Justin Bailey Signs with UGA Basketball
LIMITED TIME: Get Dawg Post coverage for $1 RIGHT NOW
ATHENS — Justin Bailey, who helped lead Wofford to an NCAA Tournament bid during the 2025 season, has signed to play for the Georgia Bulldogs next season, head coach Mike White announced on Thursday.
Bailey, a 6-3, 185-pound guard from Taylors, S.C., will be a senior for the 2025-26 campaign. He played his first two seasons at USC Upstate before transferring to Wofford. Over those three campaigns, Bailey has started 74 of 94 games played and compiled 1,020 points (10.6 ppg), 318 rebounds (3.3 rpg), 133 steals (1.4 spg) and 128 assists (1.3 apg). He has shot 43.8 percent from the field, including 36.8 percent from 3-point range, and 75.7 percent at the line. Bailey has notched 54 double-figure scoring outputs, led by a trio of 20-points performances.
Last season, Bailey was named to the Southern Conference’s All-Defensive team and averaged 9.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 27.1 minutes of action per game for the Terriers. He posted a career-high 22 points at Chattanooga and enjoyed a stellar performance against Furman in the Southern Conference Tournament title tilt, scoring 19 points and grabbing a career-high seven boards as Wofford earned its first NCAA bid since 2019.
Bailey was selected to the Big South Conference’s All-Freshman team and was a three-time Big South Freshman of the Week during the 2022-23 season when he helped the USC Upstate’s Spartans earn a bid to the CBI. He averaged 10.6 points and 3.1 rebounds in his initial season before upping those contributions to 11.8 points and 3.3 boards as a sophomore. At Upstate, Bailey posted best outings of 21 points against Kennesaw State and seven rebounds versus Radford during his sophomore year.
Bailey enjoyed a stellar prep career at Blue Ridge High School, culminating with earning being named 2022 South Carolina High Class 3A Player of the Year after leading the Fighting Tigers to their first ever state championship. He also was named the All-Upstate Player of the Year and Greenville County Player of the Year as a senior and was tabbed all-state by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association as both a junior and a senior. Bailey wrapped up his high school career with 1,926 points (23.6 ppg), 736 rebounds (9.0 rpg), 333 assists (4.1 apg) and 232 steals (2.8 spg).
Bailey arrives in Athens after Georgia enjoyed its best season in a decade during last winter. The Bulldogs secured their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015 and finished 20-13 overall. Georgia also won a school-record 15 games at Stegeman Coliseum and improved to 41-13 (.759) in the arena during White’s three seasons at UGA.
The Bulldogs did so facing one of the nation’s most challenging schedules last winter. Georgia played a nation-leading eight regular-season games versus top-10 competition, with five of those outings on the road. All told, 20 of the Bulldogs’ 33 games – 60.6 percent – were against other NCAA Tournament teams. The Bulldogs posted victories over teams ranked No. 1 (Florida), No. 11 (St. John’s) and No. 12 (Kentucky) in the final AP poll.
Georgia is slated to return six letterwinners from last season’s team, led by starters Blue Cain and Dylan James as well as Justin Abson, Somto Cyril, Jaden Newell and Brandon Klatsky.
Bailey is the fifth newcomer set to join the Bulldogs in the fall.
Jeremiah Wilkinson, the 2025 ACC Sixth Man of the Year at Cal, signed with Georgia out of the transfer portal.
In the fall, the Bulldogs signed three high school prospects who are ranked as the No. 18 class in the nation by 247Sports.com, as well as No. 20 by ESPN.com. Jackson McVey is a 7-1 center from Eliijay, Ga., who played at Overtime Elite this season and is ranked No. 194 in the On3Sports.com industry comparison. Kareem Stagg is a 6-8 power forward from Chesapeake, Va., who played for IMG Academy as a junior and senior and is ranked as high as No. 68 nationally by 247Sports.com. Jacob Wilkins, the son of Bulldog legend and Naismith Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, is a 6-9 small forward from Loganville, Ga., and Grayson High School who is ranked as high as the No. 35 prospecting the Class of 2025 by Rivals.com.