![Completed Stegeman Coliseum renovations on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2017 in Athens, Georgia. (Photo by Steffenie Burns / Georgia Sports Communication)](https://photos.smugmug.com/Basketball-men/201718/Stegeman-Coliseum-Renovations/i-cx9Xgch/1/c9d207c2/M/170924_MBB_Team_0037-1-M.jpg)
The Georgia Bulldogs have added four more television appearances to their 2017-18 men’s basketball schedule. Those TV designations and game times for Georgia’s non-conference slate were released Thursday.
The Bulldogs’ home dates with Winthrop at 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 5 and Temple at 1:00 p.m. on Dec. 22 will air on the SEC Network. Georgia’s road matchup with Marquette on Dec. 2 will tip at 2:00 and will air on CBS Sports Network, while a Dec. 16 trip to Massachusetts will begin at 3:00 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
Georgia will open the season with a trio of games at the renewed Stegeman Coliseum. The Bulldogs’ game against Bryant on Nov. 10 and USC-Upstate on Nov. 14 both will begin at 7:00 p.m. On Nov. 19, Georgia will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a 1:00 p.m. matinee. Those three contests will be available via SEC Network + and the ESPN App.
Twenty-six of the Bulldogs’ regular-season games will air nationally on seven different networks, with another possible addition at the Wooden Legacy over the Thanksgiving holiday. Georgia will appear on the SEC Network 15 times, on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPU and ESPNews) for nine games and on CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network once each.
The Bulldogs opened official practices for the 2017-18 campaign last Saturday. Georgia returns four starters and nine of the top-10 scorers from last season when UGA secured its fourth-straight postseason bid. Yante Maten, who has been named SEC preseason Player of the Year and preseason All-American, leads Georgia’s lineup as the SEC’s leading returning scorer (18.2 ppg) and active career leader in points (1,250), rebounds (606) and blocked shots (149). Derek Ogbeide is the league’s second-leading returning rebounder after averaging a team-high 7.6 rpg a year ago.
CLICK HERE for the 2017-2018 UGA Men’s Basketball Schedule.
When fans arrive at Stegeman Coliseum next month they will be walking into the final product following more than $20-million in renovations over the past several years.
This summer, the arena received a massive center-hung scoreboard, new black seats, an improved LED lighting system, a state-of-the-art sound system and graphics above the horseshoe end celebrating past teams and retired jerseys. That followed last summer’s work which provided a dramatic mural covering the Coliseum’s distinctive end wall.
In 2010, Stegeman’s concourses received a similar makeover, upgrading the graphics, enhancing spectator access to concessions and restrooms and adding 5,000-square feet of concourse space on each side of the arena. Those efforts won awards from both the American Institute of Architects and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.