Ever-changing lineup helps fuel Georgia basketball to NIT semifinals
Marc Weiszer
Georgia basketball center Frank Anselem-Ibe was a DNP—did not play—eight times this season including the Bulldogs’ SEC tournament opening win against Missouri.
He averaged a paltry 6 minutes a game and 1.0 points and 1.2 rebounds in SEC play.
Yet he’s as big a reason as any that Georgia finds itself playing in the NIT semifinals Tuesday night against Seton Hall at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Georgia coach Mike White has shuffled up his lineup throughout the season due to injuries and finding the right combinations.
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All 12 Georgia scholarship players who have seen action this season have started at least two games, including Anselem-Ibe who started NIT wins at Wake Forest and Ohio State and came up big.
With regular starting center Russel Tchewa battling an illness, Anselem-Ibe played 28 minutes and grabbed eight rebounds with three assists against Wake Forest and then had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes in the win at Wake Forest.
“Frank has played really well in some of our bigger wins this year he’s been on the court,” White said Monday morning before his team practiced in Indianapolis. “Everyday Frank is what we call him. He had a great practice yesterday. I would bet he has a great practice today. That’s who he is. He works, he’s got great energy and he really played well the other day is why we continue to call his number and why he continued earn the right to stay on the floor. We’ll evaluate it in real time (Tuesday) night, but Frank certainly will continue to get opportunity.”
Tchewa missed the Wake Forest game with an illness and played just 5 minutes at Ohio State.
He was one of two Georgia players made available Monday for an NIT press conference, a sign that he’s in position for a more extended role if called upon.
“All my teammates were ready when their name were called,” Tchewa said. “It was good to see my teammates, especially Frank, respond to his time, respond to his name. I’m really happy for him.”
Guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim (ankle) has missed seven games in a row. White on Monday called him “day-to-day,” which has been the case throughout his time sidelined.
Anselem-Ibe is ready when called upon.
“It’s next man up to be honest,” he said after the 79-77 win. “The challenge is there. We know what we faced. I think the coaches did a great job of telling us the scout, how to guard these dudes. We just did it.”
Noah Thomasson finishing time with Georgia basketball with a flourish
Georgia guard Noah Thomasson is making the most of his final college games.
The Niagara transfer is averaging 17.3 points per game in the NIT and is 11 of 26 on 3-pointers.
His 79 3-pointers this season rank No. 8 on Georgia’s all-time single season list.
On Monday, Thomasson called the NIT “another chance to keep playing college basketball, have more eyes on me having my career after here.”
Thomasson, a Houston native, leads Georgia in scoring at 13.1 points per game in his one Bulldog season. He’s the only Bulldog to start every game this season.
“He was hopefully obviously of helping Georgia get to the NCAA tournament, but he’s taking full advantage of helping us make an NIT run,” White said. “He’s creating life memories for himself.”
Said Thomasson: “We’ve made many memories throughout this whole tournament. Now the goal is to try to win it.”
Seton Hall's rugged defense has Georgia Bulldogs attention
Georgia and Seton Hall will meet for the third time ever—and first time since November 2015—before a sold-out crowd at Hinkle Fieldhouse after Indiana State and Utah play in another semifinal.
The Pirates played in Hinkle earlier this season against Big East foe Butler, winning 78-72 on Jan. 13.
Seton Hall ranks 88th in the nation in field goal defense at 42.2 percent.
White says Seton Hall is similar to Texas A&M, Tennessee and Mississippi State because “they really sit down with discipline and physicality on the defensive end and their positioning is high, high level.”
Seton Hall ranks 38th in the nation in blocked shots at 4.8 per game with 6-10 Jaden Bediako with 59 total and 6-6 Dre Davis with 44.
Seton Hall ranks 307th nationally in 3-point attempts per game at 18.4 while Georgia is 92nd at 23.8.
Coach Shaheen Holloway, who coached Saint Peters to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight two years ago, is in his second season as head coach at his alma mater.
“It would mean everything to play for a championship,” he said. “That’s what’s the goal obviously in the beginning of the year. We’ve got an opportunity right now to kind of play for a championship. That’s something we’re not taking lightly.”