Georgia basketball‘s 1996 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 was honored 30 years later at the Bulldogs’ game against Arkansas.
Former Bulldog coach Tubby Smith returned to Stegeman Coliseum for a halftime ceremony that included former players. He posed for a photo with former Bulldog football coach Jim Donnan before the game.
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Smith made back-to-back March Madness trips in his two seasons with the Bulldogs.
So did the 2001-2002 teams, but Georgia hasn’t made consecutive tournament trips since.
The No. 22 Bulldogs won a game Saturday Jan. 17, 90-76 over the No. 17 Razorbacks, that so far is their biggest in terms of its postseason résumé as this team aims for a second straight March Madness trip.
The Bulldogs (15-3, 3-2 SEC) got their first Quad 1 when a second straight home loss after the Ole Miss overtime defeat three days earlier would have been hard to get back up from.
“The Ole Miss loss hurt a lot,” said guard Blue Cain who scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half. “It pissed everybody off. …We just wanted to respond. We knew we were better than that.”
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The Arkansas game was the first of four straight Quad 1 opportunities with road games at Missouri on Tuesday and Texas Saturday before returning home to play Tennessee.
“I know if we play that hard and can defend high-level teams with that effort, we’re going to win our share because we’re hard to guard,” fourth-year Georgia coach Mike White said.
Georgia outscored Arkansas (13-5, 3-2) 20-6 in the final 5:26 after the Razorbacks climbed back from 19 down to tie the game.
Arkansas, the top 3-point shooting team in the SEC at 39.1%, was held to 5 of 21 on 3s.
“It just came down to us playing harder,” guard Jeremiah Wilkinson said. “Just being connected on defense.”
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Wilkinson, the transfer from Cal, scored 20, going 4 of 10 on 3s with 4 steals.
Cain, the junior, bounced back from a slow SEC start to score his most points in a conference game since his freshman season with 18 on 8 of 12 shooting.
And freshman Jake Wilkins scored 11 points in 9 minutes after scoring 2 points in 22 minutes in SEC play this season. He was inserted in the game early after White said the Bulldogs had struggled some recently on the wing.
“He had two good practices leading into today,” White said. “I thought Jake was a huge factor in this win.”
Nine of Georgia’s 13 remaining games would be against Quad 1 opponents based on data entering Saturday’s games. The Bulldogs are 1-2 in Quad 1 games after the win Saturday.
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“It’s about tomorrow, that’s it,” White said. “That’s the way we keep it, process-oriented. Tomorrow, we’ll bring our guys back down to Earth. Our guys have really embraced it. They’ve done a good job of that.”
Georgia was a No. 9 seed for the NCAA Tournament in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN bracket projection entering Saturday.
“An underrated coaching hire of the past few years?” CBS’ Jon Rothstein posted on X, formerly Twitter after the game. “Georgia’s decision to grab Mike White and bring him to Athens. A very consistent product on the floor for the Bulldogs. Put up 90 today against Arkansas.”
Arkansas coach John Calpari sees what White is building at Georgia.
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“I love it,” he said on a Zoom call with Arkansas media. “I love for him, because he’s a great guy and a terrific coach, and this is a hard league, and you know he’s done a terrific job. I told him, ‘Great win, you guys played well.’ But no, I’ve always been a fan of his.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia gets first Quad 1 win vs. Arkansas. There are more tests ahead
