Georgia travels to Tallahassee Wednesday Night to take on Florida State at 9:15 as part of the ACC/SEC challenge. Georgia has another big challenge and opportunity ahead of them against a Florida State team that is much better than some thought.

Georgia picked up a quality win against Winthrop last Friday at home, and will look to follow that up when they hit the road to take on Florida State. This looks to be a much tougher game than some thought in the pre-season because Florida State is looking like a good team and has already picked up a win against a ranked Colorado team. They also did fall to Florida by 21 in Gainesville against Florida, but they have potential to be a good team.

Florida State will provide Georgia with another challenge in the interior as they play most of the game with 2 players above 6′ 10” and have no one in their rotation below 6′ 5”. They have 3 scorers averaging double digits points a game and are led by Jamir Watkins (6’7”, 210) at SF who averages 14.2 points a game. He is shooting 29% from 3 ,so he is doing most of his work inside the arc, and Georgia will need to contain him inside throughout this game. He is also averaging about 4.5 assists a game so it is important for Georgia to make him a shooter and not allow him to get other involved in the offense. Florida State ranks 238th in D1 in the percentage of points off of 3-pointers, so Georgia forcing Florida State to take a lot of contested jump shots will be a recipe for success in this one.

Florida State has a good defense that is headlined by their ability to turn the other team over and get off on the break. They currently are 6th in the country in steal percentage, so Georgia will need to make sure they take care of the ball and do not give the Seminoles run outs off the turnovers. They are really good at defending the 3 but have struggled defending teams inside the arc this year. Georgia will need to drive the ball and score on the inside against a vulnerable defensive interior for Georgia to have success in this game.

For Georgia, the keys to this game will be to compete in the rebounding battle and win the turnover margin. Florida State is not a great rebounding team but they have been better than the dawgs so it is important for Georgia to be competitive on the glass (Keep in within 5). Georgia did put Jalen DeLoach in the starting lineup for RJ Melendez last game, and they won the rebounding battle, so look for that to continue. The most important factor for this game will be the turnover margin because Florida State is 11th in the country in TO % on defense but on offense they struggle with turnovers as well. Georgia has not been good at forcing turnovers this year but if they are able to hold onto the ball and force Florida State into a few turnovers they should be in good shape.

Injury Update

Mike White said last Wednesday that RJ Sunahara still has not practiced and he had no idea when he will be back. I do not expect him to play in this one, but hopefully he will be able to come back in December so he can prepare for conference play.

Projected Starters

Georgia	FSU
Silas Demary Jr.	Darin Green Jr.
Noah Thomasson	Jalen Warley
Jabri Abdur-Rahim	Jamir Watkins
Jalen DeLoach	Cam Corhen
Russel Tchewa	Baba Miller

This should be another good test for Georgia and an important game for their early season NCAA Tournament hopes. See you after for the recap!