The Georgia basketball schedule is set. It’s good news and bad news.
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The Southeastern Conference released its men’s basketball schedule and with it the Georgia basketball team received the good news and the bad news.
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The good news – Georgia plays Kentucky only once. The bad news – Georgia plays Kentucky in Lexington.
Another way to look at is good news and good news. Georgia must play Kentucky and since Kentucky is the odds on favorite to win whether home or away, the Dawgs will not sacrifice a home loss to the Cats. And, should the Dawgs shock the world and bag the Cats on their home floor, wow, what an upset!
“We’re excited to know who we’re going to play, where we’re going to play and when,” head coach Mark Fox told Georgiadogs.com. “It feels a little bit more real when you finally get the schedule in your hands.”
The other news maker in the schedule release is that the Dawgs will provide the competition for new Florida Head Coach Mike White’s SEC debut in Gainesville on National TV (ESPNU) for both teams SEC opener on January 2. While at Louisiana Tech, White’s team eliminated the Dawgs from the 2014 NIT. White immediately became the message board darling of self-annointed proactive Georgia basketball fans and the matchup will draw a lot of conversation at the water cooler.
Besides a pair of games with the Gators, Georgia plays South Carolina, Auburn and Ole Miss home and away. Five of Georgia’s SEC home games will be played on Saturday, along with a non-conference battle with Georgia Tech December 19. Kansas State will visit the Stegeman Coliseum on a Friday night, December 1
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“I’m pleased that the nights that we have home games are going to be conducive to the Bulldog Nation coming out to see us,” Fox said. “Home court advantage is so important in college basketball. Last year, we obviously had it, and we need it again.”
While there is plenty of good news in the schedule, there are difficult back to back road trips against LSU on Tuesday January 26 and on Saturday Baylor January 30.
There will also likely be depressed attendance in the early games as the Dawgs play at home on three consecutive Friday nights in November. Athens is a football town and high school football will draw many fans away from the Stegeman Coliseum into high school football stadiums in Athens and Watkinsville.
Kentucky will launch have Dream Team 28, but the most intriguing individual opponent may be LSU’s Australian freshman Ben Simmons. Simmons is a 6-foot-10 point forward and his game is compared to Magic Johnson and Lebron James.
But not Pete Maravich – you can bet your gumbo on that.
Complete Georgia Basketball Schedule
Friday Nov. 6 Exh.–Armstrong Atlantic Athens TBD
Friday Nov. 13 Chattanooga Athens TBD
Friday Nov. 20 Murray State Athens TBD
Wednesday Nov. 25 High Point Athens TBD
Saturday Nov. 28 at Seton Hall Newark, N.J. TBD
Tuesday Dec. 1 Oakland Athens TBD
Friday Dec. 4 Kansas State Athens TBD
Tuesday Dec. 8 Winthrop Athens TBD
Saturday Dec. 19 Georgia Tech Athens TBD
Tuesday Dec. 22 Clemson Athens TBD
Tuesday Dec. 29 Robert Morris Athens TBD
Saturday Jan. 2 * at Florida Gainesville, Fla. ESPNU 8:00
Wednesday Jan. 6 * Missouri Athens SECN 7:00
Saturday Jan. 9 * at Ole Miss Oxford, Miss. SECN 8:30
Wednesday Jan. 13 * Tennessee Athens SECN 7:00
Saturday Jan. 16 * Texas A&M Athens ESPNU 2:00
Wednesday Jan. 20 * at Missouri Columbia, Mo. SECN 7:00
Saturday Jan. 23 * Arkansas Athens SECN 6:00
Tuesday Jan. 26 * at LSU Baton Rouge, La. ESPN/ESPNU 9:00
Saturday Jan. 30 # at Baylor Waco, Texas TBD
Tuesday Feb. 2 * South Carolina Athens ESPN/ESPNU/SECN 7:00
Saturday Feb. 6 * Auburn Athens SECN 5:30
Tuesday Feb. 9 * at Kentucky Lexington, Ky. ESPN/ESPNU 9:00
Saturday Feb. 13 * at Mississippi State Starkville, Miss. SECN 8:00
Tuesday Feb. 16 * Florida Athens ESPN/ESPNU 9:00
Saturday Feb. 20 * at Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. ESPN/ESPN2 12:00
Wednesday Feb. 24 * at Auburn Auburn, Ala. SECN 7:00
Saturday Feb. 27 * Ole Miss Athens SECN 12:00
Thursday March 3 * at South Carolina Columbia, S.C. ESPN/ESPN2 7:00
Saturday March 5 * Alabama Athens ESPN/ESPN2 2:00/4:00
Wed.-Sun. March 9-13 SEC Tournament Nashville, Tenn. TBD