A fiercely competitive Georgia basketball team is back in Athens, where on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU, the Bulldogs will host Arkansas.
Georgia (11-3, 1-0 SEC) defeated Missouri in a thrilling victory in their SEC debut on Saturday. The Dawgs have now won nine straight games; the run started on November 24. UGA will now attempt to open conference play 2-0, something it hasn’t done since the 2013–14 campaign.
Don’t worry, Bulldog big man Russell Tchewa will be the focus of attention for all Razorbacks. Tchewa has been a reliable player throughout the season, but this past weekend’s performance for the Dawgs was by far his best. He made five of five field goals and eight of nine from the charity stripe. He arrived early at his locations and completed his tasks at the rim. I’m pleased with Russ. Noah Thomasson, a teammate, praised him. “He will be indispensable throughout the season.”
Thomasson has also been performing well. The Niagara guard transfer has settled right in as a starter for Georgia. Thomasson is currently the team’s second-leading scorer after Jabri Abdur-Rahim, averaging 12.5 points per game. (13 parts per thousand)
On Saturday, Abdur-Rahim shot 3-for-6 from behind the arc. His already remarkable 3-point shooting percentage increased to 43.2% for the season as a result of the strong effort.
There are numerous guards available for the Dawgs to contribute. Justin Hill, a senior, and Silas Demary Jr., a freshman, are among them. Everybody performed admirably at Mizzou. On Saturday, Demary scored ten points or more, and Hill added sixteen after coming off the bench. The reason UGA is ranked 28th out of 351 NCAA DI schools in bench points is due to standout performances like Hill’s.
Arkansas (9-5, 0-1 SEC) travels after suffering a crushing defeat in its conference debut. An Auburn team on a roll destroyed the Razorbacks 83-51 at home.
An Arkansas team that qualified for the Sweet 16 last year and the Elite 8 in 2022 has had an uneventful season. But they do boast a victory over #7 Duke back on November 29th.
Guard Tramon Mark is a player that Georgia will need to watch out for. Thanks to a strong 54.3 FG%, Mark is averaging 16.5 ppg. He scored 34 points on 13 of 17 shots in a game earlier this season against the current #7 North Carolina Tar Heels. Mark had a scary tumble during that same game and was brought to the hospital. Shortly later, he joined his team again, and it appears that he has now recovered.
Big is the Razorbacks. Five players from Arkansas are six feet ten inches or taller. Trevon Brazile (28.4 minutes per game), Makhi Mitchell (13.6), and Jalen Graham (13) are the three who play significant minutes. In terms of blocks, their defense is ranked fifth in all of NCAA D1. Even more astonishingly, not a single player from Arkansas is among the top 75 in terms of individual blocks per game. Rather, no other NCAA program can claim to have four players averaging at least one per game like the Razorbacks do.
How they stack up
Wake Forest, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Missouri were Georgia’s major victories.
Key victories for Arkansas: #7 Duke
While giving up an average of 69.3 points per game to opponents, Georgia is scoring 75.4 points per game on average. The state of Arkansas is averaging 80.1 points per game. The Razorbacks allow 69.3 points per game as well. Georgia is shooting 43.5% from the field as a team, while Arkansas is shooting 46.8%. The opposition has outrebounded the Bulldogs 542–525. The opponents have 497 boards to the Razorbacks’ 522.
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