ATHENS — Georgia still looks like a future NCAA basketball tournament team to Joe Lunardi, the ESPN expert who has been projecting the field since 1995.

Tennessee handed Coach Mike White’s Bulldogs a 74-56 defeat on Wednesday night in Knoxville in a game UGA led 26-25 at the half.

RELATED: Second half burns Georgia at Tennessee

The No. 6-ranked Vols (16-1, 3-1 SEC) used a 19-3 spurt in the second half to pull away from No. 23 Georgia (14-3, 2-2 SEC), which now prepares to play host to No. 1-ranked Auburn in Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday.

The Bulldogs were coming off back-to-back home wins over ranked opponents, having knocked off then-No. 6 Kentucky and then-No. 17 Oklahoma.

“I think SEC fans need to get used to this roller coaster,” Lunardi, who attended the UGA game in Knoxville, said on the SEC Network.

“I think we’re gonna see even the top teams in the conference taking losses, because … not just the top half of this league, but the top three quarters of this league are all NCAA tournament caliber.”

Lunardi said after the Bulldogs loss to Tennessee that Georgia still projects to make the NCAA tournament field — for what would be the first time in 10 years.

Lunardi’s most recent “bracketology” had Georgia protected as a No. 7 seed facing a No. 10-seeded North Carolina in Raleigh.

“On the road (SEC teams) will have a hard time picking up Ws,” Lunardi said. “That’s what made Mississippi’s win (at Alabama) and Missouri’s (win at Florida) earlier in the week so impressive, and Georgia’s first half (at Tennessee).”

Yes, the Bulldogs ended up losing by double digits, but so had the previous nine opponents that faced the Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena this season.

“I’m still high on the Bulldogs, as well,” Lunardi said. “I don’t know if they have enough offensive weaponry to really make a dent in March, but they should be in the tournament.”

Georgia’s big issue in the loss to Tennessee was turnovers -- UGA committed 19 of them, with only nine assists while shooting just 37.7 percent from the field, including 28.6-percent marksmanship from beyond the 3-point arc.

“This (Georgia) is a team that was picked 12th in the preseason in the league, and maybe (the SEC) will send 12 to the NCAA tournament when all is said and done.”

White has gone radio silent on all talk about the future or goals of making the NCAA tournament, wanting his team to focus on the present.

But Georgia’s ability to break into the Top 25 was “historical” in the mind of Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who suggested it’s an accomplishment to embrace.

Pearl and Lunardi acknowledge there is historical significance to the SEC’s current basketball power.

“I’m very, very bullish (on the SEC), it’s just math now, when teams play someone has to lose,” Lunardi said. “That means some resumes are going to take hits, and we’re going to be looking at teams on the bubble from the SEC the look different from at-large teams in the past.

“I’m taking 7-11 or maybe 6-12 (records) in conference play, because of the wins you can still pile up — it’s up to the (NCAA basketball selection) committee to parse all of that.”

Lunardi notes the NCAA tournament selection process is just two months away.

Georgia basketball obviously has a long way to go before then, and must win many more games to remain in contention.

The Bulldogs opened their SEC season against teams ranked No. 23 (at Ole Miss), No. 6 (Kentucky), No. 17 (Oklahoma) and No. 6 (Tennessee) with No. 1 Auburn on deck.

Here’s what’s on the Georgia schedule after they face Pearl’s Tigers at 1 p.m. on Saturday:

Jan. 22, at Arkansas

Jan. 25, at No. 5 Florida

Jan. 28, vs. South Carolina

Feb. 1, at No. 4 Alabama

Feb. 5, vs. LSU

Feb. 8, vs. No. 15 Mississippi State

Feb. 11, at No. 11 Texas A&M

Feb. 15, vs. Missouri

Feb. 22, at No. 1 Auburn

Feb. 25, vs. No. 5 Florida

Mar. 1, at Texas

Mar. 4, at South Carolina

Mar. 8, vs. Vanderbilt

SEC tourney, Mar. 12-Mar. 16, Nashville