UGA Back Home Against No. 24 Alabama
Athens, GA – The Georgia Bulldogs return home tonight at 6:30 PM EST to play the now No. 24 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The Dawgs are currently tied for fourth in the SEC with a 4-3 conference record and are 14-6 overall. Alabama, who is favored by -5.5, stands at the top of the conference, where they are 6-1 and 14-6 overall.
In their most recent game on Saturday against Florida at Gainesville, junior guard R.J. Melendez led the Dawgs with a career-high 35 points to assist in a 21-point comeback to force overtime. However, Georgia would be outscored 7-13 by the Gators over the following 5 minutes and end with a loss. When asked about Melendez’s performances this season, Georgia head coach Mike White said, "He's really settled in offensively” and that “he's as confident as he's played."
Over the season, the Dawgs are averaging 77.3 points per game, but when it comes to SEC play, the Dawgs’ average has increased to 80.9 ppg. This effort is led by senior guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim, who averages 13.4 ppg overall and 13.9 ppg in SEC play. This can be attributed to Abdur-Rahim’s shooting percentages: 40% from behind the arc, 38.2% from field goal range, and 87.1% at the line. Abdur-Rahim is one of three bulldogs averaging double-digits for the entire season, the others being graduate student guard Noah Thomasson (11.9) and Melendez (11.1). Georgia’s bench has also been highly involved in the team’s offensive attack. UGA enters this week ranked No. 15 nationally in bench scoring, with the non-starters averaging 31.4 ppg. Senior Justin Hill is currently averaging 10.4 points in SEC play (9.2 overall) and is the leading distributor for the Dawgs with 3.7 assists per game this season.
The Florida game also saw graduate student center Russel Tchewa record his second double-double in a row, putting up 15 points and 11 rebounds. Tchewa has been a consistent defensive threat for the Dawgs, leading the team in average rebounds per game at 6.8. Melendez is second behind Tchewa with 4.4 rebounds, and Demary Jr. follows with 4.3 rebounds.
Before facing Florida, the Dawgs were averaging 37.4 rebounds per game but only had 27 rebounds at the end of the game. When asked about their defensive performance against the Gators, White said, “We really struggled defensively in two of the last three at Florida and at Kentucky.” In the Alabama game, according to White, the Dawgs are looking for “transition urgency, block outs, hits, defensive rebounds, just finishing possessions."
The Tide’s singular SEC loss came to No. 5 Tennessee on January 20th by a margin of 20 points (71-91). More recently, Alabama defeated No. 8 Auburn a week ago and LSU on Saturday. In both games, the Tide's 6’1” senior guard Mark Sears had over 20 points, 22 and 21, respectively. Sears is Alabama’s leading scorer and the SEC’s second-leading scorer, averaging 20 ppg while shooting 43.7% from behind the arc and 52.0% from field goal range.
In the SEC Sears is also ranked No. 5 in field goal percentage, No. 6 in 3-pointers per game, No. 7 in free throw percentage, No. 7 in assists, and No. 10 in steals.
Alabama has three other players averaging over double digits in each game: senior guard Aaron Estrada (12.9 ppg), senior forward Grand Nelson (12.2 ppg), and sophomore guard Rylan Griffen (10.7 ppg). Estrada is also the Tide’s leading distributor with an average of 4.0 assists per game; next is Sears with 3.9 assists per game.
Defensively, Nelson leads the Tide with 6.0 rebounds per game, and Estrada follows with 5.1 rebounds per game. Senior forward Nick Pringle is the third-best rebounder for the Tide, with 4.1 per game. As a whole, Alabama is averaging 39.8 rebounds per game, 2.9 more than the Dawgs’ 36.9 rebounds per game.
The matchup against Alabama marks the Dawgs’ fourth game against a ranked opponent and an opportunity to get their first top-25 win. A ranked win would fare well in increasing the Dawgs’ odds of making the tournament in March as well as providing good confidence and momentum for the rest of the season.
Other Georgia News:
After Crawling Back From Trailing by 21, Georgia Loses in Overtime to Rival, Florida
- Tchewa Comes Up Big for the Dawgs with Game Winner to Beat LSU
- UGA Suffers First Road Loss to No. 8 Kentucky
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