Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox inherited the one-two punch of Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie for two seasons and then helped develop Kentavious Caldwell-Pope into one of the Southeastern Conference’s premier players.
Fox is halfway through his sixth season with the Bulldogs, and he’s never had a dynamic like this.
Entering tonight’s home game against Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-2) have all five starters averaging in double figures. Senior forward Marcus Thornton leads the way with 13.4 points per game, with junior guards Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann averaging 11.8 and 11.4, senior forward Nemanja Djurisic 10.7 and sophomore guard J.J. Frazier 10.7.
“We’ve been really trying to develop a balanced offensive team, and we finally have one,” Fox said Monday. “We have five guys scoring in double figures, and they’re having success because they’ve truly become a team. They play off one another, and they’re unselfish. They don’t care that one night somebody else might get 20 and they only get eight, because they know their night is coming.
“I think it’s been an asset to our team, and it’s helped us win games. It’s been a fun team to coach, because we’ve got different places to go to get scoring.”