No. 23 Georgia Hosts Auburn In SEC Opener

Saturday, January 3

Athens, Ga.

1:00

University of Georgia

Auburn

January 02, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

Georgia Basketball Game Notes

No. 23/24 Georgia (12-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. Auburn (9-4, 0-0 SEC)
Date: Saturday, January 3, 2026
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)
Location: Athens, Ga.
TV: SEC Network (Matt Schumacker, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)
Streaming: SECN+
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 374 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)
Tickets: www.georgiadogs.com/mbbtix
Game Giveaway: The first 500 UGA students will receive a free Georgia Basketball t-shirt

The Starting 5

Georgia – which reached January with the highest scoring average (99.0 ppg) of any Division I team in seven years (since 2019) – opens SEC play on Saturday by hosting Auburn at Stegeman Coliseum.
The Bulldogs' 12-1 record matches the third-best start in 121 seasons of basketball. With a win, Georgia would equal its second-best beginning and best since 1931.
Georgia entered the weekend ranked among the nation's top-5 teams in seven statistics, including No. 1 in scoring offense (99.0 ppg), fastbreak points (27.5 ppg) and blocks (7.9 bpg).
As of Friday, the Dunkyard Dawgs were scoring a nation-leading 22.9 percent of their field goals on dunks this season. Individually, Somto Cyril's 37 dunks led the SEC and ranked No. 2 nationally.
Georgia topped the 100-point plateau in six of its first 12 games, already breaking the program's single-season program record of five century mark tallies during the 1990-91 campaign.

The Opening Tip

Georgia christens the Southeastern Conference portion of its regular-season slate on Saturday by hosting Auburn before a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum. The Bulldogs open SEC play with back-to-back outings against half of last season's Final Four – the Tigers and Florida – and have four of their first five league outings against 2025 "Sweet 16" teams (adding Arkansas and Ole Miss).

Georgia is ranked No. 23 and No. 24 in the current AP and coaches polls, respectively. The Bulldogs are 12-1, equaling their third-best start in 121 seasons of play and with a victory, would match both UGA's second-best start ever and its best beginning since 1931.

The Bulldogs wrapped up non-conference action on Monday by defeating LIU and extending their home winning streak against non-league competition under Mike White to 36 games.

It would be hard to fathom a better beginning to the 2025-26 campaign for Georgia, at least statistically speaking.

As of Friday, the Bulldogs were leading the all 365 Division I teams in scoring offense (99.0 ppg), fastbreak points (27.5 ppg) and blocks (7.9 bpg). Among the 28 statistics tracked by the NCAA, Georgia was ranked in the top 5 in seven stats and within the top 25 in 15 categories.

Georgia features one of the nation's deepest rotations playing at a pace among the quickest in the country.

Eleven Bulldogs are averaging double-figure minutes, and according to the oft-used metric KenPom.com, Georgia enters the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in average offensive possession length (14.1 seconds), as well as No. 3 nationally in adjusted tempo (76.3).

Georgia's depth is not just in numbers but also in its offensive production.

Ten of the 11 Bulldogs playing double-digit minutes have scored 10+ points in a game, combining to record 56 double-figure scoring outputs this season. Jeremiah Wilkinson is averaging a team-high 17.3 ppg, while Blue Cain is contributing 15.7 ppg and Marcus "Smurf" Millender is chipping in 10.6 ppg, including 13.0 ppg over the last eight outings.

Scouting The Tigers

Auburn is 9-4 on the season, with all four setbacks coming to top-10 teams, No. 1 Houston, No. 7 Michigan, No. 2 Arizona and No. 6 Purdue.

Keyshawn Hall leads the Tigers and is ranked No. 3 in the SEC in scoring (20.1 ppg) and No. 5 in rebounding (8.0 rpg). He is the only player ranked among the league's top-10 leaders in both stats.

Auburn's rotation features three more double-digit scorers – Tahaad Pettiford at 14.4 ppg, Kevin Overton at 12.5 ppg and Elyiah Freeman at 10.2 ppg.

Series History With AU

Georgia and Auburn will face off for the 202nd time on Saturday, with the Tigers owning a 104-97 edge in the series.

