No. 23 Georgia at No. 6 Tennessee

WHERE: Food City Center, Knoxville, Tennessee

RECORDS: Georgia 14-2, 2-1; Tennessee 15-1, 2-1

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Brian Custer, Richard Hendrix); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie).

NOTES BEFORE THE GAME: Click here

Georgia sophomore Blue Cain was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee.

On Wednesday night, he’ll be back in a building he’s quite familiar with at Food City Center when No. 23 Georgia takes on No. 6 Tennessee.

“I wouldn’t say I grew up a Vols fan, but I obviously went to a few games,” Cain said. “I mean, it’s going to be exciting just to be in front of my family and my friends. I look forward to it.”

The Bulldog sophomore made a name for himself as a player during his high school years. Cain was named All-State by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association in 2021 and 2022 while playing at Knoxville Catholic. He played there for three seasons before finishing his prep career at IMG Academy.

In 86 appearances with the Fighting Irish, Cain scored 1,213 points, grabbed 400 rebounds, dished out 253 assists and collected 191 steals. Cain helped Knoxville Catholic post a 74-12 record in three seasons, including winning the 2020 Tennessee Division II-AA state title.

However, despite his impressive numbers, the Tennessee Volunteers never showed much interest, so Cain ultimately chose Georgia Tech before choosing the Bulldogs.

“Not particularly,” said Cain, who has started all 16 Georgia games as part of a five-guard rotation for the Bulldogs that continues to improve.

“We have a very, very talented, deep, diverse group of guards. We’re probably a little bit unique in that they have some diversity there, but there’s probably more similarities,” says head coach Mike White said. “In the group of five we play better against them than any other group I have coached. We have a group of 6-4, 6-5 guys who can throw a shot that makes it successful. We also have some weaknesses. We have to work on our sales margin, our decisions, our implementation and much more. We play well together, but we still have a way to go.”

Cain hopes to show the Vols what they’ve been missing.

“I think we’re one of the deeper guard rooms in the country,” Cain said. “We have five guys that really have it and can really impact the guy. I think we have five guys who can take over the game. I mean, it feels great to be out there.”

Tennessee’s five-week run atop the AP and coaches polls ended Monday as the Volunteers slipped to No. 6 in each.

graduate Chaz Lanier surpasses all Vols in scoring and is just one point behind the top of the SEC this week. He has scored a majority of his 19.0 points per game from behind the arc, is tops in the league and fourth nationally in 3-pointers per game at 3.7, and is second in 3-point percentage at .437. SEC percentage.

Tennessee has another trio of double-digit scorers – Zakai Zeigler at 11.9 points per game, Jordan Gainey at 11.2 points per game and Igor Milicic Jr. at 10.4 points per game. Zeigler leads the SEC and is No. 5 in the nation with 7.6 assists per game, while Milicic is fourth in the league with 8.6 rebounds per game.

• The Bulldogs are ranked No. 23 in both the AP and Coaches Polls this week. This is UGA’s first AP Poll appearance since Jan. 10, 2011 and the first time since March 10, 2003 that the Dogs have been ranked in both polls are represented.

• Mike White led three different programs with losing records in the season before finishing in the top 25 in the AP poll, including at Louisiana Tech from a 12-20 season to a No. 25 ranking in the 2010-11 season 2013 season and went 16-20 at Florida. 17 in the 2014-15 season to No. 12 in 2017. UGA was 6-26 in 2021-22, the season before White’s.

• The Bulldogs entered the week averaging six popular metrics (NET, KenPom, Torvik, KPI, BPI and SOR) at No. 29.3 – an increase of 189.7 spots since Mike White became UGA’s head coach.

• Tennessee is UGA’s fourth straight ranked opponent, the first time the Bulldogs have faced a quartet of ranked opponents in consecutive games. Last Saturday against Oklahoma marked just the fifth time Georgia faced a trio of consecutive ranked opponents.