Georgia vs. Western Carolina

WHEN: Monday, 8 p.m. (Georgia’s women and Coastal Carolina will tip off at 6)

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

RECORDS: First game for each school

TV/RADIO: SEC Network+ (Jeff Dantzler, Marcus Thornton: Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)

Mike White's journey as Georgia’s basketball coach officially begins Monday night when the Bulldogs host Western Carolina in the season-opener at Stegeman Coliseum.

Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.

“I'm fired up. I felt it the other day in the exhibition, just wearing different colors, sitting in a different place, and coaching new guys—all new guys, not (just) a few,” White said. “I'm sure for all of us, a little bit emotional, a little different, a little bit more exciting. It’s probably more distraction than we'll have moving forward. Hopefully at least, especially in game one. You hope that we've got a lot of that behind us. I'm sure there will still be some more, but we'll see.”

It promises to be a learning process for all.

White’s first Georgia team features nine new players who weren't part of last year’s squad, which debuted last week with a 66-52 exhibition game win over Georgia College.

"I thought we played connected for all 40 minutes,” returning veteran Jaxon Etter said. “There were ups and downs, ebbs and flows. That's the game of basketball. I thought we played connected throughout the entire game. I thought the No. 1 priority for Georgia basketball throughout that exhibition game was growth and getting better. I think we got better."

Oklahoma State transfer Matthew-Alexander Moncrief and Kario Oquendo each scored 15 for the Bulldogs, with freshman KyeRon Lindsey adding 10 on 5 of 6 from the field.

Monday it starts for real.

“We defended the three pretty well. There were a few too many attempts, but some heavy contests, and for the most part, attention to detail was pretty good,” White said. “Our valuing of the basketball, our assist-to-turnover ratio was on point, especially for this early. I thought we just did a pretty good job of mixing in some transition, some pitch-aheads, yet some poise as to, 'We don't have numbers. Let's kick it back out and let's execute something.' I thought we had a pretty good feeling there. It’s early, so we hope we don't have one or two steps backward and then a couple forward. Hopefully, we can maintain that momentum there.”

White certainly feels good with the players he has, which includes five players who went to the NCAA Tournament at their previous two schools.

Justin Hill (Longwood) and Jusaun Holt (Alabama) both took part in the “Big Dance” last spring with Frank Anselem (Syracuse), Madrez McBride (North Texas), and Moncrieffe each making trips in 2021.

“We wanted to bring in some winning experience and we did that. We wanted to bring in guys that fit what we were trying to do defensively and on the glass, as much as anything, just try to maintain a level of competitiveness in those areas, which are a little bit easier to control,” White said. “In a rebuild, in my opinion, coming off a tough year, I thought those were the areas that may give us a chance to be competitive night in and night out.”

As has become commonplace in college basketball, Western Carolina’s roster is dominated by newcomers. The Catamounts have 11 first-year players along with four returning letter winners.

WCU welcomes back a trio of starters: Vonterius Woolbright, Tyler Harris, and Cam Bacote, from last year’s squad that finished 11-21 in head coach Justin Gray’s initial season in Cullowhee. Woolbright is the leading returning scorer at 9.7 ppg and dished out a team-leading 104 assists a year ago.