Texas A&M at Georgia

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 16-12, 7-9; Texas A&M 18-11, 7-9

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Mike Morgan, Pat Bradley); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Tony Schiavone).

Yante Maten plays his final regular-season home game for Georgia on Wednesday night against Texas A&M (8:30 p.m., SEC Network).

Where has the time gone?

Maten wishes he knew.

"It’s flown by and me being here at this moment is just unbelievable,” Maten said before practice Tuesday. “I feel like it was just yesterday when Nemi Djurisic was teaching me how to conduct myself on and off the court, what to do on the court, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do for these young guys. I’m just trying to pass the torch.”

Maten – along with fellow seniors Juwan Parker and Pape Diatta – will be honored prior to Wednesday night’s tipoff.

Head coach Mark Fox admits the sendoff is likely to get emotional.

“In this endeavor, these guys come in as young teenagers, usually, and they leave as grown men—and to walk that journey with somebody is an incredible journey, so there is a lot of emotion involved,” Fox said. “They’ve been terrific young people and big parts of our team. Each had to deal with their share of adversity. We’ll certainly have some emotions with them across the table as it relates to our staff because they’ve been really good kids.”

In the case of Maten, he’s been a really good player, too.

His name shows up on the career list of many of the program’s major statistical categories, including:

Points: 2nd (1,797 points).

Rebounds: 5th (850)

Field Goal Makes: 6th (628)

Field Goal Attempts: 5th (1,285)

Free Throw Makes: 4th (490)

Free Throw Attempts: 4th (645)

Free Throw Percentage: 13th (75.97, 490-645)

Blocked Shots: 3rd (123).

Although the numbers are nice, that's not an area Maten dwells on as he looks back over his Bulldog career. He’s more concerned about the success of his team.

With two regular-season games to go, Georgia needs to win both and do damage in the upcoming SEC Tournament in St. Louis if it hopes to gain an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“Of course, it’s a disappointment (that Georgia hasn’t been more NCAA Tournaments in Maten's career) but you can’t control what has already happened,” he said. “Right now, we have a season in front of us. There’s still some moves we can try to make toward the NCAAs and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

A significant ankle sprain had hampered Diatta’s senior campaign nefore he put up 21 points at Mississippi State on Feb. 3.

He played in just 36 minutes during Georgia’s first 21 games before totaling 37 in back to back contests against MSU and Vanderbilt.

“The injury was certainly tough but, as the year went on, I learned to play through it,” Diatta said. “It was difficult, but I feel I’ve learned a lot about myself.”

For Parker, his career can be summed up in one word – perseverance.

There aren’t many players who would have kept playing after suffering a pair of Achilles injuries, but that’s just what Parker did, all while becoming the only active Division I men’s basketball player to earn his Master’s Degree while enrolled.

“Having adversity, going through injuries, especially injuring my Achilles twice … you know, things don’t always happen like you want to on the court or off the court,” he said. “I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned here, you’ve got to get up and keep pushing. You’ve got to keep going, keep fighting.”

The rest of his life, he hopes, will be a cinch.

“They say God tests you, and I’ve been tested pretty well here,” Parker said. “I think I can handle the rest of life.”