In the most recent meeting last Feb. 22 in Auburn, the top-ranked Tigers secured an 82-70 victory. After Auburn surged to a 53-43 lead with 10:27 remaining, Georgia methodically trimmed that margin to 66-62 with 3:44 left but could not pull any closer.

The Bulldogs and Tigers last met in Athens on Jan. 18 last season, with No. 1/1 Auburn holding off No. 23/23 Georgia to secure at 70-68 victory before a raucous sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Tigers led 69-60 with 41 seconds remaining before a furious rally by the Bulldogs cut the margin to 70-67. Georgia then failed to tie the game twice in the final 10 seconds, with a Dakota Leffew 3-pointer rimming out and an Asa Newell jumper at the buzzer drawing front iron.

Last Time Out

Marcus "Smurf" Millender led No. 23/24 Georgia with 14 points and six assists in an 89-74 win over LIU last Monday, the Bulldogs' 10th win by 15 or more points this season.

LIU scored the game's first six points and eventually led by 11 points twice before Georgia trimmed the gap to 44-41 at halftime. A 13-0 run early in the second half put the Bulldogs up 58-49 with 11:58 remaining and the Sharks never got closer than five points thereafter.

"It was not our best performance," head coach Mike White said. "Obviously, a lot of things we have got to do better. You want to go into SEC play, you want to finish with some momentum and play one of your best games. This was not, but it was also the best mid-major that we played. Maybe we can learn from it and grow from it."

Bulldogs Look To Match Second-Best Start Ever

Georgia's 12-1 record equals the third-best start in the program's 121 seasons of intercollegiate play as outlined below.

With a win over Auburn, the Bulldogs would match their second-best beginning and also tie their best start since 1931.

Best Starts
Rank	Season	Record
1.	1930-31	23-1
2.	1923-24	13-1
3.	2025-26	12-1
	2024-25	12-1
5.	2001-02	11-1
	1996-97	11-1
	1947-48	11-1
	1929-30	11-1
	1920-21	11-1

Tigers Pass Tech As Second-Most Frequent Foe

On Saturday, Auburn will inch past Georgia Tech into the second spot on the Bulldogs' ledger of most games against an opponent. The Bulldogs and Tigers are facing off for the 202nd time, one more than the number of contests for Georgia against the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia has played Florida more than any other foe, with 232 times contests between the Bulldogs and Gators. Rounding out the top-5 in games played against Georgia are Tennessee with 162 and Kentucky with 161 matchups.

Saturday's game will be the only meeting between UGA and AU this season, snapping a streak of a dozen straight campaigns featuring home-and-home matchups between the interstate rivals.

Bulldogs Are Nation's Top Offensive Team

Georgia entered the weekend ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring offense and fastbreak points. The Bulldogs are putting up 99.0 points per game, including 27.5 ppg on fastbreak opportunities.

In fact, the Bulldogs' scoring average is the highest by any Division I basketball team on January 1 since The Citadel was putting up 99.1 ppg when the calendar flipped to 2018.

Though bolstered by reaching 120 points twice, Georgia's scoring has been consistent. In 26 halves of hoops, the Bulldogs scored 40 or more points 24 times, with 11 50-point periods and three segments of 60 or more points.

Georgia played 102 games in Mike White's first three seasons in Athens. The Bulldogs reached 90 points nine times and 100 points twice. In 13 games this season, Georgia has topped 90 points in nine outings and surpassed the century mark in a school-record six contests.

A "Stegtacular" Home Court Advantage

Georgia's home court advantage? It's real and it's Stegtacular.

The Bulldogs have compiled a 50-13 (.794) home mark under Mike White and are a perfect 36-0 versus non-conference competition in Stegeman over his four seasons at UGA.

White's success at Stegeman is not confined to his UGA tenure. He was 7-1 in Athens as a visiting head coach, leading Louisiana Tech to a 2014 NIT victory at Stegeman and compiling a 6-1 mark at Florida. That makes White is a combined 57-14 (.803) as a head coach in Stegeman.

