Georgia basketball remains in favorable position for NCAA Tournament
Georgia basketball is sitting pretty less than three weeks before Selection Sunday.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected the Bulldogs to earn a No. 9 seed in his latest bracketology. He placed them in the Greenville, South Carolina, bracket, along with Duke, Iowa and Appalachian State.
The Bulldogs hold a 19-8 record on the season with a 7-7 mark in conference play. They will travel to 25th-ranked Vanderbilt Wednesday night before closing out the year with South Carolina and No. 17 Alabama at Stegeman Coliseum and Mississippi State on the road.
Georgia is in a favorable position to earn its second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid — a feat it has not accomplished since 2002, which was later vacated — but still has work to do with four games remaining.
“We’re not a really good team,” coach Mike White said. “We’re a good team that’s getting better.”
Georgia is No. 33 in the NET rankings — a metric that evaluates a team’s resume, incorporating the strength of schedule, quality of wins and location of games — behind Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky from the conference.
The Bulldogs won four of their first six SEC matchups before dropping three consecutive games. A 91-80 victory over Texas on Saturday after beating Kentucky on Tuesday gave Georgia its first winning streak since that stretch.
“It ought to give us confidence,” White said of the team’s recent progress. “It ought to confirm what these guys are preaching to each other — and what we’re trying to preach to them as a staff — will work.”
Georgia found success behind its high-tempo offense, which leads the country with an average of nearly 30 fast-break points per game. Sophomore guard Jeremiah Wilkinson leads the team with an average of 17.3 points per outing, despite missing two games, while junior guard Blue Cain tallies 13.8 per matchup.
Wilkinson’s return created scoring opportunities for his teammates, leading to a more balanced approach.
“One-on-one, I don’t think anybody can stop him in the country,” sophomore forward Kanon Catchings said. “It just opens up a lot of shots for everybody, especially if you’re spaced out.”
Georgia also paces the sport with 6.4 blocks per game, largely thanks to sophomore center Somto Cyril’s 2.5 per outing.
“It started in practice for him in the past couple weeks,” White said. “He’s given more of himself, really, to his teammates and to the team overall.”
The Bulldogs are staying focused on the goal ahead, even with their recent success. Georgia did not buy into its bad publicity when it was struggling, so it doesn’t need to believe the puffery either.
“At the end of day, we have to play,” Wilkinson said. “We’re in a gym every day together, so while we’re practicing, while we’re playing, we’re not on Twitter, scrolling actively during the game.”
Georgia just hopes its play will be enough to earn another NCAA Tournament bid — a goal it appears on track to accomplish.
About the Author
Olivia Sayer joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in May 2025 as an intern on the sports beat. She is earning a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia with a minor in sport management and a sports media certificate. Olivia previously held the titles of digital and assistant sports editor at The Red & Black.
