Georgia vs. Western Carolina
2022-23 Season Game No. 1
Monday, November 7 at 8:00 p.m.
Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga.
Series History: UGA leads 8-0
Last meeting: UGA, 85-79, on 12/20/21
Streaming: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, pbp; Marcus Thornton, analyst)
Radio: Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network (WSB AM 750; Sirius/XM: 389; SXM App: 979) (Scott Howard, pbp; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
The Starting Five
• UGA is 3-0 all-time in season openers versus WCU, christening its campaigns in 1994-95, 2003-04 and 2019-20.
• The Bulldogs are 84-33 all-time record in season openers, including a 38-6 at Stegeman Coliseum.
• Mike White is 8-3 all-time in season openers, including a 5-0 mark in home games at La. Tech and Florida.
• UGA’s 5 returning letterwinners accounted for 60.9 percent of the Bulldogs’ points last season.
• 5 of UGA’s 6 new transfers – Anselem, Hill, Holt, Moncrieffe & McBride – have played on NCAA Tourney teams.
The Opening Tip
The Georgia Bulldogs christen their 118th season of basketball – and do so under their 23rd head coach – on Monday evening when they host Western Carolina at historic Stegeman Coliseum.
Mike White assumes the reins in Athens following 11 highly successful campaigns at Louisiana Tech (2011-15) and Florida (2015-22). White’s teams averaged more than 22 wins over that span and reached postseason play every season possible but one, his first.
Keepin An Eye On: Entering Today’s Game . . .
Mike White is...
• 7 wins from 250 for his career
Braelen Bridges is...
• 124 points from 1,000 for his career
• 70 rebounds from 500 for his career
Jailyn Ingram is...
• 70 points from 1,500 for his career
• 16 rebounds from 700 for his career
Series History With WCU
Georgia is 8-0 all-time against Western Carolina, with every matchup taking place in Athens.
This is the fourth time the Bulldogs have opened the season against the Catamounts, also doing so in 1993-94, 2003-04 and 2019-20.
In the most recent meeting on Dec. 20 last season, Kario Oquendo’s 21-point performance and Aaron Cook’s double-double of 13 points and a career-high 12 assists led Georgia en route to an 85-79 win over the Catamounts.
Though the Bulldogs led for 36:25 of the game, the Catamounts continually kept the game interesting. Georgia went up by double figures four times in the first half before Western closed the period on 17-9 surge to pull within 35-33 at the intermission.
The Catamounts knotted the score at 44-44 with 16:23 left and then grabbed their first lead at 53-52 at the 12:01 mark.
Georgia took the lead for good on an Oquendo dunk that opened a 9-0 run to give the Bulldogs a 70-62 edge. Western clawed within four with 77 seconds left, but an Oquendo 3-pointer ended any doubt.
Scouting The Catamounts
As has become commonplace in college basketball, Western Carolina’s roster is dominated by newcomers. The Catamounts have 11 first-year players along with four returning letterwinners.
Western welcomes back a trio of starters – Vonterius Woolbright, Tyler Harris and Cam Bacote – from last year’s squad that finished 11-21 in head coach Justin Gray’s initial season in Cullowhee. Woolbright is the leading returning scorer at 9.7 ppg and dished out a team-leading 104 assists a year ago.
The newcomers are a mix comprised of six freshman, a sophomore, three juniors and two seniors.
Last Time Out
Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and Kario Oquendo both scored a team-high 15 points to lead Georgia in a 66-52 victory over Georgia College in the Bulldogs’ lone preseason exhibition on Nov. 1.
Freshman KyeRon Lindsay added an efficient 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor for Georgia.
“It’s early and we are all learning about each other and developing as a team, but the camaraderie was good,” head coach Mike White said. “I thought our culture was pretty good.
“We got a bunch of contributions from different guys,” White continued. “The goal, the biggest one at least for tonight, was growth, to try to get a little bit better...and we did that. Positive momentum was built. Now, let’s get better tomorrow.”
Though the Bulldogs led or were tied for more than 35 minutes, Georgia did not put the contest away until the closing moments.
GCSU cut the lead to 49-47 with 9:01 left before the Bulldogs embarked on a 7-0 run. After leading 58-52 with 3:23 remaining, Georgia closed out the contest on an 8-0 surge and ended the outing with its largest lead of the night.
Bulldogs In Season Openers
Georgia has compiled an 84-33 record in opening contests of the Bulldogs’ 117 seasons of basketball. That includes an even more impressive 38-6 mark in openers at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia’s most significant win in an opener at the Coliseum also was its first. In the Bulldogs’ initial opener in their current arena on Dec. 3 1964, UGA bested No. 13 North Carolina, 64-61.
Mike White In Season Openers
Mike White has an 8-3 mark in season openers during his coaching career.
White was 2-2 in initial outings at Louisiana Tech and then 6-1 in the first contests at Florida as outlined below.
White’s Season Openers
Date Opponent Score
11/13/11 Mississippi College W 92-70
11/9/12 at Texas A&M L 59-71
11/8/13 at Saint Mary’s L 70-83
11/14/14 at Southern W 85-76
11/13/15 at Navy W 59-41
1/11/16 vs. FGCU W 80-59
11/13/17 Gardner-Webb W 116-74
11/6/18 at Florida State L 60-81
11/5/19 North Florida W 74-59
12/2/20 vs. Army W 76-69
11/9/21 Elon W 74-61
A doubleheader Opener
Both Georgia’s men’s and women’s program will begin their seasons at Stegeman Coliseum on Monday evening.
The Lady Bulldogs, also under a first-year head coach, will face Coastal Carolina at 6:00 p.m. Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, aka “Coach Abe,” played for Georgia from 1985-87. She has compiled a 370-156 (.703) record over 17 seasons as a head coach and led teams to postseason bids in 14 of 16 possible seasons, including 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.
The last time the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs hosted a season-opening twin bill was 19 years ago on Nov. 21, 2003.
That evening Lady Bulldogs opened what culminated as an “Elite Eight” campaign by besting Georgia State, 87-48.
The Bulldogs then topped Western Carolina, 78-67, in Dennis Felton’s first outing as Georgia’s head coach. Damien Wilkins led a trio of Bulldogs in double figures with 16 points to counter a 44-point explosion from WCU’s Kevin Martin. Martin went on to score more than 12,000 points during a 12-season NBA career with Sacramento, Houston, Oklahoma City, Minnesota and San Antonio.
Simply A Slew Of Newcomers
Georgia’s roster features nine first-year players with the Bulldogs, while Western Carolina’s ledger includes 11 new Catamounts.
The makeup of those groups is all over the map.
Georgia’s newcomers include a fifth-year, one senior, three juniors, a sophomore and three freshmen. The new Catamounts are comprised by two seniors, three juniors, a sophomore and six freshmen.
Oquendo Named All-SEC
Kario Oquendo was tabbed second-team preseason All-SEC in balloting of the league’s 14 head coaches announced on Nov. 2.
Oquendo was the Bulldogs’ scoring leader, both overall and in SEC play, last season. He averaged 15.2 points overall and upped his contributions to 18.3 points per game in league play. Oquendo is the SEC’s leading returning scorer from conference action last season.
Oquendo notched 10 20-point performances, with eight of those versus league competition. He poured in a season-high 33 points at Texas A&M, equaling the highest single-game output in league play during the 2021-22 season.
The junior from Titusville, Fla. also built a reputation as one the nation’s top in-game dunkers, appearing on ESPN’s Top-10 plays three times last season – No. 3 on Nov. 16 against S.C. State, No. 6 on No. 23 versus Northwestern and No. 3 on March 1 against Tennessee.
Bridges Finds Bottom Of Net
Braelen Bridges converted on 63.4 percent of his shots from the floor last season. That not only led the SEC and ranked No. 7 nationally, it was one of the most efficient campaigns ever for UGA and in league history.
The Union Grove High School product knocked down 161 of his 264 field goals in his first year as a Bulldog in 2021-22.
Among the best single-season field goal percentages for the Bulldogs and within the SEC, Bridges’ effort ranks No. 2 and No. 17 all-time, respectively.
Bridges became the first Bulldog to pace the SEC in shooting efficiency since Lavon Mercer did so in 1980 at 61.1 percent. Interestingly, Mercer set the UGA record (64.3 percent) in 1979 but did not lead the SEC that season.
Ingram Offers Experience
According to research by Middle Tennessee’s SID staff, Jailyn Ingram is one of five seventh-year players in college basketball this season.
The Madison, Ga., native spent five seasons at Florida Atlantic before returning to his home state. Ingram played in 122 games for the Owls from 2016-21, including a redshirt campaign in 2018-19. All told, he recorded 1,334 points and 630 rebounds while at FAU.
Ingram played in nine games last season for Georgia before suffering a season-ending injury on Dec. 7 against Jacksonville. He received an additional red-shirt from the NCAA to return to the Bulldogs this season.
That makes Ingram among of quintet of players – including a well-traveled Nittany Lion – competing for a seventh college basketball season this winter as outlined below.
7th-Year Super Duper Seniors
Name Schools
Jailyn Ingram FAU, Georgia
DeAndre Dishman EKU, MTSU
Juan Munoz Longwood, Hawaii
DeJuan Clayton Coppin State, Cal
Michael Henn UC-Davis, Cal Baptist, Portland, Denver, Penn State
A “March Madness” Pedigree
Five of Georgia’s six first-year transfers played for teams that reached the 2021 or 2022 NCAA Tournaments at their previous school.
Justin Hill (Longwood) and Jusaun Holt (Alabama) both took part in the “Big Dance” last spring.
Frank Anselem (Syracuse), Madrez McBride (North Texas) and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (Oklahoma State) all had tickets punched to the 2021 edition of “March Madness.”
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