Georgia tried its best, but it wasn’t good enough Tuesday night as No. 1 Kentucky (20-1, 6-0) strolled into Athens, took its time and eventually overwhelmed the feisty Bulldogs in a 57-44 affair at Stegeman Coliseum.
“I thought we opened the game well aside from some easy baskets we gave up,” said Georgia coach Mark Fox. “Kentucky is a terrific team, their defense is so good.”
Kentucky’s depth and athleticism showed, as the Cats held Georgia (10-10, 1-5) to 34.5 percent shooting and outscored the Bulldogs 25-1 in bench points. In fact, the Cats’ leading scorer was Darius Miller, who came off the bench to score 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Kentucky’s size also showed, with the Cats blocking 10 Georgia shots. Wildcats freshman Anthony Davis had five of the blocks.
“Rebounding is an issue for our team,” said Fox. “We start a smaller lineup, so everyone is ratcheted down one position.”
Problems for the Bulldogs were familiar, as they again got outrebounded outshot decisively. Georgia lost the battle on the glass 41-26 and was outshot 43.8 percent to 34.5 percent.
Despite hanging tough for much of the first half, the Bulldogs trailed 38-26 at the break. The Cats ended the half on a 15-4 run after Georgia had narrowed the lead to 23-22. The Bulldogs would not get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Kentucky shot 56 percent in the first 20 minutes while Georgia hit just 36.7 percent of its shots. The Wildcats’ double-digit halftime lead was impressive considering they lost the turnover battle 6-2 and had five fewer field goal attempts than did Georgia. Another stat in the Cats’ favor at the half was a 20-11 rebounding edge.
Next up for Georgia is a road date at Auburn next Wednesday. The Bulldogs have the weekend off, and will likely work on rebounding and getting better shots.
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