Georgia @ Massachusetts preview

Following an 11-day break for final exams, Georgia coach Mark Fox looks for improvement from his team when it hits the road for a Saturday visit to UMass. The Bulldogs were not sharp in holding off Winthrop at home in an 87-82 home victory Dec. 5, and while Georgia has won seven of its first eight games and owns strong non-conference triumphs over Santa Clara and Marquette, Fox wants to see a better performance with SEC play beginning in two weeks.

Senior forward Yante Maten finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds against Winthrop but struggled defensively, and afterward Fox told reporters, “I told Yante after the game that he did not play well. Our front-line guys did not play well, and our guards threw the ball away.” The Minutemen have defeated Holy Cross and Providence after a four-game losing streak that included a defeat to SEC school South Carolina. Sophomore guard Luwane Pipkins finished with 30 points in the 72-63 victory over Providence and is fourth in the Atlantic-10 in scoring at 18.9 points per game. “I just tried to go at them from the start,” Pipkins told the media afterward. “We got the win. That’s all that matters.”

TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network

ABOUT GEORGIA (7-1): Maten recorded his fourth double-double of the season against Winthrop and is averaging 18.5 points and 9.4 rebounds. Junior guard William Jackson has solidified the backcourt, averaging 12.5 points and four assists per game while shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range. The Bulldogs are off to their best start since beginning the 2007-07 campaign with a 9-1 mark.

ABOUT UMASS (5-5): Pipkins is averaging 22.7 points on 25-of-45 shooting from the field in his past three games after combining for only 14 points in losses to Quinnipiac and South Carolina. Senior guard C.J. Anderson has scored 10 points in each of his past two games and has reached double figures in three of his past four contests. UMass is 30th in the nation in free-throw shooting at 76.4 percent.

TIP-INS

1. Georgia freshman F Rayshaun Hammonds is averaging nine points and has scored 18 points in his past two games, after scoring just two points in his previous two contests.

2. The Bulldogs are outrebounding opponents by an average of 9.3 per game, ranking 16th in the nation.

3. UMass is 5-0 at home this season and is 34-3 at home against non-conference opponents in the past six seasons.

PREDICTION: Georgia 73, UMass 67