With the SEC Tournament being held in Tampa, Fla., instead of at the Georgia Dome this year, Kentucky Wildcat fans picked a prime occasion to make their pilgrimage to the State of Georgia and watch their basketball team. On Sunday, a couple of thousand Kentucky fans saw their Wildcats defeat Georgia 68-45 in Athens, handing the Bulldogs their fifth straight loss and sending them to a 0-3 record in the SEC.
Jodie Meeks led Kentucky in scoring with 22 points. “We did not compete with the kind of toughness that’s required,” said Georgia head coach Dennis Felton. “We just were very very soft. It was a soft effort.”
A 2-for-15 start from the field all but doomed Georgia, as Kentucky built an early double-digit lead and the Bulldogs never showed that toughness to challenge the Wildcats. The Bulldogs (9-9, 0-3) shot only 25 percent from the field in the opening half, 1-for-10 from 3-point land, and finished the game shooting 31 percent from the field and 3-of-16 from behind the arc. “It was definitely a lack of effort,” said Terrance Woodbury, who led Georgia with eight points. “From the tip we did not come out with the type of energy we needed to come out with.”
While, the Bulldogs were having a hard time finding the bottom of the nets and mustering up enough energy, Kentucky’s Meeks continued his hot play. The former Norcross High School star came into the game leading the SEC in scoring, averaging 25.9 ppg. In his most recent outing he produced a school record 54 points in a 90-72 win at Tennessee. On Sunday, Meeks scored seven of the Wildcats’ first 13 points, as Kentucky (14-4, 3-0) took advantage of Georgia’s cold start and jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the game’s first nine minutes. Later, a Meeks put-back slam gave him his 10th point of the half and the Wildcats a 20-9 lead. Kentucky went into halftime up 38-19. “He’s a tremendous scorer,” said Bulldog guard Corey Butler. “He has the green light; he shoots it when he wants […] and he can really shoot.”
Meeks had 15 points and Patrick Patterson finish with 10 in the first half. Trey Thompkins was the high man for Georgia in the half, scoring all seven of his points.
The Bulldogs remain winless for 2009, having not won since New Year’s Eve when they defeated Kennesaw State. Their 0-3 conference start is their worst start in league play since the 2004-05 team started 0-4. That was Felton’s second year as head coach and Georgia finished 2-14 in the SEC and 8-20 overall that season. Last year’s run through the SEC Tournament shows the Bulldogs that one good stretch can change a season, but that team had a tough-minded Sundiata Gaines as its go-to player. Much of this team’s scoring opportunities go through the freshman Thompkins, who like the other Bulldog newcomers must battle losing and not having success.
Thompkins seven-point effort comes on the heels of a six point, 3-for-15 showing at Vanderbilt. Woodbury, a senior and co-captain knows how that can affect a player. “We come from programs where we won a lot of games,” Woodbury said. “So, when you lose a lot of games back-to-back-to-back, it kind of messes with your psyche. I feel like that’s probably happening right now as far as our younger players.”
“That’s been one of our issues all of long,” Felton said about the team’s toughness. “We haven’t gotten as tough as we want to be and need to be. Our leaders need to lead the way, our captains, our oldest guys, in terms of bringing that kind of toughness to our team every day.”
Georgia has scored a combined 85 points in its last two games and will now have five days off before hosting Mississippi State on Saturday at 6 p.m. Kentucky, Mississippi State and Florida are the lone unbeaten teams in SEC play. Mississippi State visits LSU on Wednesday night before coming to Athens. After Saturday’s game, Georgia will have games at Florida and Alabama to close out January.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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