Georgia shows exciting potential in exhibition win over Eastern Kentucky

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Basketball took down Eastern Kentucky 99-82 Monday night in an exhibition game, raising money for the Red Cross to help hurricane relief efforts in South Georgia while also finalizing preparations ahead of next week’s season-opener.

Illinois transfer RJ Melendez led Georgia in scoring with 21 points while USF transfer Russel Tchewa came in with a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) to lead the way on the glass. All in all, six different Bulldogs reached double figures for scoring on a night in which Georgia outpaced its 2022-23 season-high scoring total by 17 points.

“Thought we did some good things, and thought we have a lot we can work on. That’s why you play these games,” Georgia head coach Mike White said in his postgame press conference. “Really impressed with A-Dub (A.W. Hamilton) and Eastern Kentucky’s program. Their tenacity defensively, aggression and tempo offensively, it was a really really fast paced game. Score could’ve indicated that a little bit more, but two teams that really got after it from a tempo standpoint.”

“We explored some different rotations, combinations,” he added, asked what the main thing he wanted to accomplish on the night was. “Obviously you’d like to have a couple of guys healthy in Sunny (RJ Sunahara) and JJ (Jalen DeLoach). Gotta get those guys back. You wanted to get through playing in front of your crowd the first time and find some success regardless of the final score, some individual and team success. You know, just test yourself for the first time in front of people.”

Georgia started the game with a lineup of five newcomers: Silas Demary, Noah Thomasson, Melendez, RJ Sunahara and Tchewa. For Demary, it was his first career outing, not just at Georgia but in general, and he shined, finishing with 12 points and 5 assists.

“The experience was so surreal. Being a freshman and able to start, knowing that the coaches trust me to play my game and, just be a freshman, not many freshmen start in the SEC, it’s a blessing,” Demary said. “I thought I had a solid game. I got people going, got mine, got some stops. Overall think I played a pretty solid game. Got some errors to clean up. Just want to be better for next week.”

“I thought against a team that presses you for literally 40 minutes – that’s what we were told, that’s what we watched on film and that’s what they did, they’re fun to compete against and watch, think they’re going to have a lot of success this year and have a real chance to go to the NCAA Tournament – thought Silas showed a lot of poise,” White added. “And not surprisingly. He’s mature for his age. Real mature.”

As for the player of the game, RJ Melendez, his scoring was nothing short of what was expected of him. He reportedly has a big outing in Georgia’s secret scrimmage win over N.C. State and backed that up during the first outing in front of fans.

“Yeah, he’s more than secretly pretty good He’s a good player. Good at a lot,” White said. “He can fill the stat sheet. I like the level of confidence that he played with. For a guy that hasn’t logged those kind of minutes in his college career, good to see him take advantage. Who knows moving forward. He’s got competition for his spot, but thought he played pretty well tonight.”

“I definitely feel super comfortable,” Melendez added. “Coach White puts me in the best position, but it’s not always going to be my night. I’m just playing the game – if it’s not my night on offense, I’m making sure on defense whoever I’m guarding is not going to score on me. That’s the role I’m taking as a leader, an upperclassman, trying to teach the freshmen that it takes a lot for us to have a winning culture.”

Not all things were great though. In the game’s first four minutes, RJ Sunahara, who won Division II Player of the Year last season at Nova Southeastern, suffered a knee injury that had him on the sideline the rest of the night. He went to the locker room after being attended to by trainers before returning with ice on his left knee and eventually sweats in the second half. Fellow transfer Jalen DeLoach of VCU was also out for the game after going through warmups.

“JJ (DeLoach) has been out with a leg issue for a few days now. We’ll see here. Sunny (Sunahara), he had some type of leg or knee. I was told there early game. We’ll have to get him looked at. Always concerned because you don’t know. Optimistic, hopeful. He’s in good hands, but we’ll see. Hopefully know something tonight or tomorrow. Who knows?”

The absence of both big men opened the door for freshman Dylan James to see more minutes. He had 9 points, 5 rebounds and a pair of assists. Blue Cain also contributed 12 points in an effort White described for the freshmen collectively as “slow and steady.”

Like Silas, those three — I want to say maybe a week or two ago we sat upstairs and talked about how of the four freshmen Mari’s, you know, kind of the motor man. Ultra competitive and high-level energy, and those other three freshmen are a little bit unique in their pace, you know, for freshmen. The game’s a little bit slow for them compared to other freshmen that we’ve coached.”

Georgia is in action for real its next time out. Next Monday, the Bulldogs open the season against Oregon in Las Vegas. Tip time is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on truTV.