a 142-88 record. He reached 100 victories with the Gators in 158 games, the second-fastest pace ever by a Florida basketball coach behind only Billy Donovan (154 games).

A Very Productive Bench

Georgia’s bench has scored 191 points in the first seven games, accounting for 39.6 percent of 482 points put up by the Bulldogs to date.

Georgia’s bench has outscored its opponents reserves 191-59, a massive +132 margin (18.9 ppg).

The Bulldogs have won the “bench battle” in each game this season, providing a “+20″ margin in four contests and a season-high “+25″ (27-2) tally versus ETSU. Georgia’s highest single-game bench scoring effort was 36 points versus UAB.

Ingram Checks In Against ETSU

Seventh-year senior Jailyn Ingram made his season debut in the second half of Georgia’s 62-47 win over East Tennessee State.

The Madison, Ga., native entered the game at the 14:15 mark of the second half and the Bulldogs leading 39-36. A quick glance at the box score would lead one to believe Ingram’s 4:02 of PT were quite pedestrian – 0-of-1 on FGs, one foul, one foul drawn and one steal. But the far right side of his linescore was more telling – “+9.”

“I just thought we were flat,” Mike White said. “When you do put him out there for the first time, you’re experimenting... So, you’re tooth-and-nail against East Tennessee State – close game, early second half – and one of the guys on staff suggested it. The last few days he’s gotten to the point where we said, ‘We’re about ready to give him a chance in a game.’ Athletically, from a conditioning standpoint, he’s looked better and better. It could’ve gone the other way of course, but he was an inspiration to his teammates. I thought he was probably the biggest factor in the game.”

While it was Ingram’s first game of the 2022-23 season, it was the 132nd of his collegiate career. He played five seasons at Florida Atlantic – including a red-shirt campaign in 2018-19 – before transferring to Georgia. Ingram started the first nine games of the 2021-22 season and was the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder when he tore the ACL in his right knee with 14:21 left in a Dec. 7 victory over Jacksonville.

Hill Named All-Tourney

Justin Hill was named to the Beach Bracket’s all-tournament team at the Greenlight Sunshine Slam presented by Discount Tire.

The junior from Houston averaged a team-high 14.5 points against Saint Joseph’s and UAB by shooting 61.5 percent from the field and an even more impressive 71.4 percent from 3-point range.

Hill put up 12 points against Saint Joseph’s, including a shot clock-beating 3-pointer with 2:28 remaining after the Hawks cut Georgia’s 23-point halftime lead to 54-46.

Hill then led the Bulldogs offensively for the first time this season with 17 points versus UAB.

A Homecoming For Kario

Kario Oquendo was productive in his homecoming trip to the Sunshine State for the Sunshine Slam. Oquendo is from Titusville, Fla., just under an hour south of Daytona Beach.

Oquendo scored a game-high 17 points in Georgia’s win over Saint Joseph’s and put up 12 points against UAB.

Oquendo averaged 21.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in leading Astronaut High School to a 20-6 finish in 2019.

Oquendo was named Brevard County Class 5A Player of the Year by area coaches that season. He also was tabbed All-Cape Coast in both 2019 for Astronaut and in 2018 while playing at Titusville High.

Etter Still Taking Charges

Former Jaxon Etter has made quite the name for himself on defense.

The senior from Woodstock, Ga., who was awarded a scholarship on Nov. 2, has taken six charges in five games played this season.

That comes after drawing 30 offensive fouls in 31 games last season and eight in the last 11 games of his sophomore year.

All told, Etter has now been on the receiving end of 36 charges in his last 36 games...and 44 in his last 47 outings...though we think – with respect to the folks with whistles on game days – several more should have gone his way.

Roberts Pops For 20...Twice

Terry Roberts recorded back-to-back 20-point outings against Miami (Ohio) and Bucknell, scoring 22 points against the RedHawks before popping for 20 versus the Bison.

Roberts’ contributions weren’t limited to the scoring column. He led the Bulldogs with three assists, two steals and a block against the RedHawks and then contributed team-high efforts of nine boards, six assists and two steals in the win over Bucknell.

Lindsay Makes Early Impact

Freshman KyeRon Lindsay, who was rated as the nation’s No. 87 prospect in the Class of 2022 by 247Sports.com, made an immediate impact at Georgia.

The Denton, Texas, product tied for team-high rebounding honors with six boards in the opener versus Western Carolina. With Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe out of action due to an injury at Wake Forest, Lindsay made his first start in Winston-Salem and scored 10 points. He followed with his first collegiate double-double – 14 points and 10 rebounds – against Miami (Ohio).

