Georgia Basketball Welcomes the New Year with Norfolk State

Georgia concludes the non-conference portion of its 2014-15 schedule with a January 3rd Saturday afternoon home contest against Norfolk State at 2:00 PM.

The Georgia basketball team welcomes the near year with a team Erk Russell would love. The Dawgs rank 30th in field goal percentage defense – better than 91% of all Division one basketball teams.

With its scrappy, gritty personality established, the Bulldogs will take one more tune up spin with Norfolk State today before entering conference play. Georgia is led by bell cow fifth year senior Marcus Thornton. “The Professor” averages 15 points per game on 53% field goal shooting and claims over seven rebounds each outing, A win gives the Dawgs their best non-conference record since 2011. It would also give Georgia six straight wins for the first time since 2011.

Georgia narrowly escaped defeat for the second straight game when it won 50-46 at Kansas State. The Bulldogs led by as many as 15 points in the second half, wilted under a K-State rally and reclaimed the lead in the game’s final two minutes. Not until Charles Mann scored the last of his team-high 17 points, a pair of foul shots with :05 left, did the Bulldogs secure the victory.

Georgia’s win Wednesday was the second true road victory of the non-conference schedule. That’s also the first time since 2011 that a Bulldog team had won twice on the road before the SEC schedule, and just the 3rd time in 15 years.

Spring Semester begins on the UGA campus on Monday, Jan. 2. The next day Georgia begins its 18-game journey through the Southeastern Conference next Tuesday with a home game against Arkansas. The Bulldogs’ first two SEC games should answer any remaining questions about this Georgia team. Both Arkansas (27) and LSU (22) occupy the highest RPI numbers outside of No. 1 Kentucky and Georgia itself (21).