Vanderbilt at Georgia

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 6 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia (11-6, 4-6); Vanderbilt (5-8, 1-6)

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

There’s an old sports cliché that states momentum is only as good as your next game.

Saturday afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia will find out exactly how true that is, when the Bulldogs entertain Vanderbilt.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. (SEC Network).

The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back wins over Ole Miss and Auburn, and although two straight victories qualify as a modest streak to say the least, head coach Tom Crean said the confidence his team (11-5, 4-6) is beginning to gain is evident.

“I think confidence is extremely important, and I think it comes because you work hard, you play together, and things go right for you,” Crean said Friday. “There’s a camaraderie​ that we already have that just builds and becomes even stronger.”

Slowly but surely, the results are starting to show.

That includes a marked improvement regarding the Bulldogs perimeter shooting. After ranking near the bottom of the league for most of the year, Georgia shooters have made good on 16 of their last 34, or just under 50 percent.

Graduate transfer P.J. Horne has been the man responsible for much of that damage, converting four of his past 7.

“That just comes from a team that likes to share the ball,” Horne said. “In practice, you have to learn how to prepare for different games, and that’s what I feel we've done.”

However, getting ahead of themselves is the last thing Justin Kier said the Bulldogs need to do.

With eight games to go, Georgia finds itself as part of a logjam in the SEC standings, where two games separate 10 teams from third and 12th place.

"We are definitely focused on the next game. Something some guys are trying to say is, 'Be 1-0 today.' Even if it's practice, even if we don't have a game; you have to be 1-0 today. Make sure you attack today and win today—especially with practice, or if we have an off day, not just when we have a game—being 1-0,” Kier said. “I don't think we're worried about our future as much as we're worried about what is going on right now. We all have goals and things like that. Hopefully, we'll continue this run we've been on. We must attack the day, day by day. If you attack it day by day, I feel like you'll continue to see better days. We're attacking every single day as hard as we can."

That’s just what Crean wants to hear.

Although the Commodores (5-8, 1-6) come in as the last-place team in the SEC, Georgia is in no position to start taking any team for granted.

“You have to stay absolutely focused, and every day has to be its own masterpiece, as John Wooden would say,” Crean said. “You’ve got to do a great job each day of maxing it out and making sure you’re not leaving anything to chance. You’re not leaving any stone unturned. And at the same time, you’re not leaving your legs on the practice court.”

Hopefully, that message has been received loud and clear.

“That’s really important, and we’re very cognizant of that,” Crean said. “So, it’s just a matter of us continuing to understand what that game calls for going into the game, stay true to the game plan, then being able to make the adjustments we have to make. I think that’s where momentum gets built most of all—who's flexible, who can adjust, and who doesn’t get distracted inside the game.”

…Justin Kier is 21 points from 1,300 for his career

…Andrew Garcia is eight rebounds from 500 for his career, and 39 points from 1,000 for his career.

…Sahvir Wheeler is eight assists from co.- No. 16s Gerald Robinson (2011) and Litterial Green (1989) among UGA’s single-season leaders. He’s also 14 assists from himself and Willie Anderson (1988) at No. 14 among UGA’s single-season leaders

Most recently, the Commodores produced their most impressive performance of the season, defeating South Carolina 93-81 last Saturday in Nashville.

Vanderbilt’s scheduled midweek date with Texas A&M was canceled due to a combination of positive tests, contact tracing, and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Texas A&M program, consistent with SEC COVID-19 management requirements.

Scotty Pippen, Jr. paces the Commodores and ranks second in the SEC in scoring at 21.7 ppg. He also is second in the conference in assists, with his 5.5 apg effort, trailing only Sahvir Wheeler’s 7.4 apg. Dylan Disu is chipping in 14.0 ppg while also grabbing a league-best 8.3 rpg.