NIT: Xavier at Georgia

WHERE: Stegeman Coliseum

WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m.

RECORDS: Georgia 17-16, Xavier 16-17

TV/RADIO: ESPN (Roy Philpott, Richard Hendrix); Georgia Bulldog Radio Network (Scott Howard, Chuck Dowdle, Adam Gillespie.

Over at Georgia’s basketball facility, it’s one of the busiest days of the year.

Not only are Bulldog coaches and staff preparing for Tuesday night’s game (7 p.m., ESPN) in the NIT against Xavier, but the NCAA transfer portal opened for business Monday morning.

“We’ll balance it collectively. We’ll have a point guy who is in charge of catching the rest of us up on Xavier probably midday (Monday), but the phones will be burning first thing in the morning with all of us,” Mike White said. “It’s really a year-round thing, but it picks up the day the portal opens.”

The Bulldogs already have some holes to fill.

With three players out of eligibility (Noah Thomasson, Russel Tchewe, and RJ Sunahara) and only one incoming freshman (five-star Asa Newell), White knows he’ll have at least two spots to replace.

There’s likely to be more.

Although no players have announced their intentions to enter the portal, it’s expected others will declare once the Bulldogs’ season is complete in the NIT. It does not appear any will be announced before that time.

“I didn’t get the feeling that we’d have guys who would just decline the opportunity. Heck, we had practice (Sunday) not even knowing if we’d have another opportunity, and guys still got after it,” White said. “We talked about it all year, we’ve got a team that likes to work, enjoys being between the lines and competing. We would have played with five that wanted to play. But not surprisingly, I think we’ll be at full strength, or near full strength. We’ll learn more about that (Monday).”

It's believed White was speaking about senior Jabri Abdur-Rahim. Abdur-Rahim has not played since injuring his ankle against Texas A&M.

In his absence, Dylan James has stepped in, and along with Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr., giving Georgia three true freshmen now playing starting roles.

“They play well. They’re playing their best basketball at the end of the year. Silas has been pretty consistently productive throughout the year, which is an outlier compared to a few of these other guys in our league. You look at South Carolina, you look at Mississippi State, you look at Kentucky, there’s not many freshmen in our league who have made the impact as Silas has consistently,” White said. “That said, I think he’s a better player than he was in November. He’s getting better and better. Blue Cain has earned more opportunities. Dylan James is playing more like a sophomore than he was early on. He’s getting better and taking advantage of his opportunities as well, and hopefully, those guys can finish strong.”

Statistically, that appears to be what’s happening.

Demary has started every game for the Bulldogs, averaging 9.5 points, and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Since their respective insertion into the starting lineup, Cain is averaging 9.2 points with James barely missing a double-double against Ole Miss with 10 points and nine boards.

Fellow freshman Mari Jordan is redshirting but hopes to play a key role next season.

“Hopefully, we can play well on Tuesday night, but I certainly like those freshmen and the ceiling that those guys have,” White said. “It’s pretty unique to have three who have made the impact that those guys have had.”

Making sure his four freshmen stick around will arguably be the top chore for White and his staff. But first, he hopes his Bulldogs can take advantage of one final opportunity to end the year on a positive note.

“I’ll challenge our guys to take advantage of another opportunity,” White said. “Another factor why we should be excited about it? We lost our last one. You get a chance to get that taste out of your mouth, hopefully, and I’m sure Xavier feels the same way as everyone else in this field.”