Georgia will look to equal its win total from last season when the Bulldogs host reeling Hampton on Wednesday night in Athens, Ga.
Georgia (5-2) rebounded from an 87-73 loss to UAB in the championship game of the Sunshine Slam Beach Bracket last week in Florida with a 62-47 victory over visiting East Tennessee State on Sunday.
Hampton (1-5) extended its losing streak to four with a 97-70 setback at Wake Forest on Saturday.
Georgia is off to a strong start under first-year coach Mike White, who arrived after leading Florida for seven seasons. He replaced Tom Crean, who was let go after the Bulldogs went 6-26 last season.
Georgia pulled away from East Tennessee State behind three Bulldogs who scored in double figures.
Kario Oquendo had 16 points, while Justin Hill added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Terry Roberts scored 12 points and finished with a game-high six rebounds and six assists.
The Bulldogs, who outscored the Buccaneers 32-21 in the second half, shot 24 of 57 (42.1 percent) from the field overall and outrebounded their opponent 38-28.
“I thought we responded to the halftime chat defensively,” White said. “I thought we were pretty sharp defensively in the second half, probably our best second half, so that’s a positive.”
Hampton fell behind Wake Forest 24-3 to open Saturday’s game and trailed by as many as 37 points in the second half.
The Pirates, who committed 17 turnovers, were led by Marquis Godwin, who went 6 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 18 points. Russell Dean added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Like Georgia, Hampton’s only game against a Power Five team has been against Wake Forest, which defeated the Bulldogs 81-71 on Nov. 11.
Hampton, which left the Big South Conference to join the Colonial Athletic Association this season, won’t face another Power Five team during the regular season after facing Georgia.
“We want to get back to a consistent defensive style of basketball,” Hampton coach Edward Joyner Jr. said. “We’re going to take it one opponent at a time, and we’ll go from there.”
–Field Level Media