Familiar face opposite of Georgia Basketball in opener

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball gets its season underway later today as the Bulldogs take on the Oregon Ducks in Las Vegas as part of the Naismith Hall of Fame Series at T-Mobile Arena.

It’s a largely new-look group for Mike White and company entering his second season with nine newcomers and just four returnees from last year’s squad. On the opposite side of the court for Oregon though will be a member of the Georgia program the past two seasons, guard Kario Oquendo.

Originally recruited by Tom Crean, Oquendo was persuaded to stay in Athens for another season upon White’s arrival. He actually entered the transfer portal briefly before making the decision to return.

On the year, the Titusville, Fla. native averaged 12.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game as he shot 39.2% from the field, starting 28 of the 29 games in which he played last season.

“He decided to enter the portal and we didn’t have much conversation after that other than, ‘How can we support you? What are you looking at? How are you doing academically?’ Running into him utilizing our facility,” White told reporters late last week before the team departed for Las Vegas. “He’s a guy that we care about, hope he has a great year. Hope we do a great job against him, but he was a great kid to coach, fun player to coach, explosive scorer. Hopefully he has a great year.”

This won’t be the first time White has prepared to play Oquendo either. He did so twice during the 2021-22 campaign while at Florida in Oquendo’s first season at Georgia. Oquendo went for 22 points and 8 rebounds in the first matchup between the Bulldogs and Gators before the second one saw yet another 20-point day out of him.

“Explosive driving it, getting to the rim, putting pressure on the rim, drawing fouls,” White said when asked about Oquendo’s skillset. “He was a guy in one year coaching him who made big shots in big times. Really dangerous in the open floor as well.”

Consider Oquendo’s former teammate Jabri Abdur-Rahim ready for the challenge. The two are good friends, both arriving in Athens ahead of the 2021-22 season, and still talk regularly. Recently, it’s been over text though with the season getting started for them across the country from each other.

“Yeah, I know his game well. Ready for that scouting report,” Abdur-Rahim said. “That’s one of my best friends so I’m looking forward to it for sure. I haven’t seen him in a while, so it’s going to be cool.”

“He’s a really confident offensive player, really strong downhill driver and obviously really athletic,” he added. “You know, we’ve got to be prepared for all that. But he’s a good player.”

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Oquendo won’t be the only Oregon player Georgia needs to defend well either. The Ducks return 6-foot-11, All-Pac-12 selection N’Faly Dante, who led the team in scoring (13.4) and rebounding (8.4) last season, at center. The team’s second-leading scorer, guard Jermaine Couisnard, is also back, but both have been dealing with injuries in the preseason.

“Talented. It’s a good program, year in and year out. They’re going to be good and competitive in their league and play in the postseason. It’s what they do,” White said of Oregon. “Really big team, and a team that we’ve got to do a much better job on the glass than we have to this point to be competitive up front against them.”

Oregon is the first of five high-major programs Georgia will play in the month of November with a sixth matchup with one coming against Georgia Tech in early December. The Bulldogs host Wake Forest this coming Friday before a trip to the Bahamas next week to play Miami (Fla.) and either Kansas State or Providence. Florida State also awaits in the first-ever ACC-SEC Challenge at the end of the month.

“We’ve got to prepare for the SEC,” White said. “We want to be competitive in our league which is the best league in the country, so we tried to amp it up a little bit. We’ve got great opportunities in front of us, starting Monday. We’ll see. We’ve worked hard. Our guys will put their best foot forward in preparation these next four days. I know we’ll play hard, play together, we’ll prepare well and hopefully we play well Monday.”

Tip time for today’s game is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on truTV. According to oddsmakers, Georgia is a 4.5-point favorite, but ESPN analytics likes Oregon instead, giving the Ducks a 61.9% chance of coming away with the win.

MORE FROM MIKE WHITE

On preparing without film… “Rely on the past as much as possible. We’ve watched a bunch of stuff from last year to try to forecast as best you can.”
On Dana Altman… “He’s won a lot of different ways. He’s pretty unique in that way. I’m not overly familiar with that side of the country, but as much as you see them play in the postseason and the success that they have, he’s always interesting and fun to watch because sometimes they’re faster, sometimes they’re slower, sometimes they play zone a little bit, sometimes they won’t. He’s a veteran who’s won a ton of games and been successful for a very long time.”

On biggest takeaways from exhibition… “Took some my-turn shots in the second half, was a little more telling watching the film. Little disappointing there because this is a team that’s been unselfish and we’ve moved it pretty well. Credit EKU though for over-pressuring us and making us put our heads down to make subpar decisions sometimes. We’ve got to do a better job there, and then we’ve got to do a better job on the glass. Especially against bigger, stronger teams like Oregon.”
On guard play… “Bad shots. Did some good things. I thought Silas (Demary) was really good. Five assists, zero turnovers. We’ll take that most nights from a freshman point guard. From a couple other spots in the backcourt we’ve got to pick our spots better in terms of what our shot means.”

On the depth of this team…“It’s potential depth. We’ll figure out how productive that depth is, remains to be seen as time goes on.”
On who steps up at PF with injuries to RJ Sunahara and Jalen DeLoach… “We could play with a couple of bigs or play some small ball. Couple freshmen could have opportunities to play, maybe have a little bit more of an impact than they otherwise would have had. A guy like Dylan James who’s in the frontcourt. We’ll do our best. We’ll figure it out.”

On Dylan James… “I thought he was good. I liked his tempo. He’s got a really good feel. His pace for a true freshman is nice and slow. He lets it come to him. He’s a guy with high basketball IQ, great length and versatility. Good player.”
On this team’s best defenders… “We need everybody that plays to be good defenders to compete in this league. The veteran guys are probably a little bit ahead right now, Noah (Thomasson) and Russ (Russel Tchewa) and JJ (Jalen DeLoach) and RJ (Melendez), those guys come to mind. Justin Hill is a developing defender. He’s become a little bit more committed to becoming a pitbull on the basketball. Got to find some other ones too.”