Georgia’s Yante Maten honored on eve of SEC Tournament

As much bad as Georgia’s basketball program has experienced this season, the Bulldogs received some good news Tuesday.

On the eve of Georgia’s SEC Tournament opener, the Bulldogs learned that their top player, Yante Maten, earned SEC Player of the Year honors in Associated Press balloting. He also was named to the All-SEC first team.

Maten, a senior who leads the SEC in scoring, received his third All-SEC honor, the first three-time honoree from Georgia since Litterial Green from 1990-92.

Also picking up conference honors: Juwan Parker, named the SEC’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the conference’s head coaches.

“I’m happy Yante and Juwan have been recognized for their outstanding accomplishments,” head coach Mark Fox said in a release. “Each of them has been very productive players and terrific representatives of the University of Georgia, not only this season but throughout their careers in Athens.”

The awards, however, come at the end of a season in which Georgia could only muster the No. 12 seed for the conference tournament, taking place in St. Louis.

The Bulldogs take on 13th-seeded Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised by the SEC Network. It’s one of two games taking place Wednesday, with 11th-seeded South Carolina facing No. 14 Mississippi afterward.

Georgia (16-14, 7-11 SEC) enjoyed an 11-4 home record, with all four losses coming in conference play. But games away from Stegeman Coliseum were costly to the Bulldogs this season, with Georgia going 2-7 away from home in conference play and 5-10 (4-9 road, 1-1 neutral site) overall.

The Bulldogs’ lone meeting against Vanderbilt (12-19, 6-12) this season came on the road, and it wasn’t a pretty one. Georgia lost 81-66 during a stretch in which the Bulldogs lost 8-of-10.

The winner of Wednesday’s Georgia-Vanderbilt game faces fifth-seeded Missouri in the second game of the afternoon session Thursday, following the 1 p.m. Alabama-Texas A&M contest.

Receiving double byes into Friday’s quarterfinals were Auburn, Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky. The semifinals are slated for Saturday, with the title game taking place at 1 p.m. on Sunday.