Feb. 5, 2008

Winning on the road in the Southeastern Conference is very difficult. Vanderbilt knows this all too well.

The 23rd-ranked Commodores hope to record their first league road victory Wednesday night when they meet struggling Georgia.

Opening this season a school-record 16-0 proved Vanderbilt (18-4, 3-4 East) was a very good team, but only two of those games were on the road while two others took place at neutral sites. The Commodores have lost all four road contests since moving into SEC play, with three of those defeats coming by at least 16 points.

With four losses in five overall games and in danger of losing three straight for the first time in two years, Vanderbilt responded with a 78-71 home victory over Auburn on Saturday.

"We needed a win," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. 'It didn't make any difference how it looked or how it felt."

Freshman A.J. Ogilvy scored 19 points, Alex Gordon added 17 and leading scorer Shan Foster finished with 16 as the Commodores held on after nearly squandering a 14-point lead.

"Losing two games in a row was kind of taking a toll on us a little bit," Foster said.

Vanderbilt, which hasn't lost its first five road conference games since 2003-04, hasn't fared too well in Athens, Ga., lately, losing six of its last seven games there. The Commodores lost 85-73 in their last visit to Georgia on Jan. 13, 2007.

"Anytime you go in and play Dennis' (Felton) team they're going to guard you hard and play with a lot of purpose on offense," Stallings said. "We're going to have to play extremely well if we want to have a chance to win. We will have to take care of the ball and have good execution on offense in order to have a chance to win."

Foster (19.0) and Ogilvy (17.7) rank fourth and sixth, respectively, in scoring in the SEC. The Foster-Ogilvy combination is the top scoring duo in the league (36.7).

Georgia (11-8, 2-4) has dropped to last in the SEC's East Division with three straight losses, including a 63-58 defeat to visiting Kentucky on Saturday.

Sundiata Gaines scored 15 points and Terrance Woodbury added 12 for the Bulldogs, who had won their first 10 home games this season and 11 in a row dating to last season.

Vanderbilt will be only the second ranked opponent for Georgia, which lost to then-No. 3 Tennessee 85-69 on Jan. 26. The Bulldogs have dropped four straight against top 25 teams since they beat 21st-ranked LSU on Jan. 28, 2007.

"Vanderbilt obviously is a really, really good team," Felton said. "Starting with last season, they've really become a team that's very, very attack-oriented in the open court. They want to run all the time, so your transition defense has to be really tough."

Georgia will try to avoid its four-game skid since Dec. 22, 2006-Jan. 6, 2007.

Vanderbilt leads the all-time series, 78-46, but Georgia is 30-25 in Athens. The Commodores won the most recent meeting, 66-61 in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 3, 2007.