Georgia currently owns a 11-game winning streak at Stegeman that began with victories last season over No. 3 Florida on Feb. 25 and Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale.

After producing just eight double-digit home winning streaks in their first 117 seasons of basketball, the Bulldogs have produced four double-digit winning streaks at Stegeman during White's four seasons alone.

Georgia Among Nation's Top-5 In Seven Stats

Peruse the NCAA basketball statistical leaders and you'll find a multitude of categories featuring the Georgia Bulldogs at or near the top.

Entering this weekend, Georgia was ranked in the nation's top-25 teams in 15 of the 28 stats the NCAA measures, including seven in the top 5 as outlined below.

Top-5 Stats
Statistic	Rk.	No.
Scoring Offense	1	99.0
Fastbreak Points	1	27.5
Blocks Per Game	1	7.9
FTs Made Per Game	2	22.1
FTAs Per Game	3	29.0
Scoring Margin	4	+27.0
Bench Points	4	42.2

Double-Digit Dogs' Have Hit Double Figures

No less than 10 different Georgia Bulldogs recorded double-figure scoring outputs in the first five games of the season.

Those Bulldogs have now combined to produce 56 double-digit performances. Blue Cain leads that pack by scoring 10+ in each game, followed by Jeremiah Wilkinson with 11; Smurf Millender with eight; Somto Cyril with five; Kanon Catchings, Jordan Ross and Jake Wilkins with four each; Justin Bailey with three; and Dylan James and Kareem Stagg with two.

Seven of the aforementioned Bulldogs scored in double digits against Morehead State on Nov. 9.

That marked the first time seven Bulldogs hit the 10-point plateau in a single game since a 99-72 decision over Tennessee Tech on Dec. 29, 1994 – a span of 979 contests. Georgia came within a bucket of repeating that feet against...Tennessee Tech when six Bulldogs topped 10 and both Jake Somto Cyril and Wilkins finished with eight points in a Nov. 29 date with TTU.

Georgia Plays At One Of The Nation's Quickest Paces

The Bulldogs average possession length on offense is 14.1 seconds, which according to KenPom.com was the second-fastest in the nation entering this weekend. The Bulldogs also ranked No. 3 by KenPom.com in "adjusted tempo" at 76.3 possessions per 40 minutes.

Dunkyard Dogs Leading The Nation In Slams

According to BartTorvik.com, Georgia entered this weekend scoring a nation-leading 22.9 percent of its field goals this season on dunks – 104 of 438 the Bulldogs' total FGs – as outlined below.

As of Friday, Somto Cyril led the SEC and ranked No. 2 nationally with 37 dunks followed by Kareem Stagg and Jake Wilkins with 15 each; Jeremiah Wilkinson with nine; Blue Cain and Kanon Catchings with eight apiece; Justin Abson and with seven; and Dylan James with five.

Dunking It
Rank	Team	Pct.
1.	Georgia	22.9
2.	N. Carolina	20.9
3.	Indiana	18.4
4.	Duke	17.7
5.	Louisville	17.6
6.	Kentucky	17.5
7.	Arkansas	17.0
8.	Kansas	16.5
9.	Michigan	16.1
10.	Florida	16.0

Abson, Cyril Supply Swatting Duo

With Georgia leading the nation in blocks per game entering this weekend, largely due to two Bulldogs also being among the top-20 shot swatters in the country.

As of Friday, Somto Cyril was ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 12 nationally at 2.6 bpg and Justin Abson was at No. 3 in the league and No. 20 in the country at 2.3 bpg.

Georgia Rewriting Its Scoring Records

The Bulldogs produced two of their top-10 single-game scoring tallies ever this season.

Georgia's 123 points against Tennessee Tech and 120 versus Morehead State rank No. 3 and No. 7 all-time in program history.

The Bulldogs topped the century mark a school-record six times in their first 12 outings, besting the 1990-91 campaign's five for the most 100-point performances.

Georgia topped the century mark back-to-back times twice this season, against Tennessee Tech and Florida State and then Western Carolina and West Georgia. By comparison, the Bulldogs posted consecutive 100-point outings just three times prior to this season – a span of 120 seasons and 1,926 games.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES PDF

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