Georgia Tech at Georgia

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 5-3, Georgia Tech 4-2

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Daymeon Fishback); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie).

Considering so many of Georgia’s basketball team come from out of state, senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim concedes many don’t quite understand the rivalry that exists with Tuesday night’s opponent, Georgia Tech (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).

If they don’t now, they soon will.

“I think a lot of it will speak for itself tomorrow. I don’t think a lot of our guys understand how important people take it. I think it’s going to be a good environment tomorrow. It will be a lot of those guys’ first crazy environment in college basketball, and I’m glad it’s a home one,” Abdur-Rahim said. “So, I think they’ll see for themselves. They know it’s a game we’ve got to have a lot of pride in, and Coach (Mike White) emphasized that we lost last year, so we want to get that right for sure.”

Last year’s game in Atlanta went right down to the wire.

The Yellow Jackets eeked out a 79-77 decision, and White acknowledged it's important his players understand how important the contest is.

“We just mentioned that couple of things, really. I’m sure their locker room is the same way. It’s a rivalry game, it’s important to our fans and their fans,” White said. “We lost at their place last year, but beyond that, it’s about this year’s Georgia Tech team, and what they run and prepare for how to defend it.”

Both the Bulldogs (5-3) and Yellow Jackets (4-2) are coming off a series of big wins.

Georgia has captured three straight, including last week’s big win at Florida State, while Georgia Tech upended No. 7 Duke in its ACC opener, 72-68.

Under first-year head coach Damon Stoudamire, the Yellow Jackets also just defeated Mississippi State, 67-59, after being trounced by Cincinnati, 89-54.

Abdur-Rahim is confident that the Bulldogs will be ready.

“They’ve got a lot of momentum, and they’re playing really well. It’s a great opportunity to play them. But we’ve got a little momentum as well. It should be a great environment for both teams,” Abdur-Rahim said. “I think we have a good amount of momentum. I think we’ve responded the right way to losing a couple of early ones, some tough ones against some really good opponents. I think those games early, and the Florida State one, helped us. We’re battle-tested by playing some good teams early and down on the road we kind of put it all together. I think we’re finally turning the page a little bit. We just need to keep riding the momentum, especially against Georgia Tech tomorrow.”

• Georgia hosts Georgia Tech on Tuesday in the second outing of a six-game December homestand. The Bulldogs are 4-0 at Stegeman Coliseum this season and 17-4 at Stegeman under Mike White.

• The Bulldogs sport a modest three-game winning streak, sandwiching a dramatic rally from 17 points down to defeat Florida State in Tallahassee between home “Ws” over Winthrop and Mercer.

• Georgia is slated to play 13 of 31 (41.9 percent) of its regular-season games against teams featured in the most recent edition of ESPN.com’s bracketology. Another foe, Oregon, is the “first team out,” and the Bulldogs defeated Eastern Kentucky, another projected NCAA team, in a preseason exhibition.

• Georgia is the nation’s only Power conference team to: 1) open its season with back-to-back games versus Power conference programs (Oregon and Wake Forest); and 2) face four Power conference foes in its first five outings (UO, WFU, Miami and Providence).

• Abdur-Rahim has already joined Georgia’s top-10 career leaders in free throw percentage and is well within reach of the best single-season leaders ledger. He has made 161-of-198 FTs while at Georgia, a sizzling 81.3 percent.

... With a minimum of 125 made free throws needed to be featured among UGA’s career free throw percentage leaders, Abdur-Rahim is currently No. 5 all-time among Bulldogs. Abdur-Rahim has connected on 41-of-46 free throws this season, a stellar 89.1 percent conversion rate.