ATHENS — The Georgia Bulldogs will face Notre Dame in Holiday Hoopsgiving 2022 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Sunday, Dec. 18, the VII Group, which organizes and manages the event, announced on Friday.
The Bulldogs and Fighting Irish will be meeting for the fourth time on the hardwood, with Notre Dame owning a 2-1 advantage in the previous neutral site matchups.
The Irish defeated the Bulldogs, 88-85, in their first meeting on Feb. 6, 1994, as part of the Nike Super Shootout at The Omni in Atlanta. Notre Dame secured an 89-83, double-overtime victory in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 25, 2010. Georgia bested the Irish, 61-57, on Nov. 22, 2011, in the consolation round of the Progressive CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
The 2022 edition of Holiday Hoopsgiving will be the third annual edition of what has quickly become a premier pre-conference event. In addition to the contest between Georgia and Notre Dame, Hoopsgiving will feature three additional matchups on Friday, Dec. 10, with Clemson facing Loyola Chicago, Auburn taking on Memphis and LSU meeting Wake Forest.
The first Hoopsgiving conducted in 2020 featured five matchups at State Farm Arena over two weekends and included seven teams that advanced to either the NCAA Tournament (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia Tech and LSU) or NIT (Dayton, Memphis and Mississippi State). Last year’s event included four games and four players who were selected in last week’s NBA Draft, including three first-round picks.
Georgia will be playing its first season under Mike White as head coach during the 2022-23 season. White averaged more than 22 wins per year in combined 11 seasons as head coach at Louisiana Tech (2012-15) and Florida (2015-22). White’s teams have advanced to postseason competition during nine of 10 possible seasons, and Florida was a consensus pick to earn a bid to the 2020 NCAA Tournament before it was canceled.
The 2022-23 Georgia roster features five returning letterwinners and nine newcomers.
The Bulldogs’ returnees accounted for more than 60 percent of their offensive production last season. Headlining the quintet are Kario Oquendo, the SEC’s top returning scorer in league games (18.3 ppg), and Bridges, who became the first Bulldog to lead SEC in field goal percentage since 1980.
The newcomers include six transfers and three freshmen, including two walk-ons. Five of the transfers – Frank Anselem, Justin Hill, Jusaun Holt, Mardrez McBride and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe – played on teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in either 2021 or 2022 and the sixth – Terry Roberts – helped lead Florida SouthWestern to a No. 1 ranking in junior college in 2020. Of the freshmen, KyeRon Lindsay played for two top-10 ranked teams in Texas Class 6A at Denton Guyer High School.
