John Cannon, Tim Dixon taking advantage of increased playing time

Georgia's frontcourt depth was a huge problem last season, but Bulldogs coach Mark Fox has been able to go to his bench more confidently this season thanks to the strides made by sophomore forwards John Cannon and Tim Dixon.

Cannon and Dixon barely played in their freshman seasons, leaving the Bulldogs rather thin up front. Both players have seen increased time this year, and while the numbers are not all that impressive, there has been noticeable improvement.

Cannon scored a career-high eight points last week against the UCLA Bruins. He admitted that a 20-pound drop in his weight has contributed to his early season success (via Dog Bytes Online):

"It's great this year," Cannon said. "Last year, I was down on myself. But things seem to be coming together this year. I've had a chance to contribute more and help my teammates. I'm a little older this year. I'm more mobile this year. I had a little too much weight on me last year and I've lost that and it's helped."

Dixon notched a career-high eight points against Youngstown State back on Nov. 12. In a win over East Tennessee State last Friday, he helped Georgia end a four-game losing streak with four points and three blocks in 14 minutes:

"I feel much better now because I get to actually play and experience how it is on the court," Dixon said. "It's a lot different. I'm scoring the ball and rebounding a lot better. The coaches have been getting after me about scoring and rebounding. I think I'm scoring better. We're doing a lot of hook shoots in practice and I kind of like that."

Cannon and Dixon will look to help Georgia win its second straight game when the team faces the South Florida Bulls in the SEC-Big East Challenge on Friday night.