Gainsville, Florida: The Georgia Bulldogs’ next opponent is the Florida Gators, with whom they will square off tomorrow at 12 PM EST in Gainesville. UGA defeated the LSU Tigers in a close game on Wednesday, bringing the Dawgs’ record up to 14-5 and 4-2 in the SEC. The Gators have defeated Mississippi State and Missouri back-to-back to improve their record to 13-6 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. With 2.3 seconds remaining in the Dawgs’ most recent game against LSU, graduate student centre Russell Tchewa made a game-winning three-point play to put the team up 2.
Tchewa finished with 11 points and 11 assists for his second double-double of the year. In the Bulldogs’ victory over LSU, rookie guard Silas Demary Jr. scored a team-high 15 points, pushing his season point average to a double-digit 10.2 points per game (ppg). Jabri Abdur-Rahim, a senior guard, leads the Dawgs in scoring this season with an average of 13.7 points per game and a 40.5% 3-point percentage. Guard Noah Thomasson, a graduate student, is the final Bulldog to shoot double figures (12.1 ppg), trailing only Abdur-Rahim. With a 9.8 ppg average, junior guard R.J. Melendez is three points shy of breaking into the double digits. In addition to scoring 9.1 points per game, senior guard Justin Hill leads Georgia in assists with 3.4 per contest. Tchewa is a significant defensive danger for the Dawgs, as evidenced by his most recent double-double. With 6.6 rebounds per game on average, the 7’0″ centre leads the squad in rebounding. Demary Jr. is doing well for UGA on defence as well. At 4.5 rebounds per game, he has the second-highest average rebounding total, followed closely by Melendez at 4.4 per game. Five players for the Gators average more than ten points each game, giving them a wealth of attacking options. Leading the group with 15.8 points per game, junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. is followed by sophomore guard Riley Kugel with 10.9 points, senior guard Zyon Pullin with 14.6 points, senior forward Tyrese Samuel with 13.5 points, junior guard Will Richard with 11.4 points, and junior guard Will Richard with 23 points against Mississippi State. Pullin leads the Gators in assists per game (4.6 on average);
Clayton Jr. trails Pullin in assists per game (2.8). Florida has three players who average more than seven rebounds apiece, meaning their defence is virtually as well-rounded as their offence. Samuel leads the squad in rebounds with 8.3 on average per game. With 7.5 rebounds per game, sophomore centre Micah Handlogten trails Samuel, while freshman forward Alex Condon comes in third with 7.0 rebounds per game. This season, the Gators have scored 12.9 points more on average than the Dawgs have given up (71.6 to 84.5 for Florida). On the other hand, the Dawgs are only scoring 0.5 points higher on average than Florida (76.2 to 75.7). In addition, Florida averages 44.5 rebounds per game as opposed to UGA’s 37.4.
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