No. 23 Georgia rides momentum into SEC opener vs. Auburn
No. 23 Georgia and Auburn have been two of the nation's most fearsome offensive teams during non-conference play.
The clubs will open their Southeastern Conference schedules on Saturday afternoon in Athens, Ga.
The Bulldogs (12-1) defeated Long Island 89-74 on Monday for their 11th straight home win. On the same day, Auburn (9-4) routed Queens University 106-65 to extend its winning streak of home non-conference games to 64, the best in the nation.
But now it's time to play for keeps.
"Coming off a win is aways good going into the next game," Georgia's Marcus "Smurf" Millender said. "I feel like it's just momentum going into SEC play. We all are very confident with where we are right now and where we're standing."
It will be the first time that Millender will get a 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 super excited. We're 12-1 right now. We have momentum."
Georgia lost both meetings last season vs. Auburn, including 70-68 in Athens.
The Bulldogs rank first in the nation in scoring, averaging 99.0 points per game. They have done it with depth, with Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.3 ppg) and Blue Cain (15.7) the leading scorers on a team that uses 11 players and has nine who average 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 put the Sharks away until midway in the second half.
"It was not our best performance," White said. "Obviously, a lot of things we have got to do better. You want to go into SEC play, you want to finish with some momentum and play one of your best games. This was not, but it was also the best mid-major that we played. Maybe we can learn from it and grow from it."
Auburn, which averages 85.9 points per game, scored a season-best 57 first-half points 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 team's only player to score in double figures in every game and has 20-plus points on seven occasions.
Tahaad Pettiford averages 14.4 points and Kevin Overton is at 12.5 and has 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 going nine days between games.
"(Murphy) was bouncing around the gym and dunking all over the place," said Auburn coach Steven Pearl, who tried to hype Murphy by showing him highlights from a previous game. "That's the guy we need. Let's get more of that."