Hoop Dawgs Game Preview: Oregon

Georgia Basketball tips off its 2023-24 season vs Oregon at 4:30 p.m. tonight in Las Vegas's T-Mobile Arena on truTV. The game is the second of four to be featured in the 2023 Hall of Fame Series along with USC vs. Ohio State (Women's), Colorado vs. LSU (Women's) and USC vs Kansas State (Men's). Oregon opens as a 6.5 point favorite. This will be the first meeting between the Dawgs and Ducks on the hardwood since 1975.

Second year Head Coach Mike White and the Dawgs will see a familiar face in Oregon guard Kario Oquendo, Georgia's second-leading scorer a season ago. Oquendo joins Central Michigan transfer Jesse Zarzuela and three top 40 2023 recruits in forming Oregon's 8th ranked 2023 recruiting class.

Head Coach Dana Altman enters his 14th season in Eugene as the fifth winningest coach in college basketball with 731 career wins. The Ducks finished 21-15 a year ago which was good for fourth in the Pac-12 but not good enough for the NCAA Tournament as their season ended in the quarterfinals of the NIT with a three point loss to Wisconsin.

This is the first season opener Georgia has played against another Power Six opponent since 2016's opening loss to Clemson. This will be the first of multiple opportunities for the Dawgs to build a strong resume with upcoming games against Wake Forest, Miami, Florida State and Georgia Tech before SEC play begins. The keys to the game for Georgia will be stopping Oregon from getting easy buckets inside on defense and stretching the floor on offense.

Injury Report

UGA transfers RJ Sunahara and Jalen Deloach are listed as questionable for tonight. Oregon's Jackson Shelstad and Mookie Cook have both been announced as inactive tonight with Jermaine Couisnard and N'Faly Dante both listed as questionable.

Predicted Starters

Georgia:

Silas Demary Jr. (6'5 Fr) #72 player & #11 CG in 247 composite 2023 rankings

Noah Thomasson (6'4 Sr) 19.5 PPG 3.8 RPG 3.5 APG (2022-23 at Niagara)

Jabri Abdur-Rahim (6'8 Sr) 7.1 APG 2.7 RPG 0.2 APG (2022-23)

RJ Melendez (6'7 Jr) 6.0 PPG 3.5 RPG 0.9 APG (2022-23 at Illinois)

Russel Tchewa (7'0 Sr) 11.1 PPG 8.6 RPG 0.9 APG (2022-23 at USF)

Oregon:

Jermaine Couisnard (6'4 Sr) 12.8 PPG 3.1 RPG 2.2 APG (2022-23)

Keeshawn Barthelemy (6'1 Sr) 9.3 PPG 2.0 RPG 2.4 APG (2022-23)

Kario Oquendo (6'4 Sr) 12.7 PPG 2.6 RPG 0.6 APG (2022-23 at UGA)

Nate Bittle (7'0 Jr) 7.3 PPG 5.1 RPG 0.8 APG (2022-23)

N'Faly Dante (6'11 Sr) 13.4 PPG 8.4 RPG 1.1 APG (2022-23)