Georgia vs Oregon
WHEN: Monday, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
TV: truTv
The Game
Considering he’s coming from a mid-major like Niagara, Noah Thomasson said Monday’s opener in Las Vegas against Oregon is exactly the type of game he was looking forward to playing upon his transfer to Georgia.
At 4:30 p.m. Monday in Las Vegas, Thomasson and the Bulldogs open their regular season against the Oregon Ducks from the Pac-12.
“Speaking for myself, coming from a mid-major level, the opportunity to open up against Oregon in the nice city of Las Vegas is always a big-time deal to do,” Thomasson said. “It’s a chance to get our feet wet and get started and kind of see where we’re at as a team. That's always exciting to do.”
Despite being picked to finish 12th in the SEC by the league media, there’s optimism within the walls of the basketball facility that the Bulldogs will finish better than that.
After winning just six games in Tom Crean’s final year as head coach, head coach Mike White led the Bulldogs to 16 victories during his first season in Athens. There’s a belief that number could grow more in Year 2—even with a difficult non-conference schedule.
After Monday’s opener with Oregon, Georgia hosts Wake Forest in its home opener Friday night. Other Power-5 opponents on Georgia’s non-conference slate include Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and either Providence or Kansas before beginning SEC play against Missouri on Jan. 6.
"I mean, we've got to prepare for the SEC, right? We want to be competitive in our league, which is going to be the best league in the country. So, we try to amp it up a little bit. We've got great opportunities starting Monday, so we'll see,” White said. “We've worked hard, and our guys will put their best foot forward in preparation for these next four days. I know we'll play hard, and I know we'll play together. I know we'll prepare well starting today. Hopefully, we play well on Monday."
There’s been a fresh influx of talent in a bid to make the season a successful one.
Thomasson averaged 19 points last year for Niagara, with the Bulldogs also adding transfers RJ Melendez (21 points in the exhibition win over Eastern Kentucky), seven-foot center Russel Tchewe, Jalen DeLoach (Virginia Commonwealth), and RJ Sunahara (Division II Nova Southeastern).
The Bulldogs also added four talented freshmen in Silas DeMary Jr., Blue Cain, Dylan James, and Mari Jordan with returnees Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Justin Hill, Frank Anselem-Ibe, and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe also set for roles.
With Sunahara (ankle) and DeLoach (leg) questionable with their respective injuries, there could be even more opportunities for some. Fortunately, White says there are options.
"We can play with a couple of bigs or we could play some small ball. A couple of freshmen might have opportunities to play and have a little bit more of an impact than maybe otherwise they would have had,” White said. “A guy like Dylan James is in the frontcourt, of course, so we'll do the best we can. We'll figure it out."
Monday’s game will be the second ever between the Bulldogs and Ducks, with the last meeting occurring in 1975, a game won by Oregon 87-74.
This year’s Oregon team features seven players from last year’s squad that finished 21-15.
"They’re talented, and it's a good program year in and year out. They're going to be really competitive in their league and play in the postseason,” White said. “That's what they do. It’s a really big team, and a team that we've got to do a much better job on the glass than we've done to this point, to be competitive against them."
The Ducks also feature a player Georgia is quite familiar with.
Former Bulldog Kario Oquendo averaged double-figures each of the past two seasons with Georgia before transferring to Oregon during the offseason.
“He decided to enter the portal, and we didn't have much conversation after that other than, 'How can we support you? How are you doing academically?' Stuff like that. And just running into him utilizing our facilities and being around,” White said. “He's a guy that we care about. I hope he has a great year. Obviously, we hope we do a good job against him, but he was a great kid to coach. He's an explosive scorer. Again, hopefully, he has a great year."
