We made it to the college basketball season and the dawgs begin the year in Las Vegas against the Oregon Ducks Monday at 4:30. This should be a great way to kick off the season and provides Georgia with a tough test to begin the year.

Georgia begins the 2023-24 campaign tonight with a headline game on the opening night of the college basketball season against Oregon. Oregon is a high quality team that will provide Georgia with a lot of interesting matchups in this game and allow for Georgia’s new players to be spotlighted early in the year.

One of the main storylines going into this game will be Georgia facing off against old friend Kario Oquendo. Kario spent two years in Athens where he averaged 12.7 points last year before transferring to Oregon this offseason. The key to stopping Oquendo has always been to keep him out of transition, so it will be important for Georgia to have strong transition defense whenever he is on the floor.

Oregon’s best player this year will be their big man N’Faly Dante (6′ 11”, 265lbs) who averaged 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds a year ago while being name to the All Pac-12 first team. Georgia will need their big man to step up and contain Dante. This is the reason why Georgia went out and got Russell Tchewa and Jalen Deloach this offseason in the portal to fortify their presence in the paint. Dante will provide a big test for these two in their first game at Georgia. There is some concern about whether Deloach will be able to play in this game as he was held out of the scrimmage with a leg injury last Monday. Dante also seems to be banged up for Oregon so we will see if he gives it a go.

Georgia began their year with solid win in their scrimmage 99-82 against a decent Eastern Kentucky team (#135 in Ken Pom). Georgia started Noah Thomasson, Silas Demary Jr., RJ Melendez, RJ Sunahara and Russel Tchewa in that game and I would expect a similar opening lineup against Oregon. The one thing that may change would be at the 4 spot with RJ Sunahara because he injured his left knee during the scrimmage and there is some concern about his availability for this game. If he is unable to go, look for Jalen Deloach to step in as a starter if he is healthy, and if both Sunahara and Deloach are out, look for Georgia to potentially go small in their starting lineup.

This a matchup between two top 60 teams in Ken Pom with Georgia at #57 and Oregon at #41. This should be an exciting game between two teams that are looking to return to the NCAA tournament after both missing out last year. It will also provide Georgia an opportunity to show off their hopefully improved play in the interior from a year ago. We know the inside play was a weakness a year ago and Georgia should be a lot better inside this year. Georgia looks ready to have an improved year overall on the court and this game is a big first step. Excited for the year to begin!

There will be a post game recap after the game on the site. See you then!