Alabama basketball broke into the top 25 this week and currently holds the top spot in the SEC standings. Now the No. 24 Crimson Tide needs to maintain its recent momentum by avoiding a potential trap game.

Following a 109-88 victory against the LSU Tigers over the weekend, Alabama (14-6, 6-1 SEC) will look to make a statement victory on the road in Athens against a Georgia Bulldogs team that has a lot of upset potential.

“They’ve been playing great, particularly at home, seeing that they have pretty good crowds,” head coach Nate Oats said Tuesday. “So our guys are going to have to get themselves locked in. If this is a game where if we’re trying to win the SEC, we’re a half game up on Tennessee, we got to go into games like this and win them if we want a chance to win the league.”

Currently, Georgia (14-6, 4-3 SEC) sits in eighth place in the SEC. However, the Bulldogs are no strangers to big games, keeping things close in losses to Tennessee and Kentucky earlier this year. In fact, the defeat to the Volunteers is Georgia's only home loss this season.

Facing a team that thrives on its homecourt, the Crimson Tide cannot take this road trip lightly. Here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday night’s game.

Who: Alabama (14-6, 6-1) vs. Georgia (14-6, 4-3)

When: 5:30 p.m. CT, Wednesday, Jan. 31

Where: Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, Georgia

Watch: SEC Network

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Bryan Passink, Engineer: Tom Stipe)

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, junior

Stats: 20.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.9 apg, 52.0% FG, 43.7% 3-pt

Aaron Estrada: 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 12.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.0 apg, 44.3% FG, 36.0% 3-pt

Latrell Wrightsell Jr: 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, senior

Stats: 8.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, 42.5% FG, 45.7% 3-pt

Rylan Griffen: 6-foot-6,190 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 10.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 48.6% FG, 40.2% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, senior

Stats: 12.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 44.7% FG, 25.7% 3-pt

Georgia’s projected starters

Silas Demary Jr: 6-foot-5, 190 pounds, freshman

Stats: 9.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.6 apg, 44.3% FG, 34.3% 3-pt

Jabri Abdur-Rahim: 6-foot-8, 215 pounds, senior

Stats: 13.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.4 apg, 38.2% FG, 40.0% 3-pt

Noah Thomasson: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, senior

Stats: 11.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.7 apg, 42.2% FG, 34.7% 3-pt

R.J. Sunahara: 6-foot-8, 205 pounds, senior

Stats: 1.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.5 apg, 62.5% FG, 50.0% 3-pt

Russel Tchewa: 7-foot, 275 pounds, senior

Stats: 7.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.1 apg, 54.2% FG, 0.0% 3-pt

This week, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame released the top 10 candidates for the Bob Cousy and Jerry West awards, which are given to the nation’s top point guard and shooting guard, respectively. The SEC's leading scorer and two-time conference player of the week, Mark Sears, was left off of both of those lists.

Sears has become one of the most feared scorers in the conference with multiple games scoring over 25 points, all while shooting 52% from the field. The Muscle Shoals native was a Second Team All-SEC member last season and has now burst into a role of being the first option scorer on the top team in the conference. However, his efforts weren’t recognized by the voters of the awards.

“Sometimes the leading scorer in the league is on a team that’s at the bottom and they get no respect,” Oats said. “When the leading scorer in the league is on a team that’s winning the league by themselves in first place, to me, it makes no sense why he wouldn’t be on either of the lists.”

Not only is the 6-foot-1 guard capable of getting a bucket or two, Sears is also the primary ball handler for the Crimson Tide as well. Currently, Sears ranks seventh in the conference in assists per game with 3.9 and is making a valid case for the SEC Player of the Year Award. However, the national voters don’t see it the same.

Alabama has had its fair share of struggles in Stegeman Coliseum the last few years, and time around won’t be an easy task either. In the last six road trips to Athens, the Crimson Tide have only won three of those games, with perhaps one of the worst losses in program history during the most recent trip.

“We’ve not played particularly well at Georgia since I’ve been here and I’m not sure what it is,” head coach Nate Oats said. “I think the worst KenPom loss in school history was two years ago at Georgia where they went 1-17 and we gave them their only win. We’ve got to come with a little bit better focus.”

Though the game in 2022 against the Bulldogs was Oats’ only loss against Georgia, his squad barely squeaked out a win during his first year with the program in 2020. Despite Kira Lewis Jr. dropping a career-high 37 points, Alabama left Athens with a narrow 105-102 victory on the road.

This time, Georgia is coming off a 102-98 loss to the Florida Gators. Meanwhile, Alabama just had its second-highest scoring performance of the year. While the odds may lay in the Crimson Tide’s favor, the Bulldogs can still pack a punch in its home arena.

There are 11 more games left in the regular season for Alabama, and there is still not a consistent rotation for minutes. With various lineups still being experimented with, Oats’ squad might not see a finalized system for the time being.

“It’d be nice to have a set rotation by this point, this isn’t the way it’s going with this team,” Oats said. “I think there’s definitely minutes up for grabs, like who plays well.”

Last time out against LSU, the Crimson Tide started a four-guard lineup with Mark Sears, Rylan Griffen, Latrell Wrightsell Jr., and Aaron Estrada with Grant Nelson playing the five. Though that lineup produced on offense very efficiently, there were still some lapses on defense here and there. With a very deep roster in the frontcourt and backcourt, there might be a few more changes in the rotation still to come.

“There’s some guys who have established themselves as some of the better players on this team that are going to play,” Oats said. “Even them, if they’re not playing hard on the defensive end, we’re not going to leave them in the game. They’re going to start out playing, but we can’t leave guys in the game who aren’t giving us winning effort if we’re trying to win games.”