‘What was it Coach Dooley used to say about a Saturday in Athens?’ Mark Fox asks

Athens – For three consecutive Saturdays, Georgia’s men’s basketball team has celebrated notable victories in Stegeman Coliseum — a 72-58 upset of nationally ranked Vanderbilt on Feb. 6, a come-from-behind 66-61 win over South Carolina on Feb.13 and a come-from-even-farther-behind 76-70 victory over Alabama yesterday.

“What was it Coach Dooley used to say about a Saturday in Athens?” coach Mark Fox asked after the latest win.

What Vince Dooley often said in the locker room after Georgia football victories at Sanford Stadium, longtime  sports information director Claude Felton recalled, was:  ”It’s great to be a Bulldog on Saturday night.”

(The same sentiment was contained in a letter that Dooley’s defensive coordinator, the late great Erk Russell, reportedly wrote to his players before the 1980 season. “There ain’t nothing like being a Bulldog on Saturday night –- after winning a football game,” Russell wrote.)

Anyway, Saturdays have been kind to Fox’s team this year.

Yesterday’s win over Alabama came after trailing by 13 points with 11:39 to play. The previous Saturday’s win over South Carolina came after trailing by 10 with 9:12 left.  The Feb. 6 victory over Vanderbilt came after trailing by eight with 15 minutes to play.

Go back two weeks before the victory over Vandy, and Georgia had another special Saturday in Stegeman, routing then-No. 8 Tennessee 78-63.

So the Dogs have won all four games they have played in Stegeman on Saturdays this season.

“We’ve had good Saturdays,”  Fox said.

By the way, Georgia has another home game next Saturday — vs. Florida.

Here’s the full story on the  rally against Alabama.

Here’s the story,  if you missed it, on the new face that will be put on Stegeman Coliseum for next season.

And for those who asked to see an artist’s rendering of what the renovated Stegeman will look like, you’ll find one here.