The Starting 5

• Georgia and Georgia Tech meet for the 201st time on Friday at Stegeman Coliseum with the Bulldogs looking to extend their recent run of success which includes seven wins in the last nine meetings.
• Through Wednesday’s games, the Bulldogs ranked among the nation’s top-10 teams in nine statistics, most notably No. 1 in fastbreak points, No. 2 in scoring margin and No. 4 in scoring offense.
• The Dogs are coming off an 120-81 victory over Morehead State, scoring UGA’s fourth-most points ever and posting its largest output since scoring 124 points versus W. Kentucky on Nov. 28, 1990.
• Seven Bulldogs scored in double figures against Morehead State, a first for Georgia since a 99-72 victory over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29, 1994 . . . a span of 979 games.
• Georgia is riding a 30-game winning streak against non-conference opponents at Stegeman Coliseum and is 44-13 (.772) at home under Mike White.

The Opening Tip

Georgia hosts Georgia Tech in a late-night version of “Clean Old Fashioned Hate” on the hardwood on Friday evening at Stegeman Coliseum. The Bulldogs have provided impressive – and some history-making – digits in their first three outings of the season.

Georgia bested Bellarmine 104-59 in the season opener – UGA’s biggest margin of victory to start a campaign since defeating Seattle, 103-48, on Nov. 9, 1986.

The Bulldogs followed that with a 65-point, 94-29 thumping of Maryland Eastern Shore – the largest margin of victory ever in 63 seasons of play at Stegeman Coliseum and the ninth-largest win gap in program history.

Georgia then topped Morehead State, 120-81, scoring the fourth-most points in program history and the most since defeating Western Kentucky on Nov. 28, 1990.

Georgia has displayed considerable depth in those contests.

Eleven Bulldogs have logged double-digit minutes in each contest and seven Bulldogs already have recorded double-figure scoring outputs this season. Jeremiah Wilkinson paces a quartet of scorers contributing 10-plus points per game for Georgia at 16.3 ppg, followed by Blue Cain at 15.0, Jake Wilkins at 14.3 ppg and Kanon Catchings at 12.3 ppg.

Series History Vs. The Jackets

Despite a considerable 55-31 advantage for Georgia in games played in Athens, Georgia Tech owns a 107-93 lead in all-time meetings between UGA and GT on the hardwood.

The Bulldogs have won seven of the last nine meetings, including a 77-69 decision 366 days ago in Atlanta.

Georgia controlled the most of the contest, gradually building a 27-19 halftime lead. After the Yellow Jackets opened the second stanza with a 20-9 run, the Bulldogs responded in kind with a 14-0 surge of their own to go up 50-39 with 7:23 remaining. The lead topped out at 69-54 with just 2:00 remaining on the clock.

In the most recent matchup in Athens on Dec. 5, 2023, Georgia never trailed en route to a 76-62 victory over Tech.

The Bulldogs used a 12-2 run midway through the first half to build a 21-10 lead at the 6:27 mark. Georgia eventually pushed the gap to 16 points, 36-20, at halftime and never allowed the Yellow Jackets closer than 12 points in the second stanza.

The victory came after the Yellow Jackets defeated No. 21/22 Mississippi State and No. 7/7 Duke the previous week.

“I thought we defended at a really high level against a team that is really difficult to defend coming off one of the best weeks in college basketball,” head coach Mike White said. “Georgia Tech, coming off two huge wins, is really playing well. I thought our crowd was a big factor in helping us defensively.”

Scouting The Jackets

Georgia Tech treks to Athens with a 3-0 record to date.

Kowacie Reeves leads the Jackets offensively, averaging 14.0 ppg. Mouhamed Sylla has a double-double average of 13.3 ppg and 12.0 rpg, which ranks third in the ACC and No. 13 nationally as of Wednesday. Lamar Washington provides a third double-digit scoring average of 13.0 ppg, while Akai Fleming and Baye Ndongbo are just shy of that mark at 9.3 and 9.0 ppg, respectively.

Last Time Out

Jeremiah Wilkinson scored a game-high 22 points to lead seven Bulldogs in double figures on Sunday as Georgia breezed past Morehead State, 120-81, at Stegeman Coliseum

Georgia’s 120 points were its fourth-most ever and the most since scoring 124 against Western Kentucky on Nov. 28, 1990. The Bulldogs’ 17 3-pointers tied the third-most in program history, matching the 17 made against North Carolina A&T on Dec. 28, 2008.

