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Tough task for Bulldog basketball at No. 2 Auburn

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

Georgia (5-12, 0-4 SEC) vs. No. 2/2 Auburn (16-1, 5-0 SEC)

Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Tipoff: 9:00 p.m. ET

Location: Auburn Arena (9,121) in Auburn, Ala.

Watch: ESPNU (Tom Hart, pbp; Pat Bradley, analyst)

Listen: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network – Flagship: WSB AM 750; XM: 383; SXM App: 973. (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

COMPLETE GAME NOTES (PDF)

The Starting 5…

• Aaron Cook is set to become just the 18th D-I MBB player to participate in 150 games during his collegiate career.

• In six outings vs. JUCO and D-I ranked teams, Kario Oquendo has averaged 22.3 ppg and made 62.2 percent of his FGs.

• Jaxon Etter haw drawn 16 offensive fouls this season...and 24 in UGA’s last 28 games dating back to 2020-21.

• Of Noah Baumann’s 251 FGs in his career, 179 have been 3-pointers ...71.3 percent of all his makes.

• UGA’s seven first-year transfers combined to score 4,782 points at their previous schools.

The Opening Tip

Georgia will make the roughly three-hour trek from Athens to The Plains to face Auburn at 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.

The series between UGA and AU is Georgia’s oldest with any SEC school – the first meeting was Feb. 15, 1908 in Columbus, Ga. – and third-most contested overall – Wednesday will be the 194th meeting.

The series between Georgia and Auburn is as close as it could possibly be...literally, with the Tigers owning a 97-96 advantage.

Of note, “super senior” Aaron Cook is set to become just the 18th D-I player in NCAA history to play in 150 games on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs are 5-12 overall and 0-4 in SEC play. Each of the conference outings has featured some positive signs for Georgia and its roster which features 10 newcomers.

The Bulldogs led Texas A&M with 1.2 seconds left before a 3-pointer gave the Aggies a win. Georgia was ahead or were tied for 12:19 of the first half at Rupp Arena and led both Mississippi State and Vanderbilt at halftime.

Keeping An Eye On . . . Entering Today’s Game:

Aaron Cook is...

• 1 outing from 150 games played in his career

• 14 steals from 200 for his career

Series History With Auburn

Though Georgia has won two of the last three matchups with Auburn, the Tigers own a slim 97-96 edge in overall meetings between UGA and AU, including a 62-26 advantage on The Plains.

In the most recent matchup last Feb. 2 at Auburn Arena, Georgia scored seven points in the first 103 seconds to grab a 7-2 lead and the Bulldogs led the rest of the way en route to a 91-86 win over the Tigers.

Tye Fagan paced a half-dozen Georgia players in double figures with 16 points.

Georgia led 39-30 at halftime before Auburn cut that advantage to three twice in the first five minutes of the second period.

After the Tigers pulled within 55-52 with 15:36 remaining, the Bulldogs exploded on a 14-2 run to gain their largest lead of the night at 69-54. The final margin was as close as the Tigers got in the final 15:00.

Scouting The Tigers

Auburn is currently 16-1 overall and 5-0 in SEC. The Tigers and Texas A&M – a team Georgia led with 5.5 seconds left before a heart-breaking 3-pointer with 1.2 on the clock – are the only remaining unbeaten teams in league play.

Auburn’s lone loss is a 115-109, double-overtime decision to Connecticut.

Jabari Smith paces a quartet of double-figure scorers for Auburn at 16.1 ppg. He is followed by Wendell Green Jr. at 13.2 ppg, former Bulldog K.D. Johnson at 12.9 ppg and Walker Kessler at 10.0 ppg. Kessler’s dad (Chad), brother (Houston) and uncle (Alec) played for UGA.

Last Time Out

Jaxon Etter’s career-high 16-point performance led Georgia in a 73-66 setback to Vanderbilt last Saturday.

Etter, a junior, walk-on from Woodstock, Ga., connected on 5-of-8 shots from the floor, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, and 2-of-2 trips to the line en route to his first career double-figure outing.

Braelen Bridges added 14 points and Aaron Cook chipped in 10 for the Bulldogs.

Georgia led by as many as 14 points in the first half, building a 34-20 lead at the 1:43 mark. Vanderbilt closed the period and opened the next on a combined 18-0 run and led the rest of the evening.

A Very Close Rivalry

Wednesday’s game will be the 194th between the Bulldogs and the Tigers, with Auburn owning a 97-96 advantage.

The series has been tied five times in the 2000s.

Auburn claimed an 81-80 lead entering this century by winning consecutive games in 1998 and 1999 and then won the first date in the 2000s as well.

