Georgia Basketball excited to add another piece to mix amidst early-season success

The SEC has taken the College Basketball world by storm in the early portions of the 2024-25 season. With three teams in the top-5, five in the top-10 and eight in the top-20, there’s no doubt what conference is at the top of the sport right now.

Georgia isn’t one of those ranked teams, but the Bulldogs are among the five SEC squads receiving votes but not being ranked. Mike White also has UGA in the early bracketology projections. Hoping the return to March Madness for the first time in ten seasons, Georgia currently sits on the 8-seed line and is rising per ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who has 15 of the league’s 16 teams either in the NCAA Tournament or on the bubble.

“It’s wild. We better be ready, but a ton of opportunities at the same time,” Georgia head coach Mike White said about the upcoming SEC schedule, still with three games to go in the non-conference slate. “Each one of these opportunities will help us grow, too, and help us get better. It’s a process. It’s a long SEC season, but right now it’s Buffalo. We’ve got to practice today. We’ve got to be better today, and we’ve got a good opportunity tomorrow to see how we respond to the last win.”

In White’s third season on the job, Georgia is off to its best start since 2001-02, winning nine of its first 10 games. The Bulldogs are one of two teams in the nation currently ranked in the top-25 for both field goal percentage (.500) and field goal percentage defense (.386) with the other being No. 19 Cincinnati.

“We’ve played good teams. We’ve got quality wins. We’re a good team. We’ve got work to do to get better,” White said. “Obviously, offensively, defensively, turnover margin offensively. Little things defensively, but overall defensively, I think we’re ahead of where we are offensively. But we’ve got good players, guys that like to work, and productive practices daily.”

Another one to build on ⚒️#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/bULmWE9WYU

— Georgia Basketball (@UGABasketball) December 15, 2024

White is still figuring his team out some. So far this season, Georgia has stuck with the same starting lineup each of its 12 times out (exhibitions included). First onto the court have been Silas Demary, Blue Cain, Tyrin Lawrence, RJ Godfrey and Asa Newell. The five-star freshman Newell is leading the team in both points and rebounds, averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Demary (13.0 points) and Lawrence (11.3 point) are averaging in double-figures as well, while off the bench, Dakota Leffew has provided a spark with 12.7 points per game including 10+ in seven outings so far.

“Our culture, our chemistry, sacrifice, the humility of these guys – those coming off the bench especially. We’ve got four or five guys that are playing meaningful minutes off the bench, and that’ll increase moving forward. They come in the game and they just produce,” White said when asked what has surprised him so far. “Dylan James comes to mind. Justin Abson has had a couple games where he didn’t play much at all, and he was as big a factor as anyone off the bench in our last win with his ability to play inside the zone and make those decisions. Dakota Leffew off the bench, he’s one of our best players. He’s accepted that when your opportunity comes, you produce. You control what you can control. I love the mentality of our guys. Who knows what our lineups will look like moving forward and our rotation starting and all that stuff. To this point, our culture’s been terrific.”

Georgia, as White alluded to, isn’t done getting guys making an impact coming off the bench. Joining Leffew, a transfer from Mount St. Mary’s, will be one of his former teammates with the Mountaineers, De’Shayne Montgomery. Either Leffew or Montgomery led the team in scoring last season in 25 of 32 games. On the season, Leffew led the way averaging 17.6 points per game while Montgomery was second on the team with 13.2. Both transferred to Georgia in the offseason, and with Montgomery overcoming academic ineligibility during the course of UGA’s first 10 games, Thursday night’s matchup with Buffalo will present the first chance to see them on the court together once again.

“He’s officially been cleared. Really excited for him, excited for his teammates. He’s fired up,” White said on Thursday about Montgomery’s status with the team. “Probably going to have to slow him down a little bit. The energy that he brings. He’ll be fun to watch. I’m excited. Our whole staff is excited. His teammates, again, are excited to see what it’s going to look like for him wearing the G.”

“He’s going to play hard as heck, and he’s going to play with joy. That’s how he approaches every day,” the head coach added. “He’s fun to coach. He’s going to be a good addition to our team. He’s a little bit different than our other backcourt guys. He complements them well. We’ve got to get him adjusted to this level, of course. To playing with these guys, it’s all going to be new to him, but it’s exciting at the same time.”

Georgia, 9-1, will look to try and add to the December success of the SEC (53-4 after a 3-0 night on Wednesday that included a top-25 victory for Oklahoma over Michigan) at Stegeman Coliseum Thursday night. The Bulldogs take on Buffalo at 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.