WHEN: Wednesday, 9:30 p.m.
WHERE: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
RECORDS: Georgia (20-11), Oklahoma (19-12)
TV/RADIO: SEC Network (Karl Ravetch, Jimmy Dykes, Molly McGrath); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie)
The Game
Georgia appears to be sitting comfortably as far as a trip to the NCAA Tournament is concerned.
But per head coach Mike White, that won’t change his Bulldogs’ approach for Wednesday’s opening-round game of the SEC Tournament against Oklahoma (9:30 p.m., SEC Network).
“Nothing has changed for us. Every practice, every game, mid-majors, non-conference, conference games, it's about being our best and striving for growth,” White said Tuesday. “Had a good practice yesterday. The message yesterday was today, today, today. That's it. We showed our guys a video yesterday of a speech by John Wooden years ago talking about today. It’s all about today.”
Considering Georgia’s late-season surge, it’s no surprise that the Bulldogs prefer this approach.
Any celebration of making the program’s first NCAA Tournament in a decade can wait until Sunday, when the 68-team field is announced.
For now, all focus is on the Sooners.
“We’ve had good momentum because we've continued to improve in a lot of areas, playing our best basketball, having won four in a row,” White said. “We want that to continue, so we take nothing for granted. The exterior noise has nothing to do with how we operate. Oklahoma is a really good team. It's a great opportunity for us.”
Freshman Asa Newell sees it the same way.
After a season that saw the Bulldogs lose nine of 11 games at one point, the team’s current roll has everyone on the team vibing differently.
“Yeah, the vibes, the morale is amazing,” Newell said. “We're in a beautiful city. We're going to come in here and just leave it all up on the floor. That's what we want to do. We want to play hard for 40 minutes and let the process and our growth take care of itself.”
It’s been two months since the Bulldogs and Sooners last met.
Georgia won the game in Athens 72-62 on Jan. 11, but as White quickly noted, both teams have changed since then.
“They're playing better than when we played earlier. We are, too. They're playing a little bit differently. (Guard Jeremiah) Fears is in an unbelievable rhythm, but so is Silas,” White said. “It's funny that, coincidentally, both point guards are playing in a different gear than they were a couple months ago. They had to play smaller. They played small at times in the past, of course, but out of necessity.”
White’s counting on a couple of newcomers to help his team navigate what they hope is an extended stay in Music City.
Although the Bulldogs have players like Demary Jr., Blue Cain, and Dylan James who played in last year’s event, White's team doesn’t boast a lot of postseason success.
The exception, Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey, helped lead the Tigers to last year’s Elite 8.
“We’re not exactly an experienced team, and we don't have a ton of winning experience, as we've talked about, but RJ provides that for sure. We've tried not to make the stage bigger than it is. It's a neutral-site game. There will be added excitement, of course,” White said. “We do embrace the fact that it's, you know, it is the tournament, it's the conference tournament of the best conference in the history of college basketball. That said, when it's tipped, it's a neutral site game against a really good team, and we've been there before.”
Scouting the Sooners
Oklahoma arrives at its first-ever SEC Tournament at 19-12 overall and 6-12 in SEC play. The Sooners were one of the nation’s last four remaining undefeated teams at 13-0 before league competition began.
After dropping heartbreaking, last-second decisions to No. 17 Kentucky and Ole Miss, Oklahoma rallied to win its final two regular-season outings. The Sooners topped No. 15 Missouri and defeated Texas in Austin
Jeremiah Fears and Jalon Moore provide the Sooners with the SEC’s most potent 1-2 scoring punch. Fears is averaging 16.3 points per game, while Moore is at 16.2 points per game; he is one bucket shy of his teammate’s tally. Among the league’s scoring leaders, Fears and Moore are ranked No. 10 and No. 11, respectively.
Fears is ranked among SEC leaders in five statistics. In addition to scoring, he is No. 6 in assists (4.2), No. 8 in free throw percentage (.851), No. 12 in field goal percentage (.433), and No. 15 in steals (1.6).
This and That
• The Bulldogs improved to 20-11 with last Saturday’s victory over Vanderbilt, just the sixth time in 119 seasons that UGA has reached the 20-win plateau during the regular season.
• Georgia also secured its second straight 20-win campaign, just the fifth time the Bulldogs have put together back-to-back 20-win efforts.
• The Bulldogs appear primed to earn an NCAA Tournament bid on Selection Sunday, which would be Georgia’s first appearance in “March Madness” since 2015.
• Georgia has played eight games versus AP top 10 teams, the most of any program in the nation. Almost half – eight of 18 – of UGA’s games during the 2025 calendar have been against top-10 squads.
• The winner of Wednesday night’s game will play Kentucky on Wednesday, also at approximately 9:30 p.m.
