1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs basketball team

1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs basketball
1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs basketball
Rainbow Classic champion
NCAA tournament, Second round
Conference	Southeastern Conference
	East
Ranking
AP	No. 17
Record	24–9 (10–6 SEC)
Head coach	Tubby Smith (2nd season);
Assistant coach	2nd
Home arena	Stegeman Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 6 South Carolina	15	–	1	.938	24	–	8	.750
No. 5 Kentucky†	13	–	3	.813	35	–	5	.875
No. 17 Georgia	10	–	6	.625	24	–	9	.727
Vanderbilt	9	–	7	.563	19	–	12	.613
Florida	5	–	11	.313	13	–	17	.433
Tennessee	4	–	12	.250	11	–	16	.407
West
Ole Miss	11	–	5	.688	20	–	9	.690
Arkansas	8	–	8	.500	18	–	14	.563
Auburn	6	–	10	.375	16	–	15	.516
Alabama	6	–	10	.375	17	–	14	.548
Mississippi State	6	–	10	.375	12	–	18	.400
LSU	3	–	13	.188	10	–	20	.333

† 1997 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs basketball team represented the University of Georgia as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 1996–97 NCAA men's basketball season. The team was led by head coach Tubby Smith, and played their home games at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia. The Bulldogs finished 3rd in the SEC East during the regular season, had a strong showing at the SEC tournament, and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 3 seed in the Southeast region. They were upset by No. 14 seed Chattanooga in the opening round^[1] and finished the season at 24–9 (10–6 SEC).

Roster

1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	24	Michael Chadwick	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	So

Head coach

Tubby Smith

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference Regular season
Nov 22, 1996*		Furman	W 91–67	1–0	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Nov 26, 1996*		Georgia State	W 85–47	2–0	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Nov 29, 1996*		Georgia Southern	W 90–56	3–0	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Dec 3, 1996*		at Georgia Tech	L 61–62	3–1	Alexander Memorial Coliseum Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 7, 1996*		Appalachian State	W 85–67	4–1	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Dec 14, 1996*		at Virginia Tech	W 60–57	5–1	Cassell Coliseum Blacksburg, Virginia
Dec 17, 1996*		East Carolina	W 73–60	6–1	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Dec 21, 1996*		vs. BYU	W 84–65	7–1	Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 23, 1996*		Colorado	W 62–52	8–1	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Dec 27, 1996*		vs. Washington State Rainbow Classic	W 64–61	9–1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 28, 1996*		vs. Memphis Rainbow Classic	W 70–68	10–1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawaii
Dec 29, 1996*		vs. No. 21 Maryland Rainbow Classic	W 73–65 ^OT	11–1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, Hawaii
SEC Regular season
Jan 5, 1997		at Ole Miss	L 66–73	11–2 (0–1)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, Mississippi
Jan 8, 1997	No. 24	at Vanderbilt	W 61–53	12–2 (1–1)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 14, 1997	No. 21	No. 5 Kentucky	L 65–86	12–3 (1–2)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Jan 18, 1997	No. 21	at South Carolina	L 71–82	12–4 (1–3)	Carolina Coliseum Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 22, 1997*		Florida	W 77–70 ^OT	13–4 (2–3)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Jan 25, 1997		Auburn	W 53–48	14–4 (3–3)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Jan 29, 1997		at Tennessee	W 63–50	15–4 (4–3)	Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, Tennessee
Feb 1, 1997		at No. 3 Kentucky	L 57–82	15–5 (4–4)	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky
Feb 5, 1997		at Alabama	W 83–74	16–5 (5–4)	Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Feb 8, 1997		Mississippi State	W 56–54	17–5 (6–4)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Feb 12, 1997		No. 12 South Carolina	W 77–74	18–5 (7–4)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Feb 15, 1997		at Arkansas	L 74–79	18–6 (7–5)	Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, Arkansas
Feb 19, 1997		Vanderbilt	L 80–86	18–7 (7–6)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Feb 22, 1997		LSU	W 82–59	19–7 (8–6)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
Feb 26, 1997		at Florida	W 88–76	20–7 (9–6)	Stephen C. O'Connell Center Gainesville, Florida
Mar 1, 1997		Tennessee	W 69–55	21–7 (10–6)	Stegeman Coliseum Athens, Georgia
SEC Tournament
Mar 6, 1997*	(E3) No. 24	vs. (W6) LSU First round	W 75–54	22–7	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 7, 1997*	(E3) No. 24	vs. (W2) Arkansas Quarterfinals	W 65–63	23–7	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 8, 1997*	(E3) No. 24	vs. (E1) No. 4 South Carolina Semifinals	W 78–63	24–7	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 9, 1997*	(E3) No. 24	vs. (E2) No. 6 Kentucky Championship game	L 68–95	24–8	The Pyramid Memphis, Tennessee
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1997*	(3 SE) No. 17	vs. (14 SE) Chattanooga First round	L 70–73^[1]	24–9	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[3]^[4]

Rankings

^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "Moccasins Show Venom In 73-70 Upset Of Georgia". The Spokesman-Review. March 15, 1997. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
^ "1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
^ "1995–96 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
^ "1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1053–1054. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[ncaa-chat-1] "Moccasins Show Venom In 73-70 Upset Of Georgia". The Spokesman-Review. March 15, 1997. Retrieved February 9, 2022.

[2] "1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs Roster and Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved February 9, 2022.

[3] "1995–96 Men's Basketball Schedule". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved February 9, 2022.

[4] "1996–97 Georgia Bulldogs Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved June 20, 2021.

[ESPN-5] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1053–1054. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Georgia Bulldogs basketball
Venues	Athens YMCA (1905–1911) Memorial Hall (1911–1918) Moss Auditorium (1919–1925) Woodruff Hall (1923–1964) Stegeman Coliseum (1964–present)
Culture & lore	Hairy Dawg Uga
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics