Georgia Basketball: Assessing the Bulldogs a third of the way through SEC play

Georgia Basketball is a third of the way through its SEC schedule sitting at 13-6 overall, and it’s safe to say that the Bulldogs have done some barking. With a 3-3 record in league play, Mike White’s squad has shown plenty of positives – especially as compared to the previous coaching regime – but also their fair share of things that could still improve. Let’s take a look back on how the team has done so far and a look ahead at what’s next for the Hoop Hounds.

Non-Conference

The majority of SEC teams still have one non-conference game remaining on their schedule – set for this coming Saturday with the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. However, because the SEC has four more teams than the Big 12, and because the Bulldogs finished in the bottom four last year, Georgia will not be participating.

That means that the non-conference slate wrapped up in 2022 with a 78-72 win over Rider to bring the record to 10-3. Georgia lost on the road in game two to Wake Forest. They fell again away from home, this time at a neutral site, to UAB and a third time at Georgia Tech. But, because of the ability to take care of business at home and scrape out some wins over mid-majors, White’s team went into the new year with double-digit wins. It was only the fourth time in program history that had happened.

SEC (so far…)

Georgia started SEC play with an upset victory over Auburn at Stegeman Coliseum. Terry Roberts went for 26 points while Kario Oquendo added 17 of his own in an impressive performance by the Bulldog guards. They then went on the road and dropped a close one to Florida. Roberts once against had himself a big game with 25 points, but five Gators scoring in double-figures was too much to handle for the first trip back to Gainesville for Mike White.

A quick trip home resulted in another win, this time over Mississippi State, before it was back to the road – taking on another Magnolia State opponent: Ole Miss. This time it was Oquendo who led the team in scoring, the first time somebody other than Roberts had done so in SEC play, with 15 points, all of which came in the second half. Georgia took the lead on a 3-pointer by Oquendo with 2:20 to play and never looked back, handling its business down the stretch to move to 3-1 in the SEC for the first time since 2017.

Georgia’s lost its last two – on the road at Kentucky after leading for the majority of the game and home versus Vanderbilt, struggling to defend the Commodores. Still, with a top-5 scorer in the league, one of the best guard combos and several contributors elsewhere in the lineup, hopes are high for the team as they turn to their second two-thirds of the SEC schedule.

SEC (what’s ahead…)

Of Georgia’s first six opponents in the SEC, only one of them has fewer than three losses in the league. Auburn, who Georgia upset to open league play on January 4th, is 6-1 and has been playing its best basketball since the loss. The Bulldogs travel to Neville Arena next week in what is expected to be a tough environment. There’s also games at Tennessee (Wednesday), Texas A&M (Feb. 4) and Alabama (Feb. 18), all three of whom have one or fewer losses in SEC play. So, that’s going to be tough.

What’s you can also expect probably won’t be an easy win is a road game at Arkansas. Although the Razorbacks currently sit at 2-5 in the SEC, Eric Musselman has an incredibly talented team – a group that predicted towards the top of the conference and country in the preseason. That game comes less than a week after the road trip to the nation’s current No. 2 team Alabama. Throw in home games against the likes of Missouri, who won back-to-back games against ranked teams earlier this season and has three ranked wins, as well as rivals Florida and Kentucky, both of whom already beat Georgia, and the back-half of the schedule is incredibly difficult.

Where Georgia needs to capitalize with wins is against South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU. Together they’ve combined for three wins in 20 league games. One of them was Ole Miss beating South Carolina, so take that out of the equation and they are a combined 2-16. The Bulldogs already beat Ole Miss, and while it was a tight contest in Oxford, they get the Rebels at home this time. With four games still on the schedule against the struggling teams, including three at home, Georgia needs to win those. Handle business, and steal a couple that you aren’t expected to win and we might be talking about a team that’s going .500 in the SEC.

Georgia’s next game is on Wednesday as the Bulldogs travel to Thompson-Bowling Arena in Knoxville as they take on No. 4 Tennessee. Tipoff time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network.