The Bulldogs knotted the series at 84-84 in 2005 and again at 85-85 in 2007. After Georgia surged ahead, the Tigers’ win in 2010 brought the record to 87-87.

Following consecutive wins by the Bulldogs, Auburn scratched the series mark to 90-90 in 2015. Georgia won three of the next four matchups to secure a 94-91 lead through the 2017 campaign.

The Tigers then put together five consecutive wins – their third-longest sting of success against Georgia – to go up 96-94 before the Bulldogs won two of the last three contests to pull within one once again.

While the overall series is close, the location of the game has had a dramatic difference in success. Georgia owns a 62-28 edge in Athens, while the Tigers are 62-26 against UGA on The Plains. The Bulldogs possess an 8-7 lead in neutral site affairs.

Georgia and Auburn traditionally have had a close series in football as well. The Bulldogs are 61-56-8 against the Tigers. That advantage is somewhat inflated, however, since Georgia has won 14 of the last 17 matchups, including a 34-10 victory last Oct. 9 en route to capturing the 2021 national title.

Cook To Join Elite List

With his first second of playing time on Wednesday night, Aaron Cook will become just the 18th men’s basketball player in NCAA Division-I history to participate in 150 games during his career.

Cook played in 103 games in four seasons at Southern Illinois from 2016-20, including a redshirt campaign with six contests in 2019-20. He saw action in 30 games last season at Gonzaga during the Bulldogs’ NCAA runner-up finish. Wednesday will be his 17th game at Georgia. He missed the Memphis game due to illness.

Entering this season, Ohio State’s David Lighty held the NCAA record with 157 GPs and only 13 players had logged PT in 150 contests, including four SEC players Kentucky Wildcats Darius Miller (152) and Wayne Turner (151) and Florida Gators Walter Hodge (151) and Patric Young (150).

With the additional year awarded to players due the COVID-19 pandemic, Cook will become the fifth player this season alone to join that ledger. FYI, Garrison Brooks should become the 17th player to 150 GPs earlier on Wednesday when Mississippi State tips off at Florida at 6:30.

Oquendo’s Production Leaps

After averaging 11.5 ppg during the non-conference campaign, Kario Oquendo’s scoring has increased by 68 percent to 19.3 ppg in SEC outings.

Oquendo currently ranks fourth among SEC scoring leaders in league action. The sophomore from Titusville, Fla., also is No. 8 in FG pct. (.529) and No. 6 in FT pct. (.833). Those percentages are considerably better than his efforts of .452 and .628 in non-SEC contests.

Oquendo opened SEC play with a trio of 20-point performances – 21 vs. Texas A&M, 22 vs. No. 13/16 Kentucky and 28 at Mississippi State. He became the first Bulldog to do so since 2020 when Anthony Edwards put up 23 points at Missouri on Jan. 28, 29 against Texas A&M on Feb. 1 and 32 at Florida on Feb. 5.

All four of the SEC’s top scorers in league play have increased their production over their non-conference efforts; however, Oquendo’s is far and away the most significant as outlined below.

Scoring Leaders In SEC Play

Non

Rk. Player SEC Diff. Conf

1. JD Notae, ARK 21.3 +3.3 18.0

2. Scotty Pippen Jr. VU 21.0 +2.9 18.1

Iverson Molinar, MSU 21.0 +3.1 16.9

4. Kario Oquendo, UGA 19.3 +7.8 11.5

Dogs Capitalizing At The Line

Georgia has made the most of its trips to the free-throw line this season, and even more so in SEC play. Entering this week, the Bulldogs ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 91 nationally in free throw percentage at 73.4 percent (254-of-346).

In stats for conference games only, Georgia is the league’s most efficient team, connecting on a sizzling 84.7 percent (61-of-72) of its free throws.

The Bulldogs also are among the top teams in the nation at getting to the charity stripe. As of Monday, UGA ranked No. 25 in FT makes and No. 31 in FT takes.

Bulldogs Battle Through

Georgia dressed only 10 players for its first two SEC outings.

All told, seven of 13 “currently active” Bulldogs have a combined 19 DNPs, and Georgia has had its full complement of players for six of 17 outings.

The Bulldogs’ 15-player roster was cut by two due to season-ending injuries to P.J. Horne in the preseason and Jailyn Ingram against Jacksonville on Dec. 7.

From there, additional DNPs include:

• T. Baker vs. Virginia and Northwestern (illness);

• N. Baumann vs. Northwestern (illness);

• A. Cook vs. Memphis (illness);

• J. Etter vs. Gardner-Webb (injury);

• C. McDowell vs. Texas A&M and Kentucky (illness);

• J. Ned vs. Virginia, Northwestern (illness) and George Mason, Western Carolina, ETSU, Gardner-Webb, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt (injury);

• D. Ridgnal vs. Texas A&M and Kentucky (illness).