Kanon Catchings scored 11 points in the game’s opening 3:07 to give the Bulldogs a quick 16-5 lead. A 3-pointer from Smurf Millender put Georgia up 42-30 with 5:44 left in the first half and the Bulldogs maintained a double-figure lead the rest of the afternoon.

The Bulldogs punctuated their stellar offensive performance with Jake Wilkins’ windmill slam on a lob pass from Jeremiah Wilkinson, extending the lead to 113-72 at the 3:38 mark. That alley oop ended up at No. 2 on the #SCTop10 plays of the day.

“It was a good win,” head coach Mike White said. “Our interior physicality, our defensive rebounding collectively has got to improve. Offensively, we had pretty good flow and rhythm and tempo and really shared it. Our shot selection was much better than our previous opportunities. It’s something that we’ve harped on a bunch and got better in that area today.”

Preseason Analytics Like UGA

Coming off its best season in a decade, Georgia began the 2025-26 campaign with its highest projections ever by two popular metrics.

The Bulldogs were listed at No. 32 according to BartTorvik.com and No. 44 by KenPom.com in preseason ledgers and have climbed even higher since the season began to No. 31 in both as of Thursday.

In Torvik projections dating back to 2008, Georgia’s previous preseason high was No. 38 last November. In KenPom’s, which began in 2002, UGA’s best preseason listing was No. 27 in 2014-15.

Another metric, EvanMiya.com, listed Georgia at No. 40 in its preseason projections and has Georgia at No. 15 on Thursday.

EvanMiya also ranks individual players and believed UGA had one of the deepest rosters in the SEC. Nine Bulldogs were ranked in EvanMiya’s preseason top 551 players in the country. That tied Vanderbilt for the most players in that range. Trailing the Dogs and the Dores were Arkansas and Kentucky with eight; and Florida, Oklahoma and Texas with seven.

Dogs Among Nation’s Top-10 In Eight Stats

Peruse the early-season NCAA basketball statistical leaders and you’ll find plenty of ledgers featuring the Georgia Bulldogs.

Through Wednesday’s games, Georgia was ranked among the nation’s top-20 teams in 15 of the 28 categories the NCAA tracks. Amazingly, the Bulldogs were included in the top-10 of nine stats and the top-5 in eight of those as outlined below

Recent Metrics

 

Top-10 Stats
Statistic	Rk.	No.
Fastbreak Points	1	36.0
Winning Pct.	1	100.0
Scoring Margin	2	+49.7
Steals Per Game	2	16.0
Turnover Margin	2	+14.7
Scoring Offense	4	106.0
Bench Points	4	52.6
TOs forced Per Game	4	23.0
Blocks Per Game	7	8.0

 

Wilkins Windmill Dunks Are #SCTop10s

Mark down November 5, 2025 as the day Jake Wilkins made his first appearance in SportsCenter’s top-10 plays as a Bulldog.

Mark down November 9, 2020 as the day Wilkins returned to #SCTop10 with an early candidate for college basketball’s “dunk of the year.”

On Nov. 5, Wilkins’ breakaway, windmill dunk capped off the scoring in Georgia’s 94-29 win over Maryland Eastern Shore and was tabbed as the No. 7 effort of the day. The highlight was matched up on the highlights with a similar effort by Dominique Wilkins from an NBA Slam Dunk contest, proving Jake was simply tapping into some innate dunking skills with his rim-rattling execution.

Four days later, Wilkins accepted a lob from Jeremiah Wilkinson and instead of simply slamming it home added a windmill to the action for quality points. That ended up at No. 2 on SportsCenter, only topped by a bicycle kick goal scored in a snowstorm.

Jackets Are Georgia’s Second-Most Frequent Foe

Georgia and Georgia Tech will face off for the 201st time on Friday, equaling Auburn for the second-most games for the Bulldogs against any opponent.

The only school Georgia has played more than Tech is Florida, with 232 all-time outings. Trailing the Jackets and Tigers and rounding out the top-5 in games against the Bulldogs are Tennessee with 162 and Kentucky with 161.

Seven Dogs Hit Double Figures For First Time Since 1994

Seven Georgia players scored in double digits in the Bulldogs’ 120-81 victory over Morehead State on Nov. 9. Jeremiah Wilkinson paced the UGA offense with 22 points, along with 15 from Jake Wilkins, 14 apiece from Blue Cain and Kanon Catchings, 13 from Justin Bailey, 11 from Smurf Millender and 10 from Kareem Stagg.

