Boasting the nation’s top scoring offense and a new national ranking, No. 25 Georgia is preparing for conference play in January with a game Thursday night against Western Carolina in Athens, Ga.
In addition to scoring (an average of 98.3 points per game), the Bulldogs lead the nation in scoring margin (27.7) and blocked shots (8.5).
“It’s been fun to this point,” second-year coach Mike White said on his Bulldogs’ live radio show Monday night. “I wish we could get that Clemson game back (a 97-94 overtime loss on Nov. 23), but we’ve taken care of business in (other) high-major games, and we continue to improve.”
Georgia (9-1) is coming off an 84-65 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. The game was tied at 37 at halftime before the Bulldogs surged in the second half.
“It was a tale of two halves,” White said. “It was a big win for us. At halftime, we watched some stuff on film and said defensively we had to be sharper, we needed loud and early communication, and in the first 15 minutes of the second half we really guarded at a high level.”
Sophomore guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, the Sixth Man of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season for Cal, leads Georgia with an average of 17.1 points a game and a team-high 2.2 blocks, while Blue Cain (16.1 ppg) is shooting 73.5% from two-point range and 90.5% from the free-throw line.
White has 11 different players all averaging over 10 minutes a game.
“At the end of the day, I know they all want to play 35 minutes,” the coach said. “But if you ask them if they’re bought in, they will say yes. There is a humility and selflessness that is very apparent with this team, the body language, the culture, the team meetings we have is very positive. When you evaluate all 11, I don’t know who not to play. I really like our depth.”
Western Carolina (4-6) has lost four of its last five games and all six contests it has played this season on the road. The Catamounts are led in scoring by Marcus Kell (13.4 ppg) and Julien Soumaoro (13.0).
Thursday night’s game will be a homecoming for Catamounts guard CJ Hyland. The Georgia native has made 8 of 15 attempts from 3-point range over his last three contests after missing four games with an injury.
“It’s remarkable really for him to come back and shoot the ball like that,” Western Carolina coach Tim Craft said after his team’s 78-67 win over SC Upstate Dec. 6. “He’s really been on his shooting, and that’s a big part of his game that has improved.”
The Catamounts’ most recent game was a 96-74 loss last Thursday to Virginia Tech.
