University of Georgia Athletics
’96 Bulldogs Get Warm Return To Steg
January 18, 2026 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Thirty years ago, in Tubby Smith's first season as the Georgia men's basketball head coach, the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. They beat a No. 1 seed in the second round and came within seconds of advancing to the Elite Eight, but a wild overtime finish featuring big-time buckets from both No. 8-seeded Georgia and No. 4-seed Syracuse ended with the Orange moving on and eventually reaching the national championship game.
Georgia, which hasn't returned to the Sweet 16 since that 1995-96 season, celebrated the players and coaches on that squad during the No. 21-ranked Bulldogs' 90-76 win over No. 17 Arkansas on Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum. The 1995-96 team was recognized at halftime and then got together for a reception afterward.
"This is my first time back here for a game in this building in maybe 20 years," said G.G. Smith a freshman point guard playing for his father on the 1996 team. "It just feels great every time you step on this campus. You know, it's beautiful, and they've done a great job with this arena. It's an event now, it's not just a game, and I'm very impressed. And I'm glad they won."
It has been a month of honors and recognition for Tubby Smith, who earlier this week was named a recipient of the 2026 Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Basketball Award. He and former Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, who also received the award, will be honored at this year's men's Final Four. Smith, who coached Georgia for two seasons before taking the Kentucky job and winning a national championship in 1998, ended his career with a 642-370 record.
Smith went 45-19 in his two seasons coaching the Bulldogs, leading the program to the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in school history and to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. He retired from coaching in 2022 after 31 years as a head coach at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Memphis and High Point.
Also on hand for Saturday's game was one of the greatest players ever to suit up for the Bulldogs, point guard Vern Fleming, a starter on the 1983 Final Four team, a starter on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, and Georgia's fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,777 points (he's also tied for sixth in assists with 400).
While Fleming's 1983 team survived and advanced through four rounds to get to the semifinals, the 1996 team won a pair of tight games, with one big upset, to start the tournament and then nearly pulled off another.
"I still can't believe it's been 30 years," G.G. Smith said. "Back then, my dad came here and he changed things around and gave these guys some confidence. I credit the seniors from that '96 team, because we learned a lot from them."
Georgia's NCAA tournament run in 1996 began in Albuquerque, N.M., where the Bulldogs played in the 1983 Final Four. Georgia knocked off No. 9 seed Clemson in the first round, outscoring the Tigers 55-49 in the second half to pull out an 81-74 win. Seniors Carlos Strong and Shandon Anderson led the Bulldogs with 18 points each.
With guard Pertha Robinson out sick that game, G.G. Smith played a big role in the win, scoring 12 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and handing out three assists. "I actually played well in that game," he said. Two years later, G.G. set the program record for 3s in a game with nine.
In the second round, Georgia faced off against No. 1 seed Purdue. The Bulldogs got off to a strong start, outscoring the Boilermakers 48-35 in the first half, and were able to close out a 76-69 win to advance to the Sweet 16. Georgia had four players score in double figures, led by Strong's 17 and 15 each from Anderson and Terrell Bell, and the 6-foot-10 Bell, an Athens native like Strong, made a huge difference defensively with eight blocked shots.
Six days later, the Bulldogs faced No. 4-seeded Syracuse in the Sweet 16 in Denver. The game was tight throughout — tied 37-37 at halftime and tied 70-70 at the end of regulation, after Jason Cipolla sent the game to overtime with a jumper in the final seconds for Syracuse — and things remained neck-and-neck into the extra period.
"It was a great game, an emotional roller coaster," G.G. Smith said. "Shandon Anderson was a fingernail away from getting that deflection on the pass to Cipolla at the end that probably would have won the game for us, but then it went to overtime, and that was back and forth."
Syracuse standout John Wallace, who finished with 30 points, scored inside with 14.8 seconds left to put the Orange (they were called the Orangemen then) ahead 80-78. Georgia then came down and got a 3-pointer from the left corner with seven seconds on the clock, putting the Bulldogs up 81-80. Wallace wasn't done, though. The 6-8 forward, who went on to be the 18th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, got the inbounds pass near mid-court and pulled up for a game-winning 3 with 2.8 seconds left from the top of the key,
"It was a fun game, and even though we came up on the losing side of it, it was just a great experience," G.G. Smith said.
Several of the 1995-96 Bulldogs rank in the top 10 all-time in program history in a variety of categories: Anderson ended his career with 1,517 points, which is still good enough for ninth; Strong is not far behind in 14th, with 1,414 points; Strong also ranks 10th with 739 career rebounds; Anderson ranks third with 212 career steals, G.G. Smith is fourth with 440 assists, and Bell is fourth all-time with 168 blocks.
During his remarks to the sold-out crowd at halftime, Tubby Smith talked about the great coaches and players he had at Georgia, and he thanked the fans for the great atmosphere at the Steg then and now. He fittingly wrapped up by saying, "let's go Dawgs!"
Staff Writer
Thirty years ago, in Tubby Smith's first season as the Georgia men's basketball head coach, the Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. They beat a No. 1 seed in the second round and came within seconds of advancing to the Elite Eight, but a wild overtime finish featuring big-time buckets from both No. 8-seeded Georgia and No. 4-seed Syracuse ended with the Orange moving on and eventually reaching the national championship game.
Georgia, which hasn't returned to the Sweet 16 since that 1995-96 season, celebrated the players and coaches on that squad during the No. 21-ranked Bulldogs' 90-76 win over No. 17 Arkansas on Saturday at Stegeman Coliseum. The 1995-96 team was recognized at halftime and then got together for a reception afterward.
"This is my first time back here for a game in this building in maybe 20 years," said G.G. Smith a freshman point guard playing for his father on the 1996 team. "It just feels great every time you step on this campus. You know, it's beautiful, and they've done a great job with this arena. It's an event now, it's not just a game, and I'm very impressed. And I'm glad they won."
It has been a month of honors and recognition for Tubby Smith, who earlier this week was named a recipient of the 2026 Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Basketball Award. He and former Stanford women's basketball coach Tara VanDerveer, who also received the award, will be honored at this year's men's Final Four. Smith, who coached Georgia for two seasons before taking the Kentucky job and winning a national championship in 1998, ended his career with a 642-370 record.
Smith went 45-19 in his two seasons coaching the Bulldogs, leading the program to the first back-to-back 20-win seasons in school history and to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances. He retired from coaching in 2022 after 31 years as a head coach at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas Tech, Memphis and High Point.
Also on hand for Saturday's game was one of the greatest players ever to suit up for the Bulldogs, point guard Vern Fleming, a starter on the 1983 Final Four team, a starter on the 1984 U.S. Olympic team, and Georgia's fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,777 points (he's also tied for sixth in assists with 400).
While Fleming's 1983 team survived and advanced through four rounds to get to the semifinals, the 1996 team won a pair of tight games, with one big upset, to start the tournament and then nearly pulled off another.
"I still can't believe it's been 30 years," G.G. Smith said. "Back then, my dad came here and he changed things around and gave these guys some confidence. I credit the seniors from that '96 team, because we learned a lot from them."
Georgia's NCAA tournament run in 1996 began in Albuquerque, N.M., where the Bulldogs played in the 1983 Final Four. Georgia knocked off No. 9 seed Clemson in the first round, outscoring the Tigers 55-49 in the second half to pull out an 81-74 win. Seniors Carlos Strong and Shandon Anderson led the Bulldogs with 18 points each.
With guard Pertha Robinson out sick that game, G.G. Smith played a big role in the win, scoring 12 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and handing out three assists. "I actually played well in that game," he said. Two years later, G.G. set the program record for 3s in a game with nine.
In the second round, Georgia faced off against No. 1 seed Purdue. The Bulldogs got off to a strong start, outscoring the Boilermakers 48-35 in the first half, and were able to close out a 76-69 win to advance to the Sweet 16. Georgia had four players score in double figures, led by Strong's 17 and 15 each from Anderson and Terrell Bell, and the 6-foot-10 Bell, an Athens native like Strong, made a huge difference defensively with eight blocked shots.
Six days later, the Bulldogs faced No. 4-seeded Syracuse in the Sweet 16 in Denver. The game was tight throughout — tied 37-37 at halftime and tied 70-70 at the end of regulation, after Jason Cipolla sent the game to overtime with a jumper in the final seconds for Syracuse — and things remained neck-and-neck into the extra period.
"It was a great game, an emotional roller coaster," G.G. Smith said. "Shandon Anderson was a fingernail away from getting that deflection on the pass to Cipolla at the end that probably would have won the game for us, but then it went to overtime, and that was back and forth."
Syracuse standout John Wallace, who finished with 30 points, scored inside with 14.8 seconds left to put the Orange (they were called the Orangemen then) ahead 80-78. Georgia then came down and got a 3-pointer from the left corner with seven seconds on the clock, putting the Bulldogs up 81-80. Wallace wasn't done, though. The 6-8 forward, who went on to be the 18th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, got the inbounds pass near mid-court and pulled up for a game-winning 3 with 2.8 seconds left from the top of the key,
"It was a fun game, and even though we came up on the losing side of it, it was just a great experience," G.G. Smith said.
Several of the 1995-96 Bulldogs rank in the top 10 all-time in program history in a variety of categories: Anderson ended his career with 1,517 points, which is still good enough for ninth; Strong is not far behind in 14th, with 1,414 points; Strong also ranks 10th with 739 career rebounds; Anderson ranks third with 212 career steals, G.G. Smith is fourth with 440 assists, and Bell is fourth all-time with 168 blocks.
During his remarks to the sold-out crowd at halftime, Tubby Smith talked about the great coaches and players he had at Georgia, and he thanked the fans for the great atmosphere at the Steg then and now. He fittingly wrapped up by saying, "let's go Dawgs!"
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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