Georgia defeated The Citadel in a battle of the Bulldogs on Tuesday 95-86. Georgia started slow once again but never trailed. Here are some of the key stats in tonight’s victory, courtesy of the High Fives.
1) Freshman Anthony Edwards scored a whopping 29 points, including 19 in the second half. He struggled at first and did not make his first field goal of the game until 3:41 remained in the first half. For Edwards, that's back-to-back 20-plus point performances. He's averaging 26.5 points per game through two games (Georgia record is 25.8 by Jacky Dorsey in 1974-1975).
The last Bulldog who came to Georgia with this much hype was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Here are those two players' stats after their first two collegiate games.
2) The 95 points scored was huge for the Bulldogs. Last season they were 217th in the nation, averaging 71.1 points per game. This is the third-highest point total for Georgia in the short tenure under Tom Crean. Only the 110 performance against Savannah State and the 98-point game against Texas were higher. After Edwards, the scoring was quite balanced, as six different Dawgs scored in double-digits. Donnell Grisham, Jr., and Tyree Crump had 13 each, and Rayshaun Hammonds, Sahvir Wheeler and Amanze Ngumenzi all had ten. The ten for Ngumenzi tied a career-high and all came in the first half.
3) Besides Hammonds' ten points, he also had nine rebounds for the game. Hammonds has two career double-doubles and both came last season (vs. Oakland and Mississippi State). Wheeler almost had a double-double the hard way. He had ten points and dished out eight assists. The last Bulldog to have a double-double with points and assists was J.J. Frazier back in 2016 against Baylor. UGASports.com's Anthony Dasher did a great job comparing the two undersized guards in an article earlier this week.
4) The young Bulldogs had 13 steals in the game. Four Dawgs stole three apiece (Edwards, Hammonds, Crump, and Gresham). The last time Georgia had 13 steals in a game came on November 9, 2012 against Jacksonville. The last time with 13 against an SEC opponent was against Alabama on January 16, 2008. Here are the last five times Georgia recorded at least 13 steals in a game overall.
5) A stat that is usually a major factor in success is turnovers committed. Georgia just had eight in the entire game. Last season, the Bulldogs had single-digit turnovers just one time (9 vs. Mississippi State). The last time they had eight in a game was in the 2018 SEC Tournament against Missouri. The conference tournament game the day before, the Bulldogs had five against Vanderbilt.