Dogs tangle with Tigers tonight at LSU

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (9-8, 1-4 SEC) vs. No. 25/NR LSU (14-3, 4-0)

Wednesay, January 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET

Maravich Assembly Center (13,125) in Baton Rouge, La.

Watch: SEC Network (Roy Philpott, play-by-play; Mark Wise, analyst)

Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network Flagship: WSB AM 750 Atlanta; Sirius: 113; XM: 191; Internet: 962. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Tony Schiavone, producer)

GAME NOTES (PDF)

The Starting 5…

• Georgia is averaging 8,605 fans over its 10 home dates, the Bulldogs' highest tally since averaging 8,619 fans during the 2003-04 season.
• Nicolas Claxton leads the SEC and ranks No. 5 nationally in blocked shots at 3.1 bpg. That's more than 153 D-I teams average as a whole.
• Derek Ogbeide joined UGA's top-10 career rebounding leaders during the Vanderbilt game. He's now 21 from the No. 9 mark.
• UGA's bench has outscored it counterparts in 12 games, with nine of those being by +10 or more. UGA's bench has a +159 scoring margin.
• UGA's coaching staff sports a combined 80 seasons of D-I experience (Crean-28, Scott-27, Dollar-23, Abdur-Rahim-12) with 38 postseason bids

The Opening Tip

Georgia returns to the road on Wednesday evening when the Bulldogs venture to Baton Rouge to face SEC-leading LSU.

Series History With The Tigers

LSU enters Wednesday’s matchup with a 64-47 advantage in the all-time series between the Bulldogs and the Tigers, including a 35-15 mark in Baton Rouge.

A year ago, Georgia swept both ends of a home-and-home series, securing a 61-60 win in Baton Rouge in January and then posting a 93-82 victory in Athens in February.

Up Next: Texas Comes To Challenge

The Bulldogs will return to Stegeman Coliseum this weekend to host Texas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The game has been a sellout since October 26, with 2,000 student tickets all that remains available.

Welcome To The League, Coach

Tom Crean’s initiation into the SEC would probably be considered hazing by some.

Georgia began league play with six consecutive outings against teams that entered SEC competition ranked in the top-50 of the new NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.

In the Jan. 5 edition of the NET, the Bulldogs’ first half-dozen SEC foes were ranked, in succession, as No. 7 Tennessee, No. 45 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Auburn, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 33 Florida and No. 27 LSU.

Most of those NET rankings have held relatively true through the first couple of weeks of SEC action.

Entering this week, those six teams were listed in the NET as No. 4 Tennessee, No. 91 Vanderbilt, No. 23 Auburn, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 35 Florida and No. 14 LSU.

The average of Georgia’s SEC opponents through this week’s midweeks outings is considerably tougher than any other league team. The Bulldogs’ opponents in that stretch averaged a NET ranking of 29.2. The next closest average was 39.7 for Alabama.

For good measure, Georgia’s next outing also will be against a top-50 NET foe. The Bulldogs host Texas, which was No. 49 in the Jan. 5 NET and was No. 44 on Monday, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.