ROCK HILL, SC—After an early start to the Big South Conference season, the Winthrop men's basketball team will step away from league play for a three-game non-conference road trip beginning with Georgia Tuesday night.

GAME SNAPSHOT 
Winthrop (6-1) at Georgia (3-3)
Game Time: 7 p.m. EST / Site: Athens, GA (Stegeman Coliseum)
Live Video: WatchESPN Television: SECN (Dave Neal/Joe Dean, Jr. / Audio: 104.1 The Bridge (pregame 6:30 p.m. with Dave Friedman/Mike Pacheco)
Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the sixth meeting all-time between Winthrop and Georgia and just the third since 1995. Georgia leads the series 4-1 and holds a 3-1 mark at home. In the last meeting, Georgia held on for a victory in overtime. The meeting prior to that came in 2003 as the Eagles pulled off their first ever win over an SEC opponent with an 80-60 victory. It still remains the largest margin of victory by a Winthrop team over an opponent from a Power 5 conference. In the first three meetings of the series the Bulldogs won by an average of 35.7 ppg.

JOHNSON EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Junior Keon Johnson has been shooting at an elite level the last four games. In the last four games he's averaging 23 points while shooting 56 percent from the floor (23-for-41), 63 percent from three (12-for-19) and 85 percent at the foul line (34-for-40) . This past week he averaged 22.5 ppg while shooting 71 percent from the field, 83 percent from three and 80 percent at the foul line to help the Eagles start Big South play at 2-0. In both games he hit two free throws in the final seconds to clinch victories. For his efforts he was tabbed as the Big South Conference Player of the Week and also the College Sports Madness Big South Player of the Week.

WINTHROP VERSUS THE SEC
This will be the 27^th time the Eagles will face an opponent from the Southeastern Conference. Winthrop is 3-23 all-time against the SEC with the last win coming on Dec. 22, 2014 at Auburn (74-67). The Eagles are 2-8 in the last 10 meetings with an SEC opponent. The other two wins over an SEC school came on Nov. 18, 2006 with a 74-63 win at Mississippi State and on Dec. 9, 2003 with an 80-60 win at Georgia.

6-1 START ONE OF BEST IN PROGRAM'S HISTORY
Winthrop is off to a 6-1 start for the first time since the 1989-90 season, which is also the last time an Eagle team started off 7-1. The best start in the history of the program is 8-1 which was accomplished by three teams (1978-79/1980-81/1989-90).

THE MATCHUP
Following its first loss of the season at North Carolina State, the Eagles turned their focus to the start of Big South play and took care of business with a road win at Charleston Southern and a home victory over Presbyterian College. The Eagles are averaging 86.1 ppg, which ranks 21^st nationally and knocking down 8.4 threes per game, but have only 10 total in the last two games. This year's team is the first in the program's history at the D1 level to open up the season scoring 70 or more points in the first seven games. Georgia is coming off a loss to Kansas State and is now 3-3 on the year (3-2 at home). The Bulldogs are averaging 69.3 ppg while allowing 68.2 ppg.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Keon Johnson has been the hottest scorer for the Eagles, averaging 23 points over the last four games. He's shooting 56 percent from the floor and is 12-for-19 from three. He's attempted 40 free throws in the four-game span and is also averaging 16.7 ppg and shooting 43 percent from the field and behind the arc in four career games against Power 5 opponents. Johnson has double-figures in the last 11 games and 14-of-15. In Jimmy Gavin's only appearance against a Power 5 opponent he dropped 38 points at North Carolina State. Since that performance of 10-for-15 from the field and 7-for-12 from three, he's a combined 7-for-23 from the floor and 2-for-12 behind the arc. Georgia has three players scoring in double-figures led by senior guard Kenny Gaines at 16.5 per game. He's been in double-figures all six games and scored a season/career-high 35 points in the win over Murray State. Gaines is shooting 49 percent from the field and is the top threat for the Bulldogs behind the arc at 48 percent (20-for-42). Forward Yante Maten averages 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds as the sophomore also set his career-high in points this season with 21 in the win over Oakland. After opening the season with 17, he then scored seven against Murray State and eight against High Point before reeling off 20 or more points in the last three games.

THE COACHES
Pat Kelsey is in his fourth season at the helm of the Winthrop men's basketball program. He holds a record of 59-44 in four seasons with appearances in the Big South championship game the past two seasons. The Eagles are 30-22 in Big South games under Kelsey. Georgia is coached by Mark Fox, who is in his 12^th season as a head coach and seventh at Georgia. Fox has a career-mark of 232-135 as he's 109-92 in his tenure with the Bulldogs.

MILESTONES
Johnson is eight points from 900 in his career and is six made threes away from cracking the program's all-time Top 10. He's on pace to surpass 1,000 career points this season. Duby Okeke is on a record pace for blocked shots in a single-season. Okeke had three blocks against PC on Saturday and now has 17 in the last four games, which is the best four-game stretch in his career for blocks. In seven games Okeke has 26 blocks (3.57 bpg) and the program record for blocks in a season is 66 by Josh Grant in 2002-03. Okeke has 71 career blocks and Xavier Cooks has 55. They are both on pace to crack the program's career Top 10 list as Eddie Gay and Heson Groves sit at 10^th with 76. Billy Houston is the all-time leader in career blocks with 139. If Okeke maintains his average he'll have over 100 blocks this season. If he even maintains an average of three blocks per game he'll still finish well ahead of Grant's 66. Okeke is currently ranked 4^th nationally in blocks per game.