Georgia and No. 23 Auburn have been two of the nation’s most formidable offensive teams in non-conference play.
The clubs will open their Southeast Conference schedule Saturday afternoon in Athens, Georgia.
The Bulldogs (12-1) beat Long Island 89-74 Monday for their 11th straight home victory. The same day, Auburn (9-4) defeated Queens University 106-65 to extend its non-conference home winning streak to 64, the best in the nation.
But now it’s time to play for real.
“Coming back from a win is always a good thing for the next game,” said Marcus “Smurf” Millender of Georgia. “I feel like it’s just momentum in SEC play. We’re all very confident about where we are right now and where we’re at.”
This will be Millender’s first taste of SEC basketball.
“Especially for me and Justin (Bailey, a transfer from Wofford),” said Millender, a transfer from Texas-San Antonio. “We’ve never played in the SEC before, so we’re very excited. We’re 12-1 right now. We have momentum.”
Georgia lost both meetings last season against Auburn, including 70-68 in Athens.
The Bulldogs rank first in the nation in scoring, averaging 99.0 points per game. They did it with depth, with Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.3 points per game) and Blue Cain (15.7) the leading scorers on a team that uses 11 players and has nine averaging at least 6.3 points.
Georgia coach Mike White was disappointed with his team’s performance against Long Island, a game in which the Bulldogs trailed at halftime and couldn’t hold off the Sharks until midway through the second half.
“It wasn’t our best performance,” White said. “Obviously we have to do a lot of things better. You want to go into the SEC, you want to finish with some momentum and play one of your best games. It wasn’t, but it was also the best mid-major we’ve played. Maybe we can learn from it and build on it.”
Auburn, which averages 85.9 points per game, scored a season-high 57 points in the first half against Queens.
The Tigers are led by Keyshawn Hall, the only player in the SEC who ranks in the top five in scoring (20.1 points) and rebounds (8.0). He is the only player on the team to score in double figures in every game and has 20+ points seven times.
Tahaad Pettiford is averaging 14.4 points and Kevin Overton is at 12.5 and is having back-to-back 20-point games. Pettiford and KeShawn Murphy, a transfer who averaged 11.7 and 7.4 rebounds for Mississippi State last season, looked especially fresh after nine days between games.
“(Murphy) was bouncing around the gym and diving everywhere,” said Auburn coach Steven Pearl, who tried to hype Murphy by showing him highlights from an earlier game. “He’s the guy we need. Let’s go get more.”
–Field level media
