Hampton at Georgia
WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 5-1, Hampton 1-5
TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, Marcus Thornton); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)
It was a feeling Jailyn Ingram said he would remember for the rest of his life.
It was almost a year ago when the Georgia grad student had to be helped from the court after taking a fall in a game against Jacksonville that resulted in a torn ACL.
In the second half of Monday’s game against East Tennessee State, Ingram stepped back on that same floor for the first time since.
A standing ovation—both from his teammates and the fans—greeted his return.
“It meant a lot. I haven’t had that experience in almost a year,” Ingram said. “It felt good to step on the court and get a standing ovation from the crowd, give the team some energy, and come out with a win.”
The Bulldogs were engaged in a tight game with the visiting Bucs when Ingram checked in with 14:10 left to play. Although he did not score in the four minutes he was in, the Madison native’s presence helped give his teammates an emotional boost they used to surge to a 62-47 win. Ingram said, “I had no clue I was going in until after halftime, when he said there was a potential change. He told me to get warm, and get on the bike. I did that but I was still shocked when my number was called.”
Freshman KyeRon Lindsay said Ingram’s return was just the spark the team needed.
“I’m glad for him,” Lindsay said. “During his rehab, even when he came from the training room, he would work hard. You could see the stuff he was doing.”
Ingram was averaging 10.7 points per game and 5.2 rebounds for the Bulldogs when he went down with his injury last year.
It’s unclear how much impact he’ll have with what is basically a brand-new team under first-year head coach Mike White. But his mere presence is considered a big boost.
“We had a conversation, a pretty in-depth one, maybe a week to 10 days ago when he just wanted to know, ‘Am I going to have an opportunity?’” White said. “You respect that. You want a guy who wants to talk about that. That’s one of the staples of this program.
"We want to be open with one another and have good relationships. It was communicated to him that he'd have to earn his minutes, and he understood that. Jailyn has done a great job of getting physically ready—almost physically ready. He's not 100 percent yet, but he’s getting closer.”
Ingram’s ready to do whatever he can.
“The gist of that conversation was to just control what you can control,” Ingram said. “I was dealt kind of a bad deal, but there was nothing to do other than be ready, work hard, and everything would work out for itself.”
THIS AND THAT
... UGA hosts Hampton in the middle outing of a 3-game, 6-day homestand at Stegeman Coliseum.
… UGA assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen was on the Hampton staff from 2011-16 and helped the Pirates to 2 NCAA bids. … Mike White enters the Hampton game just two victories shy of his 250th career win as a head coach. … UGA’s bench has scored 191 points and posted a plus-132 margin over its opponents’ reserves to date. …Over his last 3 games, Justin Hill is averaging 14.3 ppg while making 59.1 pct. of his field goals and 78.6 pct of his free throws.
