Auburn at Georgia
WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum
WHEN: Wednesday, 9 p.m.
RECORDS: Georgia 10-17, 1-13; Auburn 18-9, 7-7
TV/RADIO: ESPNU (Tom Hart, Seth Greensberg); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Tony Schiavone); XM (385)
Georgia’s basketball team is in danger of becoming the first Bulldog squad since 2004-2005 to finish with two or fewer SEC victories. Still, fans have continued to show their support. Come Wednesday night’s game against Auburn (9 p.m., ESPNU), they'll set a school record for attendance, breaking a mark that’s stood for the past three years.
Head coach Tom Crean joked Tuesday that it's a bet he wouldn’t have taken the day he stepped off the plane at Athens Ben-Epps Airport when he first arrived in Athens after taking the job.
“I would have thought we’d set it at some point, but not the first year,” Crean said “I wouldn’t have taken that bet, and I don’t think Vegas would have put any odds on it.”
Yes, it’s true.
Despite Crean’s first Georgia team posting a record of 10-17, 1-13 in SEC play, the Bulldogs are only 5,887 fans shy of breaking the program’s all-time attendance record.
With advance sales already well over that total (and considering sales numbers don't include students), the new standard is guaranteed to be set in the game against the Tigers (18-9, 7-7).
“Despite the losses, people have continued to show up, support us, and cheer for us,” Harris said. “It’s been really good to everybody around here, obviously, but it’s definitely a shocker, and I hope they continue to come out.”
Crean doubled down on Harris’ “shocker” description with an apropos adjective of his own.
“It’s mind-boggling to me that we’re going to break an attendance record,” Crean said. “It really is. It’s just absolutely—it’s very humbling. I’m very thankful on one hand, but on the other, it’s very mind-boggling. It speaks so much to the people here, the energy that they feel, the passion they have, and the fact they see what we’re building. I’m very, very thankful for that.”
To date, 133,686 fans have attended Georgia’s 15 home games. The existing record mark of 139,570, fans was set in 2015-16 when the Bulldogs played at home 19 times.
“For it to happen that fast with the attendance, I’d be lying if I said I saw that coming. I’m not sure anybody saw that coming. When you go into a program, it’s not about building a culture—I don’t like that term. It’s about building the standards for your team, your program,” Crean said. “You’ve got to go in, and you’ve got to establish your work ethic. You’ve got to establish your style of play, and very importantly, you want to establish an enthusiasm for your program.
“I think that’s exactly what’s happened, and I think it’s a reflection of the way fans have come out here and continued to support it with a lot of energy and passion. They see how hard we’ve worked; how hard the guys are working and at the same time, they see the future here.”
With a capacity of 10,523, Stegeman Coliseum is nowhere close to some of the larger facilities in the SEC such as Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, Thompson-Boling Arena at Tennessee, or Bud Walton Arena at Arkansas.
Still, Georgia’s average attendance of 8,912 fans equates to it being 84.7 percent full for its 15 home games, which ranks fifth in the SEC.
The Bulldogs are averaging 9,611 fans for their SEC contests, meaning Stegeman Coliseum has been 91.3 percent full for those seven contests. That ranks fourth in the league, behind only Florida (98.3 percent), Kentucky (98.1), and Tennessee (93.8)
“Every game they’re really, really good but I think the UMass game was the most surprising for me, because it was during our break (Dec. 30) and a lot of people had gone home,” Harris said. “But we still almost sold out. That was what was so shocking to me. None of us expected it to be that way that night.”
Recruits, Harris added, have taken notice of the attendance surge.
“It’s been really good for recruits,” he said. “Last year, it would depend on what game you came to whether there would be a crowd or not. Now, you can come to any game and expect to get the excitement from the crowd and feel the passion that the students bring.”
Crean summed up his feelings this way.
“Proud, grateful, and thankful,” he said. “Those aren’t make-believe adjectives. They’re real. It’s fantastic.”
