Rugged road for Dogs in Preaseason NIT

Athens — Georgia’s Cor-ey Butler couldn’t resist.

Butler absolutely believes the Bulldogs men’s basketball team can win the NIT Preseason Tip-off Classic, which begins for them today in West LaFayette, Ind.

“All we need is a natural disaster,” the Bulldogs’ senior tri-captain said. “Maybe we’ll get a snowstorm up there.”

Georgia could use a little help. It has won four tournaments in its history: The 1932 Southern Conference tournament, the 1983 SEC tournament, the 1996 Rainbow Classic and last season’s tornado-interrupted SEC tournament in Atlanta.

That incredible four-day run is a big reason the Bulldogs scored an invite into this year’s Preseason NIT. Since 1985, the 16-team tournament has pitted some of the best teams in the country to kick off the basketball season.

Georgia is in the North Regional on the campus of Purdue University and will open against Loyola of Chicago tonight at 9:30 p.m. The winner will face the Purdue-Eastern Michigan winner the following night. The losers will also play.

“Number one, this is one of the premier preseason tournaments there is,” coach Dennis Felton said. “Not only are we going out to the Midwest and getting Georgia out there, we’re playing a great team in Loyola of Chicago.

“If we do win, which won’t be easy, we’ll get a top-10 team on its home court [Purdue].

”And if we’re fortunate enough to win that, we’ll be on a national stage in New York. So it’s a big deal for Georgia.”

Georgia opened the season Friday against USC-Upstate in Athens. The Bulldogs (1-0) used a suffocating full-court defense to force 28 turnovers —including 20 steals — on the way to a 70-48 victory.

As usual under Felton, it looks like Georgia will be a defensive-oriented team.

Some other things we learned:

1. Injuries already an issue

Trey Thompkins, the Bulldogs’ heralded 6-foot-9 signee from Lithonia, remains sidelined with an ankle injury. He dressed for the opener but did not play. He traveled to Purdue, but his status remains uncertain.

“There’s a chance. I can’t quantify it, but there’s a chance,” Felton said of Thompkins playing.

Power forward Jeremy Price left Friday’s game in the second half after being hit in the eye. Felton considered Price questionable for tonight’s game.

Freshman guard Ebuka Anyaorah is out for the year with a leg injury.

2. Human Highlight Film II?

After Travis Leslie’s one-handed, tomahawk dunk over a 7-foot-3 center Friday — for his first collegiate points — color commentator Jeff Dantzler of the Georgia Bulldog Radio Network wondered if Thompkins might be the best finisher to come through Athens since Dominique Wilkins.

Playing only 15 minutes, Leslie led the team with 11 points and oohs and ahs with that dunk, a beautifully executed reverse lay-in and even a missed dunk on which he was fouled.

3. McPhee not an average walk-on

Probably the biggest surprise from Friday was the play of Ricky McPhee. The junior guard from Lawrenceville sat out last season after transferring to Georgia from Gardner-Webb.

In his UGA debut, he scored 10 points in 11 minutes, going 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the foul line. “Y’all don’t know Ricky but we know Ricky and we know what he can do,” Butler said. “He can play.”

NEXT FOR GEORGIA

• Who: Bulldogs (1-0) vs. Loyola Chicago (0-1)

• What: NIT Preseason Tip-off, North Regional

• When/where: 9:30 p.m.; West Lafayette, Ind.

• TV/radio: none; 750 AM