Bulldogs top Golden Eagles, 83-78, in season opener

ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, 83-78, in its home regular season opener Monday night at Stegeman Coliseum. Three scorers saw double figures as freshman forward Asa Newell led the charge with 26 points, matching Dominique Wilkins for the all-time program record for points scored in a freshman debut.

Fast Facts
• In addition to Newell’s team-leading 26-point debut, the freshman grabbed 11 boards off the glass and three blocks to record his first career double-double. Graduate guard Dakota Leffew and junior forward RJ Godfrey also found double figures scoring 18 and 10, respectively.
• RJ Godfrey joined Asa Newell in recording his first career double-double, scoring 10 points paired with 10 rebounds on the night.
• Dakota Leffew’s 18 points were powered by four three-pointers on the night, marking his 16th career game with four or more makes from behind the arc.
• Asa Newell’s debut performance marked the fourth time in school history with a Bulldog recording 25+ points, 10+ rebounds and 3+ blocks in a game (Trey Thompkins vs New Orleans – 2009, Trey Thompkins at Tennessee – 2010, and Yante Maten vs LSU – 2018).
• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-25 on the night.

Key Quotes
“This team also has got a ways to go,” head coach Mike White said. “It’s easy when you’re at Charlotte and you’re up big late and there’s no game pressure on you and the things fall in and we’re getting tip dunks and what have you. Then you play Central Florida, who we all knew was a lot better than that. We probably weren’t that good. I hope to be that good in a couple months. Now it’s equal opportunity, a lot of stuff we were doing today, but that’s another area where we’ve got to grow and learn who we are. Who’s getting the ball and what spots at what time of the game and how we’re going to execute, what we can really hang our hat on. So, we’ll be able to learn a lot from this game.”

Up Next
The Bulldogs will remain at home when they host Texas Southern in the first game of the Peach State Classic on Sunday, Nov. 10 with tipoff set at 3:30 p.m. ET at the Stegeman Coliseum.

POST-GAME NOTES

• Tonight’s game marks the third time the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles have competed against each other with Georgia now holding a 3-0 all-time record against Tennessee Tech.
• Dominate Like Dominique – Freshman Asa Newell recorded 26 points equalling Dominique Wilkins’ program record of most points scored by UGA freshman in their first game.
• Strong In Season Openers – Georgia now has an 86-34 record in opening contests in 120 seasons of competition.
• Big On Boards – The Bulldogs outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-25 overall with 16 offensive rebounds.
• Double-Double Dawgs – Asa Newell and R.J. Godfrey each recorded a double-double tonight, the first of each player’s career.
• Power In The Paint – Georgia boasted 58 points in the paint tonight with Tennessee Tech totaling 36.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Georgia Head Coach Mike White

On Dakota Leffew… 
“Really good. Not surprising. I’ve said this publicly a few times, he’s coming off the bench for us right now. Who knows who will start Sunday? There’s been a lot of practices where he’s the best guard on the floor. There’s a lot of practices where Silas [Demary Jr.] is the best guard on the floor, a lot of practices where Blue [Cain] is. Savo [Drezgic] didn’t get an opportunity tonight, but he’s a really talented guard. Tyrin Lawrence was fantastic in our last game. I’m probably forgetting a guard or two. Dylan James can play in the backcourt. He’s developing and merging, our most versatile guy. It’s nice to see Dakota get it going. That’s what he’s capable of. He actually had a couple other opportunities where he was in the paint, and I thought he got a little bit too unselfish. I thought we took one selfish one early in the game up the right sideline in front of their bench. Outside of that, I liked our shot selection a lot. But I thought Dakota got a little bit passive a couple times. He’s just such an unselfish guy, but he’s a very talented scorer and passer.”

On Asa Newell… 
“He’s a winning player. He’s about the right stuff. He’ll be in the gym tomorrow morning getting shots up on his own. It’s a day off tomorrow. He’ll be begging the GAs to get in the gym to work him out. That’s just who he is. In the summer, we had to kick him out of the gym. We had to tell him to get some rest. He understands that he gets it. He knows that we weren’t at our best defensively. He’ll put some of that on himself, although he was fantastic.  I don’t think there were as many defensive miscues with him as there were across the board, generally speaking. But six offensive rebounds, being in passing lanes defensively, altering shots at the rim. He’s mature beyond his years. He’s an accountable player. He’s got high basketball character.”

On offensive rebounding… 
“We talked about that, right, in the spring, more so after our class was complete, summer, fall, where we talked about what do you expect with this team, with this roster. I would have been shocked if we’re not significantly better defending the glass, defending the paint, blocking, and altering shots, and then obviously on the offensive glass and also just getting easy ones. How many times did these last couple times you guys have seen us where we’re just in the paint and we get our hands on a loose ball or a dump ball for a lob. Asa just has an ability to make things look easy. Somto [Cyril] does too. Justin Abson, RJ Godfrey, collectively, those four along with Dylan, I think finish it better. But again, give Tennessee Tech credit. I thought they had really physical wall-ups. They were smaller than us, but they played just as big.”

On improvements before Sunday’s contest against Texas Southern… 
“Transition defense, defending the three. This team also has got a ways to go. It’s easy when you’re at Charlotte and you’re up big late and there’s no game pressure on you and the things fall in and we’re getting tip dunks and what have you. You play Central Florida, who we all knew was a lot better than that. We probably weren’t that good. I hope to be that good in a couple months. But when you’re up 15 or you’re up 30, it’s a lot different than when there’s four minutes left and you’re up four points or what have you and there’s game pressure on you and you have all of these new guys. Asa is not a guy, at least going into today’s game, where we say let’s play through him a lot. He went and got 26 and 11 off motor and talent and work ethic. Now it’s equal opportunity, a lot of stuff we were doing today, but that’s another area where we’ve got to grow and learn who we are, who’s getting the ball and what spots at what time of the game and how we’re going to execute, what we can really hang our hat on. So, we’ll be able to learn a lot from this game.”

On Tennessee Tech’s performance… 
“I credit Tennessee Tech. I thought Coach Pelphrey did a great job. Their overall tempo of the game looked really quick and fast. You go back as a coach and you think about everything you’ve done the last 72 hours in preparation. We just looked a little bit slower to the ball than those guys did. We struggled to contain them. They pressured us into a few ill-advised decisions. We did have some interior looks that just rolled around the rim and didn’t go. We had some open looks early from three that didn’t go. And then all of a sudden, you’re dealing with a team that’s an inferior opponent that’s playing with nothing to lose. That’s playing by just making shots and playing with confidence. I thought that Tennessee Tech could have won that game. If they play that well in conference play they’re going to have a good year. We had to get to a point where they’re really exploiting our ball screen coverage, and we got to where we did a lot of switching down the stretch. And then in isolations, they just made some big shots off the bounce. Some of those possessions, we did a pretty good job, but good offense always beats good defense.”

On Georgia’s defensive performance… 
“Not great. But, again, I was really impressed with their speed. We struggled to stay in front of the ball. Not only the contested jump shots, particularly the threes off the bounce that were heavily contested, but also their ability to put their head down and get in the paint and finish. They were good. They were     really good tonight. We’ve been a lot better than that defensively, a lot of practices and in our exhibitions, but I thought Tennessee Tech had a lot to do with that.”

#1 | Dakota Leffew | Gr. | G

On his performance… 
“Basically what Asa said just our preparation and just coming in and being a spark plug for the team”

On Tennessee Tech’s three-point shooting… 
“They play a five-out offense. They play small guards. They want to space it out and shoot a lot of three’s. It’s just focusing on that.”

On the team’s performance… 
“Every night is not going to be perfect. They get in the gym and we get in the gym. Things like that. We’re going to have a good game and bounce back and have a good shooting night.”

#14 | Asa Newell | Fr. | F

On the success of the gameplan tonight… 
“It’s just really our preparation. Going into it, Mike White has done a fantastic job preparing us for this team. I want to say my teammates really just helped me get the ball, and we just run our offense.”

On tying Dominique Wilkins’ record of most points scored by a freshman in their first game… 
“Yes, for sure. The human highlight reel, for sure. I got a jersey of Dominique back at the crib.”

On Silas Demary Jr.’s leadership… 
“Silas was a great leader. His voice, his presence, his aggressiveness, just when he’s going, he makes us all go.”