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MBB: Dawgs Kickoff SEC Play vs. Auburn at the Stege

Date: Saturday, January 3, 2026

Time: 1:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Stegeman Coliseum (10,523)

Location: Athens, Ga.

Game Giveaway: The first 500 UGA students will receive a free Georgia Basketball t-shirt

TV: SEC Network (Matt Schumacker, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 374 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• Georgia – which reached January with the highest scoring average (99.0 ppg) of any Division I team in seven years (since 2019) – opens SEC play on Saturday by hosting Auburn at Stegeman Coliseum.

• The Bulldogs’ 12-1 record matches the third-best start in 121 seasons of basketball. With a win, Georgia would equal its second-best beginning and best since 1931.

• Georgia entered the weekend ranked among the nation’s top-5 teams in seven statistics, including No. 1 in scoring offense (99.0 ppg), fastbreak points (27.5 ppg) and blocks (7.9 bpg).

• As of Friday, the Dunkyard Dawgs were scoring a nation-leading 22.9 percent of their field goals on dunks this season. Individually, Somto Cyril’s 37 dunks led the SEC and ranked No. 2 nationally.

• Georgia topped the 100-point plateau in six of its first 12 games, already breaking the program’s single-season record of five century mark tallies during the 1990-91 campaign.

The Opening Tip

Georgia christens the Southeastern Conference portion of its regular-season slate on Saturday by hosting Auburn before a sold-out Stegeman Coliseum. The Bulldogs open SEC play with back-to-back outings against half of last season’s Final Four – the Tigers and Florida – and have four of their first five league outings against 2025 “Sweet 16” teams (adding Arkansas and Ole Miss).

Georgia is ranked No. 23 and No. 24 in the current AP and coaches polls, respectively. The Bulldogs are 12-1, equaling their third-best start in 121 seasons of play, and with a victory would match both UGA’s second-best start ever and its best since 1931.

The Bulldogs wrapped up non-conference play on Monday by defeating LIU and extending their home winning streak against non-conference opponents under Mike White to 36 games.

It would be hard to fathom a better beginning to the 2025-26 campaign for Georgia, at least statistically speaking.

As of Friday, the Bulldogs were leading the all 365 Division I teams in scoring offense (99.0 ppg), fastbreak points (27.5 ppg) and blocks (7.9 bpg). Among the 28 statistics tracked by the NCAA, Georgia ranked in the top 5 in seven and in the top 25 in 15. 

Georgia features one of the nation’s deepest rotations playing at a pace among the quickest in the country.

Eleven Bulldogs are averaging double-figure minutes, and according to the oft-used metric KenPom.com, Georgia enters the weekend ranked No. 2 nationally in average offensive possession length (14.1 seconds), as well as No. 3 nationally in adjusted tempo (76.3)

Georgia’s depth is not just in numbers but also in its offensive production. 
Ten of the 11 Bulldogs playing double-digit minutes have scored 10+ points in a game, combining to record 56 double-figure scoring outputs this season. Jeremiah Wilkinson is averaging a team-high 17.3 ppg, while Blue Cain is contributing 15.7 ppg and Marcus “Smurf” Millender is chipping in 10.6 ppg, including 13.0 ppg over the last eight outings.

Scouting The Tigers

Auburn is 9-4 on the season, with all four setbacks coming to top-10 teams, No. 1 Houston, No. 7 Michigan, No. 2 Arizona and No. 6 Purdue.

Keyshawn Hall leads the Tigers and is ranked No. 3 in the SEC in scoring (20.1 ppg) and No. 5 in rebounding (8.0 rpg). He is the only player ranked among the league’s top-10 leaders in both stats.

Auburn’s rotation features three more double-digit scorers – Tahaad Pettiford at 14.4 ppg, Kevin Overton at 12.5 ppg and Elyiah Freeman at 10.2 ppg.

Series History With AU

Georgia and Auburn will face off for the 202nd time on Saturday, with the Tigers owning a 104-97 edge in the series.

In the most recent meeting last Feb. 22 in Auburn, the top-ranked Tigers secured an 82-70 victory. After Auburn surged to a 53-43 lead with 10:27 remaining, Georgia methodically trimmed that margin to 66-62 with 3:44 left but could not pull any closer.

The Bulldogs and Tigers last met in Athens on Jan. 18 last season, with No. 1/1 Auburn holding off No. 23/23 Georgia to secure at 70-68 victory before a raucous sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Tigers led 69-60 with 41 seconds remaining before a furious rally by the Bulldogs cut the margin to 70-67. Georgia then failed to tie the game twice in the final 10 seconds, with a Dakota Leffew 3-pointer rimming out and an Asa Newell jumper at the buzzer drawing front iron.

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