CJ Fredrick previews challenge Georgia presents

Georgia‘s turnaround in one season under new head coach Mike White has one of the best stories of the 2022-23 college basketball season. They’ve got Kentucky on the docket next, and UK’s resident three-point specialist CJ Fredrick previewed the matchup between the Bulldogs and Wildcats Tuesday night.

“They’re a really good team. They have good guards, good bigs, they run a good offense, so we’re going to have to do a good job today of locking in and understanding the gameplan in preparation for tomorrow” Fredrick said Monday.

The Bulldogs won one conference game during all of last year – they’re already at three in mid-January and are one of three one-loss teams in the SEC through roughly five games played for each squad. Kentucky’s already lost three, and they finished last season with a 14-4 conference record. Just another example of how fickle college basketball can be year-to-year.

The Bulldogs will come into Tuesday night’s matchup having won six of its last seven. Their only loss came on the road against a middle-of-the-pack Florida team. Georgia”s mounted wins against a ranked Auburn team, Mississippi State and Notre Dame during that seven-game span, and sits at a healthy 13-4 (3-1, SEC) at the midway point of the season.

Georgia is led by their talented backcourt, which is comprised of Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo. The team’s two leading scorers, the pair combine for 28.7 points per game – roughly 40 percent of the Bulldogs scoring totals (70.5 ppg).

Forwards Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, KyeRon Lindsay and big man Braelen Bridges will be forced to deal with the unstoppable force that is Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe down low and on the glass – which is easier said than done.

Coming off a huge upset win against a then-top-five Tennessee squad over the weekend, there’s no better way for Kentucky to complement that win than to defeat a hot Georgia team on your own home court. Tip-off between Georgia and Kentucky is schdeuled for Tuesday night 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN.