Mark Fox changes the subject to iPhones when the matter of Georgia’s NCAA tournament chances comes up.
“It’s like we’re all lined up for the iPhone8 or whatever the next one is,” Fox said Friday. “You think, ‘hey, great, there are only four people ahead of us in line.’ But they might have only three phones inside. You don’t know how many they might have. So you better keep plugging.”
The Bulldogs (16-7, 7-4 SEC) will continue their quest to improve their place in line Saturday when they play host to Auburn. They’re pulling out all the stops, calling for a “red-out” at Stegeman Coliseum as Bruce Pearl and his latest squad visit for the first time this season.
“I’m just glad we’ve got people that are interested enough to do it,” Fox quipped.
Indeed, Georgia’s team has piqued the interest of Bulldog Nation, who have turned out in large numbers for home games, particularly on Saturday afternoons. UGA is centering its promotion of this game around one of its most loyal and enthusiastic fans. Jesse Kenney — aka “Sweater Guy” — wears red sweaters to home games and implores the crowd to make noise by waving his arms jumping-jacks style from his aisle across the court from the Georgia bench.
Kenney and his constituents have had much to cheer about this season. The Bulldogs enter Saturday’s game having won 11 of their 12 home games (their only loss coming at the hands of No. 23 Arkansas on Jan. 6). Not coincidentally, Georgia is averaging a healthy 6,964 fans for home games, a number that grows significantly on Saturdays. There was a sellout of 10,523 for Florida on Jan. 17 and just short of one (9,730) for Tennessee last week.
All that said, the Bulldogs are taking nothing for granted. While Georgia has been good at home, all of its wins have been close. They’ve won their seven SEC games by an average of 5.7 points.
That is why you’ll hear no chest-beating coming out of the Bulldogs’ locker room.
“You can talk about your NCAA resume, but as much as you can build that up, you can tear it down just as fast,” said senior forward Marcus Thornton. “I prefer us to talk about and focus on what we normally do. Regardless of our record, that is to take it one day at time and think about how we can get better from one game to the next.”
Auburn is typical of the teams against which the Bulldogs need to be particular wary. The Tigers (11-13, 3-8) haven’t been great in their first season under Pearl, but they’ve been competitive. Among their victories is one over LSU in Baton Rouge, where Georgia was unable to win earlier this season. And they also rank among the league’s leading teams in 3-point shooting, free throws attempted and defense, all categories that can come together to spell upset.
“We’re not in anything,” Fox said, referencing postseason play. “The quality of the league really keeps you on point. The quality of the opponent you’re about to see keeps you really focused because the league is so deep. There’s not a bad team, so you’ve got to get ready to play no matter what a team’s record is.”
But Georgia is starting to gain some notice for its good work, in particular. With their 62-53 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday night, the Bulldogs are 3-3 in SEC play away from Stegeman Coliseum. And they’re doing it without being at full strength.
It’s unlikely that starting small forward Juwan Parker (Achilles) will return Saturday from his eight-game injury absence, but he’s close and practicing on a limited basis. His backup Kenny Paul Geno (broken wrist) also is close to returning.
“We definitely believe we have not played our best basketball yet,” Thornton said. “Obviously I think we can get better. We don’t have all our pieces back yet. Once we do, which is hopefully soon here, we do feel like there’s a different level for us to get to.”
Exactly how high that level is, the Bulldogs will figure out later.
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