WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 16-7, 4-6; Mississippi State 16-6, 4-5

TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Dave Neal, Jon Sunvold); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)

Pregame Notes

Ask the 15 players on Georgia’s basketball team what has been the craziest crowd reaction in Stegeman Coliseum and you might get 15 answers.

Considering the Bulldogs are 13-1 at home with the only loss a two-point loss to top-ranked Auburn, it’s easy to understand why.

“There's been too many times, but I think the first time I noticed it was when Savo (Drezgic) scored his first point. I think it was when he scored a three against Texas Southern. Man, it was like a bomb,” junior RJ Godfrey said. “Everyone went crazy. We got some good fans, especially our students … those guys are crazy.”

Dylan James took it a step further.

“The fans are legendary every game,” James said. “But if I could think of a specific moment, I would say when we were playing South Carolina, and Blue (Cain) hit a transition three off my assist. The student section, they just went an uproar.”

Both Godfrey and James hope the crowd is in good voice Saturday night when Georgia welcomes No. 22 Mississippi State (16-6, 4-5) to Stegeman Coliseum for another huge SEC game.

With eight league games to go – four at home and four on the road – Georgia needs to make them all count.

James is confident that they will.

When school athletic officials made the decision to move students closer to floor, many longtime ticket holders were not pleased.

However, there’s little argument over the impact it’s made.

Stegeman Coliseum has gone from a facility that was not that intimidating for visiting teams to one where it’s extremely difficult to play.

“They don’t hold back,” James said. “They do a good job of giving us that home-court advantage.”

For visiting teams, that’s bad news. For the Bulldogs, it can be a little funny.

“The students are so close to the court now and everything, I can hear every word they say, calling my name, calling Blue’s name,” Godfrey said. “We're all interacting with them. They're awesome.”

Even with eight games to go, you won’t find the Bulldogs playing a numbers game trying to figure out what needs to happen to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Although ESPN’s Joe Lunardi's Bracketology still has the Bulldogs inside the tournament as one of the last four teams with a bye and a No. 10 seed, every game is crucial to those chances.

Especially at home.

A win over 22nd-ranked Mississippi State should give the Bulldogs a nice boost.

A win would not only help Georgia’s NCAA argument but also give Mike White’s squad the tiebreaker edge over MSU, which could be useful once the season is over.

“It’s another really good team. I know they've been dropped two lately, but really good point guard in (Josh) Hubbard, and they're pretty physical, their front court with (Cameron) Matthews,” Godfrey said. “They’ve got two really good bigs that we are going to have to match up with in the post.”

The Bulldogs don’t need to let the game slip away.

Beginning Tuesday night at Texas A&M, Georgia will play four straight games against teams ranked 15th or higher in the Associated Press Top 25, including home contests against No. 15 Missouri and No. 6 Florida.

Among the Mississippi State players Georgia will welcome to Stegeman Saturday, is former Bulldog RJ Melendez.

Melendez, who played for Georgia last season, transferred to Mississippi State over the summer.

“Yeah, I love playing with RJ, man,” Dylan James said. “RJ is a great, great player, but I don’t the fans are going to make it easy on him.”

With 17 starts in 22 games, Melendez is averaging 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds for Mississippi State.

Last year for Georgia, he averaged 8.7 points and 4.2 boards.

Mississippi State arrives in Athens with an overall record of 16-6 and a 4-5 mark in SEC play. The Bulldogs, who enjoyed an open date midweek, are ranked No. 22 by the Associated Press and are the first team out of the top 25 in the Coaches poll.

Josh Hubbard leads the Bulldogs offensively, averaging 17.6 points per game. He also sports an eye-catching 3.10 assist-to-turnover ratio. Between his made field goals (124) and assists (65), Hubbard has had a hand in 189 of State’s 635 makes from the field this season – 29.8 percent.

KeShawn Murphy and Claude Harris Jr. also are scoring at a double-figure clip, contributing 11.0 points per game and 10.4 points per game, respectively, while Riley Kugel is just shy of double digits at 9.7 points per game.

• Georgia is 13-1 at home this season with a scoring margin of +20.4 that includes double-digit decisions in 11 of 13 wins – including all four SEC victories at Stegeman.

• After playing six of eight games against top-25 teams in January, the Bulldogs flipped the calendar to February to find...six of seven outings versus teams ranked this week.

• Georgia’s ascension 308 spots in kenpom.com’s defense efficiency – from No. 328 in 2021-22 to No. 20 as of Friday – is the second-largest three-season jump since the metric’s inception in 1997.