Field Street Forum

ATHENS, Ga. – Led by 15 points apiece from Blue Cain and Jeremiah Wilkinson, the Georgia Bulldogs (1-0) defeated the Bellarmine Knights (0-1) 104-59 in their season opener at Stegman Coliseum on Monday night.

FAST FACTS
• Tonight’s victory marks the 300th of Mike White‘s career. White entered the season with 56 wins at Georgia’s helm, which represents the most ever by a Bulldog men’s basketball head coach in his first three seasons.
• After a tight first few minutes, Georgia used a 13-3 run over 3:37 to build a 30-18 lead with 8:59 left in the first half. The Bulldogs led by double figures for the rest of the game, with the lead topping out at game’s final margin of 45 points.
• In his collegiate basketball debut, Jake Wilkins announced his arrival by draining a corner three for his first career points, followed by a steal that led to a rim-rattling slam, which was followed up with another bucket for a solo seven-point run.
• Brandon Klatsky scored the first points of his collegiate career on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 57 seconds remaining in the game to push Georgia to the 100-point mark on the scoreboard. Klatsky added another bucket on a layup with 12 seconds left and dribbled out the clock following a steal on Bellarmine’s next possession.
• Georgia’s 45-point win was the Bulldogs’ largest margin of victory since defeating Seattle, 103-58, on Nov. 28, 1986.
• The Bulldogs scored 58 points in the paint and 50 off the bench.

Key Quotes: 
Georgia Head Coach Mike White
On Jake Wilkins’ performance and capabilities…
“We’ve got really healthy competition in practice, and so he’ll have a couple practices a week where he has really good ones, as do other guys in their certain practices where maybe one of the other wings sticks out a little bit more. But he’s really talented. His composure, his maturity, his attention to detail, his basketball IQ, his coachability. Not only from us as a staff but also from his teammates  is something that I’ve commented on a bunch. He’s just atypical as a freshman and Kareem’s got a lot of that too. Asa is a guy that modeled it for incoming freshmen here at Georgia, and he’s a guy we reference a lot, and I think Jake’s just really bought into running his own race. It’s a process. It’s going to take a little bit of time because he’s got other players around him that he’s in competition with. There’s no one on our team that’s any more talented than he is. His attitude’s great and he’s getting better every day.”

On what 300 wins means for the team…
“One of my best friends texted me this morning. A guy actually, the first guy to hire me, got me into coaching at Jacksonville State named Mike LaPlante. He said “good luck tonight going for number 300″. I didn’t think about it again until after the game. But I’ve just been really fortunate. To coach really good players and great people. As much as anything,  working with great people and working at three big-time institutions. It’s just a great opportunity and I’m really fortunate.”

UP NEXT
Georgia remains at home and welcomes Maryland Eastern Shore on Wednesday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be streaming on SEC network+. Tickets can be purchased here, and the game can be heard live on GeorgiaDogs.com.