Big opportunity for Bulldogs in Bahamas

Georgia vs. No. 15 Marquette

WHERE: Imperial Arena at Atlantis, Bahamas

WHEN: Saturday, 11 a.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 5-0, Marquette 5-0

STREAMING: FloHoops (Evan Stockton, play-by-play; Lexi Ayala, analyst); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Cabell Philpott, Chuck Dowdle).

NEXT UP: Georgia will face No. 22 St. John’s on Sunday morning at 11 am

Georgia’s basketball team will learn a lot about itself this weekend in the Bahamas as the Bulldogs take on a pair of Top 25-ranked teams in No. 15 Marquette (5-0) and No. 22 St. John’s (4-1).

First up, Marquette. Tip-off is set for 11 am Saturday morning.

“It’ll be a high-level game, a good opportunity for us to see where we’re at,” head coach Mike White said. “Beating one of these guys would be great. Most importantly, it’s a process. It’s a journey for this team. Can we continue to make strides? Can we continue to protect our culture? Because I really like what we’ve got going on right now. At the end of the day, wins and losses will take care of themselves. We’ve just got to continue to improve and embrace the process and enjoy it. “We’ve got a team right now playing with joy, but now we’re (playing) high-level competition, adversity is coming at some point.”

Georgia and St. John’s will play on Sunday morning, also at 11 am

Whatever happens, White said this weekend will be a wonderful opportunity for his Bulldogs to continue growing as a team.

“Who knows what type of adversity we’ll face? How do we handle it? Can we continue to move forward together?” White said. “This trip will give us the opportunity to spend more time with each other than normal circumstances. That said, these guys spend a lot of time with each other already. We’ve got guys in our facility a lot with one another and in the players’ lounge and getting extra shots in the gym. It’ll be a trip to paradise, which would be really nice, but all the teams down there, there’s a business side of it too where we want to come together and see where we stack up against some of the best teams in the country .”

The 5-0 Bulldogs have been impressive in their own right, although the schedule is about to take a giant uptick this weekend.

Five players – Asa Newell (16.8), Silas Demary Jr. (14.6), Dakota Leffew (14.2), Tyrin Lawrence (11.2), and Blue Cain (10.2) – each averaging in double-figures. Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey is right behind at 9.4 points per contest and leads Georgia in rebounding with 7.8 boards per game.

Georgia has also dominated on the boards.

The Bulldogs currently rank second nationally with a +18 rebound margin, including a school-record +30 (53-23) effort against Texas Southern on Nov. 10.

“We’ve got a roster that just has a better chance to be more competitive against high-level competition, and I really like our depth,” White said. “Now, I don’t know what we will do moving forward. Who knows how many minutes some of these guys will play, or how many of our starters will play moving forward? But we’ll continue to evaluate it, and as long as each one of these guys individually is getting better and better, and again, collectively as a team, we will continue to make improvements and everything will work itself out.”