November 5, 2009

Game Notes | Media Guide | Live Coverage

DAHLONEGA, GA – With the North Georgia men’s basketball team less than 34 hours away from their showdown with the University of Georgia, the sports information  office has released the season’s first set of games notes on the 2009-10 Saints.

The Saints are set to open their season Friday evening in Stegeman Coliseum, traveling to Athens to tangle with the Bulldogs as North Georgia and the University of Georgia battle for the first time in school history.

The UGA Sports Communications office will provide complete coverage of the event with live video and live statistics. www.georgiadogs.com will have all the coverage, followed by complete postgame coverage at www.saintssports.com.

Admission to the event is free with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m. EST at Stegeman Coliseum. The men’s basketball team is scheduled to depart the North Georgia campus for Athens at 2:00 p.m.

"We are very excited to have an opportunity to play the University of Georgia,” head coach Chris Faulkner said. “It is an opportunity for our players to compete against a very high level program that is not only recognized in our state, but also on a national level.  It is a great challenge for our team as we head into the 2009-2010 season"

This marks the first of two NCAA Division I opponents the Saints will take on in preseason action as North Georgia will travel to Kennesaw State University a on Saturday November 14, to take on the Owls at the KSU Convocation Center.

The Bulldogs are just two years removed from capturing the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship in Atlanta, Ga., and advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

In their third full season of NCAA Division II postseason eligibility, North Georgia will look to advance to their first NCAA Tournament, having finished fourth and fifth respectively in each of the last two seasons in the Peach Belt Conference regular season.

The last Division I opponent North Georgia played was exactly three years to the day the Saints will take on Georgia this Friday. On November 6, 2006, Chris Faulkner took his squad to Birmingham, Alabama, to take on Southern Conference member Samford University. A year earlier, the Saints traveled to the University of Alabama-Birmingham to take on the Blazers, a Conference USA member.