Georgia basketball facing No. 17 Oklahoma on brink of breaking into the Top 25

White has sustained success in the conference before, leading Florida to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments with consistent wins against ranked SEC opponents. That would be a relatively new trend at Georgia, as the Bulldogs haven’t had multiple ranked SEC wins in a season since 2018.

“We’ve talked about the consistency with the work ethic and the approach with this group, and it was status quo these last couple days,” White said. “Our guys understand these opportunities in front of us.”

UGA already had Top 25 momentum before the Kentucky win. Georgia had received six votes in the AP’s most recent poll, posted Monday.

Ten teams were separating Georgia and the No. 25 spot in Monday’s poll. After the win over the Wildcats, the Bulldogs appear to stack up well against most of those teams in the NET rankings, which use quality wins and losses to rank teams based on more than record.

Games are divided into Quads 1 through 4 based on the quality of the opponent and where the game was played. Below are the 10 teams directly ahead of Georgia in the AP poll, listed with their NET ranking and Quad 1 record.

Georgia - NET: 29, (2-2 Quad 1)

Pittsburgh - NET: 20, (1-3)

Arkansas - NET: 48, (1-4)

Nebraska - Net: 37, (2-3)

Baylor - NET: 22, (2-4)

Wisconsin - NET: 24, (2-4)

St. John’s - NET: 33, (1-3)

San Diego State - NET 31, (2-3)

Cincinnati - NET: 36, (0-3)

Clemson - NET: 41, (1-2)

Maryland - NET: 24, (2-3)

A win over Oklahoma would not be a Quad 1 win, but it would be UGA’s third win against a ranked team this season. Both of Georgia’s losses also were against ranked teams, with a road loss to No. 23 Ole Miss and a neutral-site loss to No. 7 Marquette.

Georgia’s schedule is full of quality-win opportunities. The Oklahoma game is the third leg of a five-game stretch against ranked opponents to start SEC play, the most consecutive ranked games UGA has ever played.

A Top 25 ranking would be another step in White’s rebuild to SEC respectability, but the Bulldogs say the Top 25 is far from their focus.

“We kind of just stay level-headed, stay down, stay working,” point guard Silas Demary Jr. said after the Kentucky win. “If they rank us, they do, if they don’t, we’re just going to continue to play the next game, play hard.”

The Sooners are looking for their first SEC win this season after going 0-2 in their first week of conference play. Oklahoma beat two ranked opponents in Arizona and Michigan to enter its SEC schedule 13-0.

Freshman guard Jeremiah Fears leads the Sooners offense, averaging 17.6 points per game, the fifth-most in the SEC. The 6-foot-4, 182-pounder poses a physical challenge on defense for guards like Demary and Blue Cain.

“He’s going to make some shots, but we’ve just got to make it tough for him,” Cain said.

Oklahoma also hopes to see its senior forward, Jalon Moore, get going in the paint. Moore averages 17.4 points per game, but at 6-7, he is significantly shorter than several of Georgia’s big men.

Georgia will look to its own freshman phenom, Asa Newell, to lead the team in scoring for the third consecutive game. Newell has scored 30 points with 20 rebounds, three blocks and three steals through his first two SEC games.

Georgia’s biggest advantage Saturday could be on the glass, as Oklahoma is averaging only 33 rebounds per game, last in the SEC. UGA is averaging 39.2, with much of its offensive production coming from second chance points.

“That’s something we emphasized since I got here in the summer, just chasing it,” UGA forward RJ Godrey said. “Being physical on the glass, I think we’ve done that every single game this year.”

Georgia is 0-1 against Oklahoma all-time, the only meeting coming in 1987. The Bulldogs are 4.5-point favorites, according to VegasInsider.