In that trio of outings, Lindsay averaged 8.0 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting a stellar 66.7 percent from the floor.

Bulldogs Sign Top-25 class

Georgia opened the NCAA’s early signing period on Wednesday, Nov. 9 with a bang, inking a top-25 recruiting class comprised of two of the nation’s top-100 prospects.

Lamariyon “Mari” Jordan and Dylan James were ranked No. 72 and No. 94 nationally by ESPN.com, respectively. Together, they gave Georgia the No. 25-ranked recruiting class on ESPN.com when the signing period began.

“It’s an exciting day for us to be able to sign two players that we targeted and invested a lot of time and energy in,” Mike White said. “Both of these guys are excited to be Bulldogs. Mari grew up right down the road from Athens and has always admired this university. He is a high-energy player who possesses much versatility and has a very good positional size Dylan has tremendous length for a guy who shoots the ball the way that he does. He also has the ability to post. Like Mari, he has a chance to be a very good defender as well.”

James, a 6-9, 190-pound power forward, helped lead Winter Haven High to the semifinals of the 2022 Florida Class 6A state tournament. He was selected as the Lakeland Ledger’s Player of the Year after averaging 15.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.4 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season for the Blue Devils, who finished 23-8 overall.

Jordan, a 6-6, 185-pound small forward, was tabbed first-team All-State for Class 6A by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a junior after averaging 19.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.2 steals per game for Dacula High. Over three seasons, Jordan compiled 1,257 points, 434 rebounds, 128 blocks, 109 assists and 104 steals for the Falcons.

Oquendo Named All-SEC

Kario Oquendo was tabbed second-team preseason All-SEC in balloting of the league’s 14 head coaches.

Oquendo was the Bulldogs’ scoring leader, both overall and in SEC play, last season. He averaged 15.2 points overall and upped his contributions to 18.3 points per game in league play, which made Oquendo the SEC’s leading returning scorer from conference action last season.

The junior from Titusville, Fla. also built a reputation as one the nation’s top dunkers, appearing on ESPN’s Top-10 plays three times – No. 3 on Nov. 16 against S.C. State, No. 6 on No. 23 versus Northwestern and No. 3 on March 1 against Tennessee.

A “March Madness” Pedigree

Five of Georgia’s six first-year transfers played for teams that reached the 2021 or 2022 NCAA Tournaments.

Justin Hill (Longwood) and Jusaun Holt (Alabama) both took part in the “Big Dance” last spring. Frank Anselem (Syracuse), Madrez McBride (North Texas) and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (Oklahoma State) all had tickets punched to the 2021 edition of “March Madness.”

Bridges Finds Bottom Of Net

Braelen Bridges converted on 63.4 percent of his shots from the floor for Georgia last season. That not only led the SEC and ranked No. 7 nationally, it was one of the most efficient campaigns ever for UGA and in league history.

The Union Grove High School product knocked down 161 of his 264 field goals in his first year as a Bulldog in 2021-22.

Among the best single-season field goal percentages for the Bulldogs and within the SEC, Bridges’ effort ranks No. 2 and No. 17 all-time, respectively.

Bridges became the first Bulldog to pace the SEC in shooting efficiency since Lavon Mercer did so in 1980 at 61.1 percent. Interestingly, Mercer set the UGA record (64.3 percent) in 1979 but did not lead the SEC that season.

Ingram Offers Experience

According to research by Middle Tennessee’s SID staff, Jailyn Ingram is one of five seventh-year men’s players in Division-I basketball this season.

The Madison, Ga., native and Morgan County High graduate, spent five seasons at Florida Atlantic before returning to his home state prior to the 2021-22 season.

Ingram played in 122 games for the Owls from 2016-21, including a redshirt campaign in 2018-19. All told, he recorded 1,334 points and 630 rebounds for the Owls, which are the No. 6 and No. 3 totals in program history.

Ingram played in nine games last season for Georgia before suffering a season-ending injury on Dec. 7 against Jacksonville. He received an additional red-shirt from the NCAA to return to the Bulldogs this season.

That makes Ingram among of quintet of players – including a well-traveled Nittany Lion – competing for a seventh college basketball season this winter as outlined below.

7th-Year Super Duper Seniors

Name Schools

Jailyn Ingram FAU, Georgia

DeAndre Dishman EKU, MTSU

Juan Munoz Longwood, Hawaii

DeJuan Clayton Coppin State, Cal

Michael Henn UC-Davis, Cal Baptist, Portland, Denver, Penn State

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