Georgia Basketball: SEC announces matchups for 2024-25 season
Georgia Basketball’s schedule for 2024-25 is coming together by the day. After a pair of games in the Bahamas have been planned for the non-conference slate, the Bulldogs learned who they’ll be playing next season in the SEC. The league announced matchups and locations for 2024-25, the first season with Texas and Oklahoma in the league, on Monday with dates to come later.
Coming to Stegeman Coliseum next season are Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. As is tradition, Georgia will play Bruce Pearl’s Tigers twice. The same is true too for both the Gators of Florida and Gamecocks of South Carolina. Then, on the road where things get difficult oftentimes are games against Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M – plus the squads Georgia double-dips against. All in all, it amounts to an 18-game conference slate with an even nine game split at home and on the road.
Previously announced matchups for UGA include a pair of Big East opponents in the Bahamas: Marquette (Saturday, November 23rd) and St. John’s (Sunday, November 24th). The Bulldogs are also expected to make a road trip to in-state rival Georgia Tech in late November/early December while also taking part in the second-annual ACC/SEC Challenge. Last season, Georgia played six non-conference games against power conference competition (Oregon, Wake Forest, Miami, Providence, Florida State, Georgia Tech) and is expected to have at least four on the slate for this season.
Georgia returns three players from its team in 2023-24 (Silas Demary, Blue Cain, Dylan James) while the Bulldogs have gone about adding several talented options to their roster for next season. Five-star forward Asa Newell, the No. 10 player in the Class of 2024 per the On3 Industry Ranking, signed with Georgia in November. He has since been joined by Somto Cyril, a former Kentucky signee and a fellow top-50 prospect. Together, they make up the nation’s No. 9 class – good for third in the SEC.
Georgia has also attacked the transfer portal to the tune of five newcomers: Mount St. Mary’s guard De’Shayne Montgomery, Appalachian State forward Justin Abson, Mount St. Mary’s guard Dakota Leffew, Clemson forward RJ Godfrey and Vanderbilt guard Tyrin Lawrence. Montgomery and Leffew each earned MAAC honors this past season, playing some of their best basketball against the Mountaineers’ toughest competition. Same goes for Abson, the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year. While Godfrey and Lawrence weren’t bringing home any hardware for their respective seasons, playing in conferences like the ACC and SEC would be the reason why. Godfrey helped Clemson to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament while Lawrence led Vanderbilt in scoring.
Georgia will look to build on its strong finish to the 2023-24 campaign, winning 20 games for the first time in eight seasons and making the postseason for the first time since 2017. The Bulldogs not only made an appearance, but they won and made a run to the semifinals of the NIT – taking down Xavier (Big East), Wake Forest (ACC) and Ohio State (Big Ten) in the process.
