SoCon Monster Game of the Week: Appalachian State at Georgia

Wait a minute- does the SoCon actually have a chance to even up their record against the SEC at 2-2?
 This is the third of four games for Georgia against SoCon schools. They beat Wofford and lost to Davidson. They will play Chattanooga on Monday. On Friday afternoon, Appalachian State is taking their shot at the Dawgs. They have not beaten a D1 team yet. Georgia's only win so far is against Wofford. They lost to Davidson, Temple, and Nebraska in the Charleston Classic. This is an interesting contest between these two teams.

The Bulldogs have two starters who are 6-8. They are not a huge team. Nemanja Djuristic and Marcus Thornton are the two biggest. But they are averaging just four rebounds and 3.6 boards per game so far. That's not particularly good. Donte Williams started over Djuristic in the most recent game against Nebraska. While Djuristic is averaging in double figures, Williams is the leader in rebounds. He is averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

Charles Mann is the Bulldogs leading scorer at 16.8 points per game. He is shooting 52% from the floor for the year. He has made 4 of 7 from three point range on the year. Amazingly, that is the second most three pointers made on the entire team at this point. The Bulldogs are 338th in the country in percentage of points scored on three pointers. They are shooting 28.8% from three point range on the year. They do not force turnovers very well, rankings 341st in the country in TO% on defense.

Appalachian State is one of the bigger teams in the SoCon, but is not a huge team either. Michael Obacha is 6-8, Tommy Spagnola is 6-7, and Tevin Baskin is 6-6. Spagnola averages 5.8 rebounds per game. Obacha is averaging 7.4 and Baskin is at 7.0. The Mountaineers are one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country. Baskin is the leading scorer as well, with 14.0 points per game. Tab Hamilton is the second leading scorer with 11.0 points per game. Mike Neal is averaging 10.6 points.

The Mountaineers are one of the worst shooting teams in the country. They are shooting 27.7% from three point range, 58.8% from the free throw line, and 44.8% from two point range. Those are terrible percentages, particularly from the line and three point range. The Mountaineers best offense has been hitting the offensive glass, and they will need to continue that if they want to have a chance to win. Opponents are shooting 55.8% from two point range. That's not good and one of the worst in the country. This team is not good at shooting, and not good at stopping people from shooting against them. They also are very mediocre at forcing turnovers.

PREDICTION

It should be a fairly entertaining game. The Mountaineers will need their best offensive performance of the year to date to have a shot in this one. The good news is that they will have an opportunity to continue hitting the offensive glass, because the Dawgs aren't big. But it's hard to imagine that this is a team that is going to slow down Mann. He is so good. Georgia isn't exactly going to dominate, but they come up with their second win over a SoCon school of the year. Georgia 77, Appalachian State 64.