The Georgia Bulldogs will host Mississippi State on Wednesday, Dec. 30 to begin their 18-game Southeastern Conference schedule of the 2020-21 campaign. The league office in Birmingham, Ala., released schedules for all 14 teams on Friday morning.
Game times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
“Obviously, March 11, when we last played a game, seems like a lifetime ago,” head coach Tom Crean said. “The rest of the spring, summer and fall have been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The announcement of our SEC schedule is an important step toward returning to games. It’s a welcome step. It’s an extremely exciting step. It’s something I’ve been anxiously awaiting. To be able to put dates on a calendar is something we weren’t able to do for some time. Hopefully, we’ll announce our non-conference schedule in the near future and soon after that we’ll be actually playing basketball at the Steg once again.”
The battle of the Bulldogs opens a slate that includes four Saturday and five weeknight contests at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia also will host Auburn on Jan. 13, Kentucky on Jan. 20, Florida on Jan. 23, Ole Miss on Jan. 30, Vanderbilt on Feb. 6, Missouri on Feb. 16, LSU on Feb. 23 and South Carolina on Feb. 27.
Georgia ventures to LSU on Wednesday, Jan. 6 for the Bulldogs’ first road game in conference play followed by trips to Arkansas on Jan. 9, Ole Miss on Jan. 16, South Carolina on Jan. 27, Auburn on Feb. 2, Texas A&M on Feb. 10, Alabama on Feb. 13, Florida on Jan. 20 and Tennessee on March 3.
In addition to facing each league team once, the Bulldogs will continue to face traditional rivals Auburn, Florida and South Carolina on a home-and-home basis. Georgia also will meet LSU and Ole Miss twice during regular-season play.
“The leadership and the patience the SEC has exhibited throughout the pandemic has been remarkable,” Crean said. “I’ve thanked them several times before, but I’d once again like to make sure everyone realizes how much every SEC coach appreciates the hard work and leadership of Commissioner Sankey and Dan Leibovitz.”
Georgia’s roster for the 2020-21 season will feature six returning letterwinners and eight newcomers.
Starters Toumani Camara and Sahvir Wheeler headline the returnees, which also includes junior Tye Fagan and sophomores Christian Brown, Jaykwon Walton and Jaxon Etter.
The Bulldogs’ newcomers include a representative of each class – graduate transfer seniors Andrew Garcia, P.J. Horne and Justin Kier, juniors Jonathan Ned and Mikal Starks, sophomore Tyron McMillan and freshmen K.D. Johnson and Josh Taylor.
The Bulldogs wrapped up last season with a 16-16 record. Georgia defeated Ole Miss, 81-63, in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, the Bulldogs’ most decisive victory over a league foe during the 2020-21 season. Georgia’s late-season surge also featured an upset of No. 12 Auburn.
Gameday admission and event guidelines for this season will be announced at a later date. The Bulldogs have been a hot ticket of late, breaking their all-time total attendance record at Stegeman Coliseum in each of Crean’s first two seasons in Athens. Last winter, Georgia drew 164,071 fans for 17 home date, producing the second-best average attendance mark (9,651) in school history.