Bulldogs Cap Banner Season With NCAA Tourney Appearance

FINAL RECORDS:
Overall: 21-12; SEC: 11-7 (t3rd)
Home: 12-4 ; Away: 8-4; Neutral: 1-4

Team Highlights in 2014-15

Georgia continued its run to prominence on the conference and national scales. The Bulldogs in 2014-15 went 21-12 and earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Both marks were noteworthy for the following reasons:
  • For just the 13th time in 110 years of basketball at UGA, the Bulldogs posted a 20-victory season.
  • Georgia posted consecutive 20-win seasons for just the third time in program history.
  • The Bulldogs earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the 12th time in school history.
  • They posted a second straight top-four finish in the SEC.
  • They won more road games than any Georgia team of the past 25 seasons, including a school-record six in SEC play.
Thornton Reaps Rewards in Sr. Season
  • Fifth-year senior forward Marcus Thornton was recognized on multiple fronts for his outstanding season. The Atlanta, Ga., native -- who set the UGA record for Most Games Played in the Auburn game on March 7 -- was named during the postseason to the Coaches' All-SEC 2nd team. Additionally, he was named by the same group to the SEC All-Defensive Team.
  • That Thornton finished his career at all speaks volumes toward his character and perseverance. During his five years at UGA, he endured three knee surgeries and was granted a medical redshirt season, despite playing in nine early games, in 2012-13.
Winning Becomes a Habit
  • The win Feb. 25 at Ole Miss assured Georgia of at least a .500 record in SEC play for the third straight year and fourth of six seasons under Mark Fox. Not since the 2001-03 seasons has UGA strung together three marks of .500 or better. This latest string is the sixth time the Georgia program has ever had three straight years of .500 or better SEC records.
1K Club Welcomes Two New Members
  • In the Tennessee game on Feb. 7, Nemi Djurisic became the 44th player in UGA basketball history to reach that milestone and the first since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in 2013. Djurisic finished his career in 28th place on the list with 1,123 points.
  • In the Bulldogs' regular-season finale, Charles Mann also scored his 1,000th career point and will no doubt climb over a number of people on that list before his career is over.
  • The 2015 season marked the first time since 2011 (Trey Thompkins, Travis Leslie) since two Bulldogs in the same season scored their 1,000 career points.
One Injury After Another
  • Getting a healthy roster was a season-long challenge for Georgia, acutely so during the 18-game SEC schedule. The last time the Bulldogs achieved 100 percent operating capacity was during the first 12 minutes of the SEC opener vs. Arkansas on Jan. 6, before Kenny Paul Geno broke his left wrist in a first-half tumble. All told, Georgia finished the season having accumulated 34 injury- or illness-caused DNPs this season, 20 of them by regular starters:
    - 15 games missed by Juwan Parker (Achilles)
    - 11 games missed by Kenny Paul Geno (broken wrist)
    - 2 games each missed by Marcus Thornton (concussion), Kenny Gaines (foot sprain) and Cameron Forte (flu)
    - Yante Maten (concussion) and J.J. Frazier (concussion, fractures).
  • All of this discussion excludes any mention of Gaines' additional health issues: illnesses that caused him to miss all but four pre-season practices, as well as a shoulder sprain, suffered on Dec. 7, that forced him out of 10 consecutive days of practice.
Fox Stamping Imprint on Program
  • When Georgia defeated Tennessee on Feb. 7, head coach Mark Fox joined a short list of coaches that have won 100 games at UGA. The first to do it was Herman J. Stegeman, namesake of the Bulldogs' home court, who went 170-78 over 12 seasons (1920-31). Next was Harbin "Red" Lawson -- who split his time teaching Phys Ed and coaching the Bulldogs -- needing 12 of his 14 seasons (1952-65) to reach 100 wins. Lastly, Hugh Durham -- considered the father of modern-era basketball at UGA, went 298-216 in 17 seasons (1979-95).
  • Fox completed the regular season having reached another important marker. He evened his SEC record over six seasons at UGA to 51-51. The significance of this ledger comes with the fact that no Georgia basketball coach with at least five seasons of tenure has ever finished with an SEC record over .500.
  • In 2015, Fox also added three more SEC venues to his list of places where his teams have achieved victory: Alabama, Auburn and Vanderbilt. That brings the total in the SEC to 12 (only Florida and Kentucky remain.). The most recent Georgia team, in fact, had a better SEC road record (6-3) than its record at home (5-4).