Maten leads UGA in victory against Winthrop
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Maten leads UGA in victory against Winthrop

Yante Maten
Photo: John Kelley/UGA

ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia men’s basketball team (4-3) picked up a 74-64 win against Winthrop (6-2) Tuesday night at Stegeman Coliseum behind a career-night from forward Yante Maten.

Maten finished the evening with a career-high 24 points, 12 rebounds and ten field goals. The Pontiac, Michigan native’s ten field goals made marks the second time that a UGA player has hit double-digit field goals in a game after Kenny Gaines hit the mark against Murray State.

J.J. Frazier and Charles Mann rounded out other Bulldogs scoring in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Frazier added ten rebounds and five assists for the first double-double of his career.

“That was a good team that we played,” head coach Mark Fox said. “They’re coming in after a great start to their season. They are a very good offensive team and I was pleased with our defense. Late in the game I was pleased with our rebounding. I wasn’t thrilled with our rebounding for the first 30 minutes, but we were better at the end of the game. Our defensive rebounding was the big difference. Offensively, we’re growing so we have some room to grow there.”

The Bulldogs held a double digit lead for the majority of the first half, until Winthrop cut the lead to eight, right before the break to, 33-25. Georgia was led in the first 20-minutes by Maten, who hit double figures in scoring just 11 minutes into the contest. The Bulldogs suffocated the Eagles on the defensive end holding Winthrop to a mere 27.3-percent shooting in the first half, the lowest mark that UGA has allowed in a single half this year.

The Eagles heated up in the second-half closing the gap to, 54-48, with just under nine minutes to go. Winthrop managed to hit several three-pointers in its comeback attempt, including three from Roderick Perkins.

Georgia clamped down the defensive efforts again late in the second half to secure the victory. The Bulldogs held the Eagles to 44.4-percent shooting in the half despite Winthrop stringing together several three-pointers.

The Bulldogs have the remainder of the week off before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 12 p.m. ET to host rival Georgia Tech. For all the latest on Georgia men’s basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@UGABasketball) and continue to check in to georgiadogs.com.

POST-GAME NOTES

• J.J. Frazier received his second starting nod of the season as Kenny Gaines did not play.
• The Bulldogs put the defensive clamps down on Winthrop, holding the visitors without a field goal for a 7:18. The Eagles went 0-for-10 from the field in that stretch, which began after the Eagles’ first bucket. Winthrop finished the first half 9-for-33. It was the second-least field goals allowed in a half by Goergia this season (eight in the second half against Murray State) and was the lowest field goal percentage (27.3 percent).
• Yante Maten scored 10 of Georgia’s first 21 points from the field, beating Winthrop as a team to the 10-point mark by 49 seconds (8:53-8:04).
• The Bulldogs found some space early in the second half on the scoreboard, using a 16-8 run over 7:17 to build the lead to 16 points.
• Maten’s 24 points and 10 field goals made were each career highs.
• Maten’s 10-field-goal performance was the second double-digit field goal contest by Bulldog this year (Kenny Gaines, 10, Murray State).
• Frazier recorded double-digit rebounds for the first time in his career.
• Maten has four straight 20-point games. That is the longest such streak since Trey Thompkins had 20 points in five straight games in February 2010. The game was Maten’s fourth career-high performance of the season. He came into the season with 13 points as a career high, then had 17 against Chattanooga, 21 against Seton Hall, 21 against Oakland and now 24 tonight.
• Frazier and Maten’s dueling double-doubles was the first time that Georgia had two players reach that landmark in 347 days… Last vs. Mercer on Dec. 27, 2014 (Marcus Thornton (17/11), Kenny Gaines (13/10).

DOUBLE-DIGIT BULLDOGS

• Yante Maten’s 24-point performance was his fifth double-digit scoring performance of the season and 10th of his career.
• Maten’s 12-rebound performance was his third double-digit rebounding performance of the season and fourth of his career.
• Maten’s double-double was the second of the season and third of his career.
• J.J. Frazier’s 15-point performance was his fifth double-digit scoring performance of the season and 23rd of his career.
• Frazier’s 10-rebound performance was his first double-digit rebounding performance of the season and second of his career.
• Frazier’s double-double was the first of his career.
• Charles Mann’s 14-point performance was his fourth double-digit scoring performance of the season and 56th of his career.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Georgia Head Coach Mark Fox

On tonight’s game…

“That’s another really good team that we played, Winthrop, coming in after a great start to their season. They’re a very good offensive team and I was pleased with our defense. Late in the game, I was pleased with our rebounding. I wasn’t thrilled about rebounding, even though that’s something we stressed going into the game. I wasn’t thrilled the first 30 minutes with it, but we certainly were better at the end of the game and our defensive rebounding was a big difference.”

On the team’s effort…

“When I said I wasn’t satisfied, I was critical of our competitive response the other day. The first thing you do as an athlete is learn how hard you have to work. The next thing you do is you learn how hard you have to play. The last thing you do is you learn how hard you have to compete. Yante [Maten], in the role that he’s in as just a sophomore, and all these freshmen, they don’t quite know how to answer plays competitively yet. That’s what I mean by that.”

Sophomore F Yante Maten

On leading the team…

“I always try to lead the team, mostly the freshmen, but when someone isn’t playing, someone else has to step up and be a leader.”

On the size advantage…

“I mean, a hook is a hook, so it doesn’t matter who its over. I just get a hook and it will go in.”

Senior G Charles Mann

On what happened at the end of the first half…

“Yeah, we weren’t in rhythm, we weren’t making shots and we just need to do better in that aspect.”

On playing multiple positions on the team…

“I’m a team player, and whatever I need to do to help the team win, I will do. And I need to find a rhythm, I’m not in a rhythm, but I’ll be fine. I’m used to it, I’m just a basketball player, and Ill get used to it and we’ll be fine as a team.”

Winthrop Head Coach Pat Kelsey

On tonight’s game…

“You always have to credit the defense [of Georgia]. I’m not a big fan of when coaches say we just didn’t make shots, you have to tip your cap to Georgia and the way they defended us early on. We talked at halftime with the coaches and our guys, and most of those shots were the type of shots we try to manufacture, but they just weren’t going down.”

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