Think about it. Georgia has been playing men’s basketball for 116 years. In all that time, no Bulldog had ever managed a triple-double—the feat of finishing in double-figures in points, rebounds, and assists.

Until now.

While checking in as the smallest player on the court, 5-foot-10 Sahvir Wheeler stood tall Tuesday evening, becoming the first Bulldog to accomplish the feat, pacing Georgia to an impressive 91-78 win over LSU.

“It’s a great feeling. It’s an even better feeling to have it coming out of a win,” said Wheeler, who scored 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists.

“The biggest thing was the rebounding. Coach Crean, my dad, and my coach from AAU have been telling me that rebounding is a big deal for a point guard, because we can't always depend on Andrew (Garcia) and the other guys. They're fighting some monsters down there. It’s going to be hard for them to fight and get the rebound,” he continued. “Guys made shots, man. That's always something you need to win. This was a good confidence-builder against a good team.”

To put the matter into perspective, triple-doubles in college basketball don't occur very often.

For example. Wheeler’s effort was just the 29th in the history of the SEC. Nationally, Duke only has four, Kentucky three, and North Carolina two.

“I had no idea on the tripe-double until after the game, when John Bateman told me. I really don’t look at the stats during the game,” head coach Tom Crean said. “But that’s phenomenal. It's incredible when you think how long they've played basketball here. Really, he had a quadruple-double, because he had 10 deflections, which is important to me.”

With his 13 assists, Wheeler moved within four of Pertha Robinson’s single season record of 169, set 26 years ago.

“He’s really amazing,” said teammate Toumani Camara, who added his SEC-leading seventh double-double, scoring a career-best 22 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Freshman K.D. Johnson added 21 points and Tye Fagan had 18 for the Bulldogs, who improved to 14-9 overall, 7-9 in the SEC.

“Having a win like this at home against a quality opponent like LSU (14-7. 9-5) is a huge confidence booster,” Wheeler said. “LSU is a tournament team; they’re consistently good.”

Tuesday was certainly one of Georgia’s best games of the year.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 16-point halftime lead, and, for one of the few times this year, put together a second-half effort to match the first.

LSU would draw no closer than 12 points.

“K.D. and P.J. (Horne) made some big threes; Tye played outstanding,” Crean said. “There was just a lot of really good basketball being played today.” Georgia led 48-29 at the half, thanks largely to Camara.

The sophomore scored 14 points over the first 20 minutes for the Bulldogs, who, despite shooting a mediocre 42.5 percent (16 of 38), controlled the Tigers on both ends of the court.

LSU shot a mere 33.3 percent (10 of 30), while Georgia held a four-rebound edge (24-20).

Boxscore

The Bulldogs entertain South Carolina on Saturday and, according to Crean, hope to add another opponent next week. Texas A&M was forced to cancel its earlier game against the Bulldogs due to Covid.

“We’ll play another game next week, but we’ll learn later this week who that's going to be,” Crean said. “But certainly, we plan to play. I don't think there's any reason we wouldn't unless something happens with Covid to somebody else. But we'll wait for the league to tell us and we'll go, whether it's here or on the road. Whatever it is, we’ll be ready to roll.”