Georgia Visits for Women’s Basketball’s Home Opener Friday Night

 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Opening up the home portion of its 2023-24 schedule, the Belmont University women's basketball team hosts the University of Georgia Friday night. Tipoff from inside the Curb Event Center in the Music City is slated for 6:30 p.m.
 
The home opener will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Dr. Rich Tiner providing play-by-play of the action and Landen Secrest reporting from the sideline. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• The Bruins (0-1) are hosting the first of two Southeastern Conference teams at the Curb Friday evening. Belmont welcomes top-25 ranked Mississippi State to Nashville next Sunday, Nov. 19.
• Three of the Bruins' first four games of the season are against SEC opponents. Belmont was defeated 72-61 at the University of Missouri midday Monday in its season opener.
• Five of the Bruins' first six games of the season are against power conference programs and Belmont will take on six total power conference teams in 2023-24.
• The Lady Bulldogs are the second of at least 14 opponents on the Bruins' schedule who had a winning record in 2022-23, the first of no less than 10 adversaries who won 20 or more games last year, the second of no fewer than 12 teams who made a national postseason tournament last March and the first of no worse than six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.
• Including Georgia, who received three votes in the preseason national coaches poll, Belmont faces at least eight teams this year who ended last season ranked in the top 75 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) with five who finished within the top 35. The Lady Bulldogs were one of such teams, finishing 28th. The Bruins ended 2022-23 ranked 84th in the NET.
• Making her collegiate debut against the Tigers Monday, freshman guard Jailyn Banks put up 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds, accounted for a pair of assists, made a block and came up with a steal. Her 23 points represent the fourth-most by any true freshman this season making her debut.
• Junior forward Tessa Miller also scored in double figures at Missouri, nearly recording a double-double with 12 points and eight boards.
• After her true junior season was cut short due to injury, guard Tuti Jones returned Monday after being selected to the Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team. The Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native was the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22.
• Belmont is ranked 20th in CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• The Bruins won their sixth regular season conference championship in seven seasons last year. Belmont has captured nine regular season conference titles in the Bruins' NCAA era. Including the regular season and league tournament, Belmont has won 16 combined conference championships in three different Division I conferences (MVC, OVC and Atlantic Sun Conference).
• The Bruins are one of only 11 teams in the nation to have won 20 or more games for eight-straight seasons.
• Belmont (11) is one of only three programs to have won more than 10 combined conference championships (regular season and tournament) over the last seven seasons. UConn (14) and Florida Gulf Coast (12) are the other two.
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for eight consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.
• The Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls each of the last eight seasons.
• Belmont has won the 17th-most games in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,057). Georgia has won the 16th-most games with 1,062 all-time victories.

 
Under Coach Brooks

• In his seventh season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. Since his arrival in Nashville, he has led the Bruins to a 146-47 (.756) record, four NCAA Tournaments and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in 2021 and 2022. The third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history, Brooks owns an astounding record of 111-14 (.888) against conference opponents, including conference tournament games. He ranks among the top 10 of active Division I head coaches in terms of winning percentage.

 
MVC Preseason Poll

• Belmont was picked fourth in the MVC but picked up one first-place vote in the preseason predicted order of finish after capturing a regular season championship in the Bruins' first year in the conference in 2022-23. Going 23-12 overall and 17-3 in the Valley, Belmont reached its third-straight conference tournament title game and made its 10th national postseason tournament in 11 seasons with an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 
Bruins at Home

• The Bruins are 103-22 (.824) at home over the last 10 seasons.
• Belmont has a home winning percentage of .742 (187-65) inside the Curb since the arena was opened prior to the 2003-04 season.
• Under coach Brooks, the Bruins are an exceptional 65-11 (.855) inside the Curb.

 
Against the SEC

• Belmont has picked up a road win at an SEC school two of the last three seasons with a 62-50 victory at receiving-votes Ole Miss in November of 2021 and a convincing 78-57 triumph at Auburn in December of 2020.
• The Bruins are 20-45 all-time versus current SEC members and came within a ball bounce of defeating 18th-ranked and fourth-seeded Tennessee on the Lady Volunteers' home floor in the 2022 NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Coach Brooks is 3-9 against SEC opponents with wins over Ole Miss, Auburn and Vanderbilt.
• Belmont last hosted an SEC program on Dec. 15, 2021, when the Bruins welcomed Auburn to the Curb. The visiting Tigers earned a hard-fought 71-62 win.

 
Versus Georgia

• Friday will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two programs with the Lady Bulldogs winning each of the first five matchups.
• Georgia was nationally ranked in the first four games of the series.
• Belmont's NCAA Tournament debut in 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the first-ever meeting between the two teams. The third-seeded and 13th-ranked Lady Bulldogs handed the 14th-seeded Bruins a 53-36 loss in the first round.
• Last December, Georgia defeated Belmont 66-55 in Athens, Georgia. The Lady Bulldogs scored 27 points off a season-high 25 Bruin turnovers.
• Outside of Belmont hosting top-10 ranked Louisville last November, Georgia is the only other top-25 opponent to visit the Curb. The then 16th-ranked Lady Bulldogs claimed an 81-55 win in the Music City on Dec. 12, 2013.

 
About the Lady Bulldogs

• Led by second-year head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, Georgia is fresh off a Round of 32 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs were a No. 10 seed last season and knocked off seventh-seeded Florida State 66-54 in the first round before falling to eventual national runner-up Iowa by just eight points (74-66).
• Friday evening marks the third consecutive year the Bruins have faced an Abrahamson-Henderson-led team as she was previously the head coach at UCF for six seasons. Belmont took on the Knights in Orlando, Florida, during the 2021-22 season.
• Georgia went 22-12 and 9-7 in the SEC in 2022-23, finishing in a three-way tie for fifth place in the final conference standings.
• The Lady Bulldogs were picked seventh in the SEC Preseason Media Poll and ninth in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Georgia opened its season with a 71-59 home win over North Carolina A&T Monday night. The Lady Bulldogs pulled down 50 rebounds and had four players score in double figures led by 15 points each from junior 5-foot-8 guard De'Mauri Flournoy and junior 5-foot-7 guard Asia Avinger. Fifth-year 6-foot-2 forward Javyn Nicholson posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while senior 6-foot-1 forward Zoesha Smith poured in 13 points.
• A transfer from San Diego State, Avinger was an All-Mountain West Conference performer last season averaging 11.6 points, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 48 percent from the floor.

 
Up Next
The Bruins continue their three-game homestand with Wichita State Wednesday evening. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the non-conference tilt will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Belmont Basketball Ticket Information
Both single game and season tickets are on sale now. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all women's and men's basketball home games.
 
View available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2023-24 season area also on sale and can be purchased here.
 
For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com/Tickets.
 
How to Follow
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