Georgia Bulldogs 2020-21 basketball schedule

ATHENS — Georgia’s men’s basketball season is finally set to get under way, and it will start in less than two weeks.

The Bulldogs will open the season against Columbus State on Nov. 25 at Stegeman Coliseum. That’s the first of seven non-conference games that will precede the beginning of SEC play against Mississippi State on Dec. 30.

Highlighting the non-conference slate is a Dec. 19 date against Cincinnati.

ExploreBulldogs eager to return to the court

Georgia’s other non-conference games will be against Northeastern (Dec. 22), Gardner-Webb (Nov. 29), Jacksonville (Dec. 4), Montana (Dec. 8) and Samford (Dec. 12). All of the games will be played in Athens before extremely limited crowds.

Both Northeastern and Montana have been picked to win their respective conferences this season, while Cincinnati returns three starters from last season when the Bearcats tied for the AAC regular-season title.

However, the Bulldogs will not play Georgia Tech as the rival schools were unable to reschedule their original November date. It will be the first time since 1934 the teams haven’t played in basketball. This comes after the schools are playing a football season without meeting for the first time since 1924.

“Both schools tried to find a way to make it work this season, but due to changes in the conference schedules, the existing non-conference schedules after Nov. 25, exam schedules and a lot of other different things made it where it just wouldn’t work out,” Georgia coach Tom Crean said. “Like with football, it’s disappointing when two schools that have that kind of rivalry that the fans look forward to can’t play. But it’s situations beyond our control and we look forward to resuming it again nest season.”

Georgia also was unable to keep previously scheduled games against Memphis and SMU. The Bulldogs will play an 18-game SEC schedule starting with Mississippi State in Athens on Dec. 30, then the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Game times and television information will be announced at a later date.

Georgia is coming off a 16-16 (5-13 SEC) season and are now 27-37 (7-29) heading into their third season under coach Tom Crean.

Georgia’s 2019-20 season abruptly ended, like all teams in college basketball, on March 11 with country’s realization that it was being enveloped in a pandemic caused by a coronavirus. The Bulldogs had just defeated Ole Miss in the first round of the SEC Tournament and were getting ready to face Florida when the event was canceled.