Georgia basketball player arrested

Cam McDowell, a freshman guard, was arrested Friday and booked into Athens-Clarke County Jail on a charge of criminal trespass/interference with property/family violence. (Photo by Mackenzie Miles)

Credit: Mackenzie Miles

Credit: Mackenzie Miles

Cam McDowell, a freshman guard, was arrested Friday and booked into Athens-Clarke County Jail on a charge of criminal trespass/interference with property/family violence. (Photo by Mackenzie Miles)

ATHENS — The hits keep coming for Georgia men’s basketball.

Cam McDowell, a freshman guard, was arrested Friday and booked into Athens-Clarke County Jail on a charge of criminal trespass/interference with property/family violence. He was taken into custody at Athens-Clarke County Jail at 6:24 p.m. the day before the Bulldogs’ home game against Florida and released on a cash bond four hours later. The charge is considered a misdemeanor.

Georgia coach Tom Crean said he is aware of McDowell’s arrest and that “it has already been handled.” The 6-foot-5 guard has not played in the Bulldogs’ past two games.

According to police, McDowell showed up at the on-campus residence of an ex-girlfriend at 11:55 p.m. Feb. 23 to retrieve belongings he claimed she had taken from his dorm room. The woman refused to answer the door. A short time later, a rock struck a window at the front of the residence and was broken.

The woman said McDowell immediately apologized via text and stated that he didn’t mean to break the window, but was merely trying to get her attention. McDowell offered to pay for the damaged window.

McDowell had left by the time police arrived at 12:35 a.m. Feb. 24. He was contacted by UGA Police later that morning at his residence hall and interviewed. McDowell told police that he and the woman had been dating about six months and that she lived with him “off and on” for about four months. That’s why it became a family-violence investigation.

A warrant was issued for McDowell’s arrest Friday. McDowell turned himself in at 6:24 p.m. and was released on a cash bond four hours later. The Bulldogs played Florida at noon the following day.

McDowell did not play against the Gators or against Tennessee on Tuesday, the Bulldogs’ most recent game. He has played in only six of the Bulldogs’ 29 games this season, averaging 6.8 minutes per game and scoring a total of seven points. He played a season-high 11 minutes against Ole Miss on Feb. 19 and scored two points.

McDowell was a Class 7A first-team all-state selection his senior season at McEachern High School. He averaged 21.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists for the Indians, who finished 24-5 after bowing out in the 7A state semifinals.

The Bulldogs (6-24, 1-16 SEC) play their final game of the regular season at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Missouri (SEC Network).