Wednesday April 24th, 2024 10:26PM

College basketball: Bulldogs to open SEC home schedule against Auburn

By AccessWDUN Staff

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia will open its SEC home slate against Auburn on January 4 at Stegeman Coliseum.

It's the first of five weeknight home dates for the Bulldogs during the 2022-23 basketball season. 

“The SEC is now the top conference in college basketball, much like it has been in football for years,” head coach Mike White said. “We’re excited that our schedule is set, and this team is working extremely hard to be prepared for the challenges the league presents in every game. This team is extremely dedicated to our ultimate goal to rebuild Georgia Basketball.”

The Bulldogs’ four Saturday SEC home outings will be against Vanderbilt on January 21, South Carolina on January 28, Kentucky on February 11 and Missouri on February 25. Georgia’s remaining conference home contests will be versus Mississippi State on Wednesday, January 11; Ole Miss on Tuesday, February 7; LSU on Tuesday, February 14; and Florida on Tuesday, February 28.

The schedule includes a pair of homestands – a trio of consecutive home dates against Ole Miss, Kentucky and LSU on February 7-11 and back-to-back outings versus Missouri and Florida on Feb. 25 and 28, respectively.

The Bulldogs’ road opener will be at Florida on Saturday, January 7, with additional trips to Ole Miss on January 14, Kentucky on January 17, Tennessee on January 25, Auburn on February 1, Texas A&M on February 4, Alabama on February 18, Arkansas on February 21 and South Carolina, the regular-season finale, on March 4.

Georgia will face five league teams on a home-and-home basis. The Bulldogs traditionally play geographic rivals Auburn, Florida and South Carolina twice each season. Georgia’s rotating SEC foes this winter will be Kentucky and Ole Miss.

The SEC Tournament will return to Nashville for the eighth time since 2010 on March 8-12. The tourney is slated to stay at Bridgestone Arena through the 2030 season, with an option to extend the agreement through 2035.

White is in his first season at Georgia after averaging more than 22 wins per year in combined 11 campaigns at Louisiana Tech (2012-15) and Florida (2015-22). His teams have advanced to postseason competition during each of the last nine possible seasons, and Florida was a consensus pick to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2020 before it was canceled.

The 2022-23 Georgia roster features five returning letter winners and nine newcomers.

The quintet of returning Bulldogs – Jabri Abdur-Rahim, Braelen Bridges, Jaxon Etter, Jailyn Ingram and Kario Oquendo – accounted for more than 60 percent of Georgia’s offensive production last season. Two of those players were among the SEC’s most productive performers in 2021-22. Oquendo is the SEC’s top returning scorer in league games (18.3 ppg), and Bridges became the first Bulldog to lead SEC in field goal percentage (.634) since 1980.
 
The group of newcomers features six transfers and three freshmen, including a pair of walk-ons. Five of the transfers – Frank Anselem, Justin Hill, Jusaun Holt, Mardrez McBride and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe – played on teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in either 2021 or 2022 and the sixth – Terry Roberts – helped was the 2022 MVC Newcomer of the Year at Bradley. The freshmen include top-100 prospect KyeRon Lindsay and walk-ons Brandon Klatsky and Jaden Newell. 
 
New orders for renewable Georgia Basketball season tickets are currently available. Season tickets include reserved seats for all of Georgia's non-conference games and the Bulldogs' nine home SEC dates. Season tickets cost $285 each, plus a $150 donation to the Men's Basketball Fund (MBF). Fans wishing to reserve season tickets may do so here.

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