Georgia Basketball back in action after extended opportunity to 'focus on us'
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball is back in action for the first time in over a week on Saturday as the Bulldogs make the short trip to Atlanta for Holiday Hoopsgiving at State Farm Arena. It’s a multi-team event featuring a tripleheader of games with UGA taking on Grand Canyon in the night cap after Auburn-Ohio State and Florida-Arizona State earlier in the day.
Last time out, it was a strong showing from UGA. Helping the SEC dominate the ACC in the second-annual challenge between the two conferences, Georgia defeated Notre Dame 69-48 at Stegeman Coliseum. Before that was an offensive frenzy from the Bulldogs, scoring 102 points against Jacksonville, and a win over a ranked opponent beating St. John’s in The Bahamas.
For the Bulldogs though, the time off is much needed. They’ve played nine games and have had little time to work on themselves, turning the attention each time they hit the practice court to the next opponent. Head coach Mike White, talking after the Notre Dame win, was excited for the opportunity to regroup and take a look at his own team.
“Rest. We’ve got one built in two-day period which I think is really important for guys to get away from it, and we’ve got to finish strong academically of course. We get a chance for the first time in a long time though to focus on us,” White said. “Hey, let’s change this or experiment with this. We’ve had back to back games for a while, so that’ll be refreshing to re-evaluate us, our offense, our defense, our transition, our special situations and then have an opportunity to play in front of our fans in a great environment in Atlanta against a really, really good mid-major program.”
Grand Canyon is coming off of not only an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, but also a win. The Antelopes beat St. Mary’s in the first round before falling tough to Alabama, a Crimson Tide team that went on to the Final Four.
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Led by head coach Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon has made the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons, winning the WAC each time. They return four of the top five leading scorers from last season’s 30-5 squad including leading scorer Tyon Grant-Foster, once again averaging in double-figures with 16.0 a game after putting up 20.1 last season. Ray Harrison, who was second with 13.5 points per game in 2023-24, is also in double-figures with 12.9 a night this year, also joined by TCU transfer JaKobe Coles (15.9 points per game) and returnee Collin Moore (10.6 points per game). Grant-Foster, who won conference Player of the Year last season and previously spent time collegiately at Kansas and DePaul, is also the team leader in rebounds (6.3), steals (2.2) and blocks (1.5) per game.
“A lot of people I think would call us crazy to play the game, but we did it because we wanted an opportunity to play another quality opponent,” White said. “They’re not a power program, they’re not a high-major, but they’ve got high major players and a high major staff, and we’ve got to be prepared. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
Tip time is set for 6:00 p.m. ET Saturday evening on the SEC Network. According to ESPN Analytics, Georgia enters with a 76.6% chance of returning to Athens with a win.
