Dogs’ Mercer Nabs SEC Freshman Honor

ATHENS - Georgia guard Mike Mercer, who led the Bulldogs in scoring in two games last week, was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week, according to an announcement Monday from the league office in Birmingham.

Mike Mercer, a 6-4 native of Snellville, scored a team-high 15 points in Georgia’s loss to Kentucky last Tuesday. On Saturday against Ole Miss, he had team scoring honors again, pumping in 14 points. Nine of those came in the final eight minutes of the game, of which he scored five in the final 51 seconds.

Through Georgia’s 18 games, Mercer currently ranks second on the team behind Levi Stukes in scoring at 11.4 points per game. He is fourth on the team in minutes (23.1 per game) and third in steals with 26.

Mercer is the second Georgia player to win the weekly award as the league’s top rookie. Billy Humphrey won it twice during the pre-SEC portion of the schedule, first in late November and again in mid-December.