Georgia basketball has had a nice little run recently.
First, the Lady Bulldogs defeated archrival Tennessee on Sunday for a season sweep. Then, on Tuesday, the men's team beat the LSU Tigers to avenge an earlier season loss. During the game we saw a historic moment: Sahvir Wheeler became the first Georgia men's player to record a triple-double.
We have more on that and plenty of compelling stats in this edition of High Fives.
1- On Saturday, Wheeler scored a career-high 27 points against the Gators; Tuesday, he had a triple-double. The latter was the first such feat by an SEC player all season. The 5'10" sophomore had 14 points, 11 rebounds, and a career-high 13 assists. The 13 assists were two shy of the school record 15, set by Gino Gianfrancesco in 1972.
Other Dawgs have approached triple-doubles of their own, but only Wheeler pulled it off for the men. Here are the close calls since 1996:
2 - Toumani Camara was also a key factor in the game with a career-high 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting. He added ten rebounds and a career-high three blocks. The 22 points were three points better than his previous high. In conference play, he had scored 15 points on several occasions—but Tuesday night was something special.
3 - Wheeler and Camara have been two of Georgia's key contributors this season. Camara has an SEC leading seven double-doubles this season. If you add Tye Fagan's and Andrew Garcia's double-doubles from earlier this season, it brings Georgia's total to 15. Last season, Georgia had nine double-doubles (Rayshaun Hammond with six and Anthony Edwards with three). Since the end of the 2000 season, the 15 double-doubles are the fourth-most by a Bulldog team in that time period.
4 - K.D. Johnson was red hot again. The freshman scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half to help put the Tigers away. Johnson made 5-of-9 field goals including 2-of-5 from long distance. He was also 9-for-14 from the free-throw line (which was exactly half of the team's 18-of-28 performance). Johnson has played just 13 games for the Bulldogs, but in four of them, he's scored 20 or more points. In the previous two games, he struggled so it is nice to see him back on track.
5 - Tye Fagan also had a great night as he put up 18 points and was 7-for-10 from the field. Making a high percentage is nothing new for the 6'3" guard. He needs one more field goal to be officially on this list, but we will include him just to show how impressive the achievement is. Here are the highest percentages a Bulldog has ever had in a season.
Also...
The 13-point winning margin (91-78) made the Bulldogs 7-5 in games decided by double-digits this season, but this was the first one coming against an SEC team.
Georgia tied a season-low total of 11 turnovers, matching its performance vs. Kentucky on January 20th. Also, the 11 was half of what the Bulldogs had the last time they played LSU (22 on January 6th).
Georgia had 47 rebounds, compared to LSU's 40. That was the most rebounds Georgia's had against a SEC opponent this season, and fourth-most this year. The Bulldogs have been averaging 31.4 in their last five contests.
Georgia is 11-0 in games they've led at the half. In Tom Crean's three seasons leading the Bulldogs, he's 31-8 with an intermission advantage.
Wheeler now has 165 assists on the season. That's the second most ever by a Bulldog. Pertha Robinson had 169 during the 1994-1995 season.
Justin Kier connected on only one field goal attempt. It was a three-pointer through which gave him exactly 100 for his career.
Andrew Garcia ended Tuesday's game with just two points. He's still eight shy of 1,000 in his career.
Despite this being the first triple-double in Georgia men's basketball history, the Lady Bulldogs have made the benchmark three times. Teresa Edwards, Tracy Henderson, and Shacobia Barbee have made it happen.
(cover photo courtesy of Georgia Sports Communications)
