UGA draws No. 3 seed, double bye in SEC tourney
Georgia will be the No. 3 seed in the SEC men’s basketball tournament and will get a double bye into the quarterfinals.
That was determined late Saturday night, when Vanderbilt’s victory over Ole Miss left four teams — Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and Ole Miss — tied for third place in the SEC standings with 11-7 league records. Georgia prevailed in the four-way tiebreaker — best winning percentage in games played among the tied teams — to claim the No. 3 seed.
The Bulldogs were 3-1 against the other teams in the tie.
Georgia will open tournament play at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., in Friday’s late game (approximately 9:40 p.m.) versus South Carolina, Missouri or Ole Miss. No. 11 seed South Carolina and No. 14 Missouri will meet in an opening-round game Wednesday, with the winner facing No. 6 Ole Miss on Thursday. Then the winner of that one moves on to face a rested Georgia in the quarterfinals.
The top two seeds in the tournament are No. 1 Kentucky (18-0 SEC) and No. 2 Arkansas (13-5 SEC). Georgia is in the opposite side of the bracket from Kentucky, meaning the Bulldogs can’t face the Wildcats before the tournament’s championship game.
Georgia did its part on the court Saturday to stay in position for the No. 3 seed by beating Auburn 64-61. Read about that game by clicking here.
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