Because of the aforementioned, Georgia has mixed and matched eight players to create six sets of starters.

The Bulldogs have seemingly settled into the starting five of Noah Baumann, Braelen Bridges, Aaron Cook, Jaxon Etter and Kario Oquendo. That quintet has been on the floor for tipoff of the last six contests.

Only Bridges and Oquendo have gotten the nod for every contest, although Cook and Jailyn Ingram have started every game they’ve played. Cook missed the Memphis game due to an illness, and Ingram suffered a season-ending injury in the ninth contest versus Jacksonville.

Kario Likes The Bright Lights

Kario Oquendo has a history of producing big games against the best opposition.

Last season, he averaged 13.5 points while shooting 55.4 percent from the field for the Florida SouthWestern College.

In Buccaneers’ four contests against ranked opponents, those stats jumped to 22.0 points and 63.6 percent.

The trend of big nights continued this season. Against No. 19 Memphis and No. 13/16 Kentucky, Oquendo averaged in 23.0 ppg and shooting 59.3 percent (16-of-27) from the floor.

In six outings versus ranked foes as a collegiate basketball player, Oquendo is currently averaging 22.3 points and connecting on 62.2 (51-of-82) of his field goal attempts.

B.B. Is Consistent, Efficient

Braelen Bridges is the Bulldogs’ most consistent point producer and among the nation’s most efficient.

Bridges has posted double-digit scoring outputs in a team-best 12 of Georgia’s 17 games, and he has notched nine points in two of the other five outings.

The graduate transfer senior Atlanta native is shooting a sizzling 61.2 percent from the field, connecting on 79 of his 129 field goal attempts.

Bridges’ effort almost puts him in elite company in the SEC and nationally. To be ranked among statistical leaders in FG percentage, a player has to make a minimum of five shots per game.

With 79 field goals made, Bridges falls six shy of that standard...or he would rank No. 2 in the SEC and No. 13 nationally through games of Jan. 16.

Cook Among Assist Leaders

Through games played on Jan. 16, Aaron Cook ranked No. 9 nationally in total assists (101) and No. 11 in assist average (6.3 apg).

Cook’s assist average is on pace to be among the best ever by a Bulldog. The current No. 2 mark in Georgia history is 6.3 apg by Pertha Robinson in 1994-95.

Noah Continues Scoring Trend

In five seasons of college basketball, Noah Baumann has established a trend of scoring most of his points from behind the 3-point arc...and doing so efficiently.

This season, 71.7 percent (33 of 46) of Baumann’s made field goals have been 3-pointers. Career-wise, 71.3 percent (179 of 251) of Baumann’s made FGs are 3-pointers, and he is converting on a considerably better clip from outside the arc (.436) than inside that stripe (.383).

Etter Accepting Charges

Defensively, Jaxon Etter is like Visa...as in “everywhere you want (him) to be.”

The junior walk-on took three charges against Western Carolina, the second game this season he’s done so...the other outing being versus Ga. Tech.

Etter now has a team-high 16 charges. The trend began last season when he drew eight in the final 11 games, giving him 24 in UGA’s last 28 contests.

Baumann Hits the Boards

With injuries to P.J. Horne and Jailyn Ingram, Noah Baumann has shifted to playing the traditional ‘4′ spot for Georgia.

In his first outing doing so, Baumann grabbed 11 rebounds against Western Carolina. That was more than double his previous career-most of five in seven different outings including this year’s season opener against FIU.

Joked Tom Crean: “I don’t know if he’s done that since grade school. Somewhere out West, he might have had 11 boards in a CYO game in the eighth grade.”

The joke has continued. Since Baumann changed positions, he has matched or exceeded the previous career-high (five boards) in five of seven games.

Dogs Look To Regroup...Again

Georgia lost Jailyn Ingram to a knee injury during the Jacksonville game on Dec. 7. The “super senior” from Madison, Ga., and Morgan County High School was the Bulldogs’ leading rebounder (6.0 rpg) and third-leading scorer (10.7 ppg).

Ingram went down in a non-contact situation while trying to save a ball along the baseline with 14:21 left in the contest.

Following an MRI on Dec. 8, Tom Crean confirmed the prognosis on Dec. 9 with a Tweet stating: “Unfortunately, Jailyn Ingram will have to have surgery to repair his ACL in his right knee. It’s heartbreaking because Jailyn has been emerging in so many areas and has been a model of consistency day in and day out. He’s an incredible young man... Jailyn has brought a spirit and seriousness to us. He is a guy that is in the gym most mornings before we would lift weights at 8:45 and was stabilizing for a young team. We plan to appeal for the waiver to get another year since he’s under the 30% games played. Pray for him.”

