ATHENS — Georgia basketball will make its debut as a Top 25-ranked team when it plays host to Western Carolina at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (9-1), ranked No. 25 in the most recent AP poll, are a 34.5-point favorite over the Catamounts (4-6) in large part because of their uptempo playing style.
Georgia, which has now broken into the Top 25 each of the past two seasons, leads the nation with 98.3 points per game, in large part, because of third-year player Blue Cain.
“He’s one of the most improved players in our league over time in Year Three,” Bulldogs coach Mike White said. “He was a completely different player than he was in Year One. He’s worked at it. He’s bought into trying to become a winning basketball player, starring in his role.”
Cain is filling up the boxscore for Georgia, as White noted:
Minutes played: 1st, 26 per game
Scoring: 2nd, 16.1 points per game
Rebounding: 1st, 5.6 rebounds per game
Steals: 2nd, 20
Assists: 3rd, 27
Free-throw shooting percentage: 2nd, 90.5 percent
Free throws made: 2nd, 38
Field goal percentage: 4th, 50 percent
Three-point shooting is about the only area where Cain is lacking — his 29.8 percent is slightly below the team average of 30 percent — and White said he likes the shots the team is taking.
The 6-foot-5 Cain is known best for an intangible trait that White finds compelling.
“Probably the characteristic that epitomizes him most is simply toughness,” White said this week. “He’s a tough dude. He’s competitive. He’s not going to back down.
“He’s got some of that quiet confidence that we’ve talked about.”
Georgia transfer guard Marcus “Smurf” Millender indicated Cain is at the heart of the team.
“Blue has been unbelievable, he’s a leader on and off the court, he’s a Dawg on and off the court,” Millender said. “He’s another bother I can lean on when things are going good or things are going bad.”
White has said Georgia’s fluid defense is a work in progress, while offensively, the shot hierarchy is still working itself out, and the Bulldogs’ 3-point game is being groomed.
“It’s happened at times where we make threes and we look different,” White said of UGA’s upside when knocking down 3-pointers at an impressive clip. “The defense is gonna dictate our shots. There’s not a certain amount (of 3-pointers) that we want to shoot. There’s not a percentage.
“We’ve got to see if we can make an extra pass to our right or to our left, and I want our guys shooting with confidence.”
Much of that will start with Cain, whose star figures to rise as he raises his 3-point shooting percentage.
