The Georgia men's basketball team has certainly had its share of ups and downs this season -- especially as of late. Inconsistent play has hampered its chances to go dancing in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs still have a chance, but it will be very tough. One thing that will get them started in the right direction would be a win at South Carolina. The Gamecocks have been near the top of the SEC all season and are 15-1 at the Colonial Life Arena. While many say South Carolina hasn't played the toughest schedule, a win by the Bulldogs will look awfully good. Georgia has won two of the last three there so anything is possible. The Dawgs have two games remaining in the regular season and before they play those I will show you a deeper look at the team and its players. These are things you probably won't find in the team's notes.
Georgia has been starting off a little cold as of late. In their last seven games, the Bulldogs have had a lower field goal percentage in the first half compared to the second half. While it is great ending on a strong note, you also want to start off well too. Check out the last seven games.
Two players who have been shooting well majority of the time are J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten. Frazier leads the Dawgs in scoring with 16.3 points per game (up from 9.5 last season) and Maten is second at 15.9 points per game (up from 5.0). Only six times since the 1975-76 season has Georgia had two players average 15 or more points in a season.
Frazier currently has 441 points, 125 rebounds and 111 assists through 27 games played this season. Georgia has had only four players since the 1996-97 season to have 400 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists in the same season. LSU's Ben Simmons and Vanderbilt's Wade Baldwin IV are the only other players in the conference to accomplish this feat this season.
As you probably guessed all of those players were guards... what about the big guys? Only one Georgia player since the 1996-97 season has had 400 points, 200 rebounds and 50 blocks in one season. Trey Thompkins accomplished this in the 2010-11 season. If Yante Maten rejects one more shot, he will be on this list as well.
Maten is on a list of double-doubles though. Under Mark Fox, Maten has the second most double-doubles in a season by a Bulldog. He should have at least three games left, so there is a chance he could reach the top spot.
While we are on the subject of basketball's big men, Derek Ogbeide is in rare company, but he may get out of it. He has 88 points and 115 rebounds. Only since Marcus Thornton (2011-12 season) has a Georgia player scored under 100 points and had over 100 rebounds in a season. So if the freshman scores more than 11 points the rest of the way he would not be on this list anymore. My guess Dawg fans rather him not be on the list. Mike Edwards is close to this achievement as well. He currently has 71 points and 92 rebounds.
Senior Kenny Gaines has been hot lately. He has scored 23 points in each of the last two games. He has had 11 3-pointers in the last two games and 16 in the last four. He just needs one more from beyond the arc to reach 200 for his career. Only four Bulldogs in school history have had 200 (Levi Stukes, D.A. Layne, Litterial Green and Ezra Williams). While he has 199 career treys, he has exactly 200 career free throws. The funny thing is Ezra Williams, mentioned above, also had exactly 200 career free throws and Levi Stukes ended up with 202. To keep the oddities going, Gaines has exactly 222 career 2-point field goals.
On the whole, Georgia has been shooting better from 3's than 2's. In the last four games, the Bulldogs have been shooting 36.1 percent from two-point range and 43.9 from three-point range. On one side you shoot be better shooting two-pointers because they are closer and it counts layups and dunks, but on the other side three-pointers are less likely to have a player up in the face. Nowadays the way Stephen Curry is shooting, my theory of twos and threes are meaningless. Anyway he is Georgia's shooting over the last four games.
If you read some of my stuff previously you might remember that I pay attention to see whether senior Charles Mann will have more assists or turnovers this season and in his career. If you are scoring at home (or elsewhere) he has 76 assists and 77 turnovers this season and 384 assists and 383 turnovers in his career. This is going to be close!
Speaking of turnovers, Georgia only had seven in their last game against Ole Miss. They had seven in a game the previous week against Vanderbilt. The lowest under Mark Fox was four in a game in 2012 at Mississippi State.