Ingram’s injury was UGA’s second season-ending setback. On Oct. 20, Crean announced P.J. Horne, one of just two Bulldogs to start every game last season, would miss the campaign.

Tweeted Crean: “It’s with genuine sadness that I let you know that P.J. Horne will miss this season after undergoing surgery on his right knee this past weekend. In practice, he bumped knees in a scrimmage, lost footing and went down awkwardly. This is such a major blow to us because P.J. was playing so well and showing great leadership as our leading returning player, but more so because he is such a great person and one of the finest people I’ve ever coached.”

Experience Has Traveled

The phrase “defense travels” is a well-known in the sports world.

The slogan “experience has traveled” may become a more appropriate for the 2021-22 Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia’s lineup is anchored by five Division I transfers, sixth-year “super seniors” Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram, graduate transfer seniors Noah Baumann and Braelen Bridges and sophomore Jabri Abdur-Rahim.

That quintet has accounted more than 60 percent of Georgia’s points and assists and the majority of its production in virtually every stat as outlined below.

D-I Transfer Contributions

Stat Team D-I Ts Pct.

Minutes 3400 1901 55.7

Scoring 1203 731 60.8

Rebounds 539 311 57.7

Assists 237 160 67.5

Blocks 47 26 57.4

Steals 85 41 49.4

Jabri’s Contributions Soar

It’s probably glossed over too much that this fall is the first time Jabri Abdur-Rahim has played extended minutes in nearly two years. He suffered a foot injury during his senior season at Blair Academy and only played in two games and only appeared in eight games last season at Virginia.

Jabri, who was ranked as one of the nation’s top-40 prospects in the Class of 2020, showed signs of returning to form in three early-December outings.

Abdur-Rahim exploded for a career-high 20 points against Wofford and followed that with a 15 and 10-point showings versus No. 18 Memphis and Jacksonville, respectively.

Equally impressive as the totals was the efficiency in which he scored.

In those three games, Abdur-Rahim scored more points, connected on more shots and upped his shooting percentages by massive amounts over his 14 previous career outings as outlined below.

Abdur-Rahim’s Increases

Stat 1st 14 Next 3 Diff.

Total Points 32 45 +13

Scoring Average 2.3 15.0 12.7

FGs Made 9 13 +4

FG Percentage .214 .650 +.436

3FGs Made 3 9 +6

3FG Percentage .125 .600 +.475

Crean Captures Win No. 400

Tom Crean secured his 400th career victory with Georgia’s upset of No. 18 Memphis on December 1.

Prior to arriving in Athens, Crean compiled 366 W’s in his first 18 campaigns as a collegiate head coach. He earned the first 190 in nine seasons at Marquette from 1998-2008 and added 166 more at Indiana between 2008-17 before arriving in Athens and securing the final 44 of his 400.

Tom Crean’s Milestone Wins

No. 1 – Nov. 20, 1999 – Marquette defeats Chicago State, 62-43, in Tom Crean’s first game as a collegiate head coach.

No. 100 – March 6, 2004 – A three-point play with .8 of a second left lifts Marquette over No. 25 Louisville, 81-80.

No. 200 – Dec. 8, 2009 – Indiana knocks off Pittsburgh, 74-64, in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

No. 250 – Nov. 20, 2012 – A day after beating Georgia, 66-53, in the first round, IU tops Georgetown, 82-72, to win the Progressive Legends Classic.

No. 300 – Dec. 20, 2014 – Indiana tops No. 23 Butler, 82-73, as Yogi Ferrell became IU’s 48th 1,000-point scorer.

No. 400 – Dec. 1, 2021 – Kario Oquendo’s 24-point outburst paces UGA in an 82-79 upset of No. 18 Memphis.

Wright Stellar In Upset

Freshman Christian Wright started at point guard against No. 18 Memphis for Aaron Cook, who was out of action due to an illness. That task was taller considering the Tigers entered the game forcing an average of 18.0 turnovers per game.

While Wright’s career-high totals of 17 points, six boards and 38 minutes tallies drew significant attention, his turnover tally – a meager one TO – was the most significant digit in his linescore. And he did so logging the most PT of any Bulldog in any game this season to date.

Also of note, Wright drew seven fouls, including two on the offensive end, and converted on 6-of-7 free throw attempts.