That marks the first time seven Bulldogs have hit the 10-point plateau in a single game since a 99-72 decision over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29, 1994 when Shandon Anderson, Charles Claxton (aka Nic’s dad) and Carlos Strong all scored 13 points, Curtis Carrington and Katu Davis added 12 each; and Pertha Robinson and Ty Wilson chipped in 11 apiece.

The last time six Bulldogs scored in double figures was in a 98-56 win over Jacksonville on Dec. 4, 2020 when – get ready for some blasts from the past – Sahvir Wheeler put up 21 points followed by Toumani Camara with 19, Christian Brown with 14, P.J. Horne with 12, Justin Kier with 11 and Tye Fagan with 10.

Georgia Puts Up Historical Numbers In First Three Outings

Each of the Bulldogs’ first three games caused some early editing to the 2026-26 edition of Georgia’s media guide.

Georgia’s 45-point, 104-59 thumping of Bellarmine on Nov. 3 represented UGA’s biggest margin of victory in a season person since defeating Seattle, 103-48, on Nov. 9, 1986. In perhaps the epitome of historical perspective, that was the first game as a student manager for a guy named John Bateman.

The 104 points were the most by the Bulldogs since defeating Savannah State, 110-78, in the 2018-29 season opener on Nov. 9, 2018.

The Bulldogs’ 65-point, 94-29 win over Maryland Eastern Shore in their next contest two days later represented the Bulldogs’ largest margin of victory ever in 63 seasons of play at Stegeman Coliseum and also equaled the ninth-biggest mark in 121 seasons of competition.

The previous record for biggest win gap in the arena was a trio of 60-point decisions. Georgia defeated Southern, 97-37, on Nov. 10, 2006; topped Whittier, 122-62, on Dec. 3, 1979; and beat Baptist College (now Charleston Southern), 122-62, on Dec. 30, 1978.

Overall, the Bulldogs tied the No. 9 effort for margin of victory, matching wins over Fort McPherson (80-15 on Dec. 18, 1926) and Mercer (74-9, on Feb. 9, 1918).

Georgia then put up 120 points versus Morehead State on Nov. 9, a tally that represents the fourth-most ever by the Bulldogs and their highest offensive output since a 124-65 blitzing of Western Kentucky on Nov. 28, 1990…when Bateman was a senior.

BK Has It His Way Against Bellarmine

Redshirt junior Brandon Klatsky stole the show at the end of Georgia’s 104-59 decision over Bellarmine in the season opener.

Klatsky checked in with 1:08 left in the contest and before the final buzzer scored five points, recorded two steals and dribbled out the clock to wave off a potential third bucket on the night.

Klatsky’s first make – a 3-pointer from the left corner – provided both his first bucket as a Bulldog and pushed Georgia to the 100-point mark on the scoreboard.

After scoring five points in 68 seconds, Klatsky undoubtedly led the nation in scoring…per 40 minutes. The Colts Neck, N.J. native sported a gaudy mark of 176.5 points per 40.

After going scoreless in 1:48 against Maryland Eastern Shore and putting up three points in 2:04 versus Morehead State, Klatsky’s per 40 performance has dipped to a paltry 64.0 ppg, which would include making 16 3-pointers per 40.

A “Stegtacular” Home Court Advantage

Georgia’s home court advantage? It’s real and it’s Stegtacular.

The Bulldogs have compiled a 44-13 home mark under Mike White and are a perfect 30-0 versus non-conference competition in Stegeman over his three-plus seasons at UGA.

White’s success at Stegeman is not confined to his UGA tenure. He was 7-1 in Athens as a visiting head coach, leading Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and compiling a 6-1 mark at Florida from 2015-22. That makes White is a combined 51-14 (.785) in Stegeman

The Bulldogs were 15-3 in Athens last season, matching the program record for home wins in a single season. Georgia also won 15 home games during the 2013-14 and 2015-16 campaigns; however, those tallies include an NIT victory.

The Bulldogs won their first 11 home contests, building a 13-game home winning streak dating back to the 2023-24 seasons. After producing just eight double-digit home winning streaks in Georgia’s first 116 seasons of basketball, the Bulldogs have produced three double-digit winning streaks at Stegeman during Mike White‘s three seasons alone.

Georgia currently owns a modest five-game winning streak at Stegeman that began with two impressive victories to cap last season – an 88-83 upset of No. 3 Florida on Feb. 25 and a 79-68 decision over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale.  

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