The SportsCenter “Top-Quen”

Kario Oquendo has emphatically made his way in the top-10 plays on ESPN’s SportsCenter twice this season.

On Nov. 16, Oquendo came in at No. 3 on SportsCenter’s top-10 plays after his third highlight reel effort against S.C. State. He stole the ball at midcourt and windmilled home an uncontested dunk.

A posterized effort on Nov. 23 was tabbed No. 6. Oquendo, who’s 6-4, gathered a steal in Northwestern’s lane and drove the length of the floor before a thunderous dunk over a 6-9 Wildcat.

If you want to rate Oquendo’s SportsCenter dunks, you can find the S.C. State slam at gado.gs/kariosctop1116 and the Northwestern effort at gado.gs/kariosc1123.

Cook Tops Millennium Mark

Aaron Cook blew past the 1,000-point career scoring mark on Nov. 16 against South Carolina State.

The “super senior” was eight points shy of entering the game and inched past the milestone with 2:21 left in the first half. He finished with 22 points, three off his career high versus Indiana State on Jan. 24, 2018.

Cook scored 845 points at Southern Illinois from 2016-20 and added 127 points during Gonzaga’s en route to their NCAA runner-up finish last season.

Cook was presented the game ball from the S.C. State game in a ceremony prior to the George Mason game that featured his mother, Regina, and brother, Anthony.

Dalen, Kario Draw Attention

Kario Oquendo and Dalen Ridgnal are among the top JUCO transfers expected to make the biggest marks this season.

On August 25, bustingbrackets.com ranked the top-25 junior college players moving to the “high-major” level. Ridgnal was tabbed No. 2 on that ledger, while Oquendo was ranked No. 23.

On Nov. 1, college basketball guru Jon Rothstein tabbed his top-10 “JUCOs to watch,” an unranked list that also included Ridgnal.

Welcoming A Slew Of Scoring

Of the 10 newcomers on the Bulldogs’ roster seven are transfers – five D-I players (Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Noah Baumann, Braelen Bridges, Aaron Cook and Jailyn Ingram) and a pair from the junior college ranks (Kario Oquendo and Dalen Ridgnal).

Those players arrived in Athens having already scored 4,782 points at their previous schools, the largest addition of scoring by any D-I program this season as outlined below.

In their previous stops, the D-I quintet of the group also logged 8813 minutes in 404 games played, while grabbing 1283 rebounds, dishing 643 assists, swatting 116 blocks and collecting 304 steals.

Top Scoring Influx’s In D-I hoops

Rk. School Players Points

1. Georgia 7 4782

2. Duquesne 5 4695

3. Florida 5 4144

4. Arkansas 6 4125

5. Penn State 7 5183

6. Washington St. 4 3785

7. SMU 4 3733

8. Kentucky 4 3538

9. Utah 6 3175

10. Arizona St. 3 3132

On The Flip Side...

While Georgia welcomed a huge influx of college scoring from its newcomers, the Bulldogs returned a minuscule portion of their scoring from last season.

Minus P.J. Horne, the four returning Bulldogs accounted for only 1110 of Georgia’s 2014 points a year ago, or 5.5 percent. Walk-on Jaxon Etter is the top returning point producer with 47 points.

“B” Is For Basketball Player

You may notice on Georgia’s roster that the Bulldogs have gone away from listing traditional positions – guard, forward and center. All 15 players are now simply listed as “B” for “Basketball Player.”

Tom Crean is a proponent for “position-less basketball.”

“That’s what they are,” Crean said. “It’s not valid to call them centers and power forwards and things like that as much with the way that we’re trying to play. They’re being trained as basketball players, every day... in the sense of how we train with the ball handling, the driving, the shooting – all those type of things. That’s big to me.”

Putting Up Points Under Crean

Georgia has certainly been keeping scoreboard operators busy since Tom Crean arrived in Athens in 2018.

The Bulldogs reached the 90-point plateau 15 times in 90 games during Crean’s first three seasons. That’s a relatively healthy 16.7 percent of the team’s total contests.

By comparison, Georgia scored 90 or more points just 15 times in 387 games before Crean’s arrival, or .038 percent of the outings in a span that dates back a dozen seasons to the 2006-07 campaign.

The big numbers by the Bulldogs aren’t just a single-game thing.

In three seasons under Crean, the Bulldogs have averaged two of their top-5 scoring outputs of the 2000s as outlined below.

Top Scoring Averages In 2000s

Rk. Season Points Games Avg.

1. 2002-03 2138 27 79.2

2. 2020-21 1944 25 77.8

3. 2001-02 2444 32 76.4

4. 2019-20 2428 32 75.9

5. 2006-07 2477 33 75.1

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