Kentucky Drops First Road SEC Game to Georgia -

Kentucky traveled to Athens Tuesday night for the first road game of the SEC slate. They were riding high after taking down Florida in the previous game, but everyone expected a close game, as evidenced by the spread closing at -1.5 for Kentucky.

Both teams got off to a bit of a slow start, but after Kentucky took a 23-19 lead in the first half, Georgia would end the half on an extended 28-11 run to go to halftime leading 47-34.

The Bulldogs were led in the first half by Blue Cain (10 pts 2-2 from 3) and Silas Demary Jr (11 pts 8-8 on free throws). Georgia was the more physical team in the first half beating Kentucky on the boards 21-15 and pulling in 6 offensive rebounds for 9 second chance points to Kentucky’s 6 and 6 second chance points.

Kentucky was led in the first half by Lamont Butler (13 pts 6-8 fg) a game after putting up 19 points and a career high 8 assists against Florida. Kentucky also had an uncharacteristically high number of turnovers and low assists, they came into the game leading the country in assist to turnover rate at 2.1. They would commit 7 in the first half leading to 8 Georgia points, while only getting 2 off of 6 Georgia turnovers.

The biggest disparity of the first half came from the free throw line. Georgia would go to the line 12 times and were perfect. Kentucky, on the other hand, would only attempt 3 making 2 in a half that saw Kentucky have more paint points (20-16), they would curiously, shoot 9 fewer free throws.

Kentucky came out in the second half and fought back, cutting the deficit to 55-50 with just over 12 minutes remaining, it they couldn’t get over the hump. They would make just one basket over the next 5 minutes of gameplay, a 3 by Jaxson Robinson, to cut the lead back to 9 66-57. In the final 12 minutes, Kentucky would score just 19 points and make just 3 more baskets, the final one being a 3 by Kobe Brea with just over 4 minutes to go in the game.

For the second game in a row, Wildcats fans were less than pleased with the officiating. They were able to overcome the free throw disparity against Florida with hot outside shooting, but they went cold from deep against Georgia shooting just 24% (6-25). Florida would shoot 35 free throws to Kentucky’s 24 and Georgia would shoot 38 to Kentucky’s 19. It’s hard to win any game, let alone a SEC road game, with that kind of free throw disparity. There were also 9 official reviews of plays on the court in the game, a ridiculously high number.

Georgia would have 4 players in double figures on the night. Asa Newell (17 pts 5-9 fg), Cain (15pts 2-5 from 3), Demary Jr (14 points 8-8 on free throws) and Dakota Leffwew (11 pts 6- 7 on free throws).

Joining Butler (20 pts 8-14 fgs) in double figures were Brandon Garrison (13 pts 5-8 fgs) and Otega Oweh (12 pts 6-9 on free throws). Robinson, once again, struggled away from Rupp scoring just 5 points and hitting just 1-5 from 3. He wasn’t the only one to struggle in the game, Brea, coming off a scorching 7-9 effort would go just 2-9 from 3. Amari Williams also struggled against Georgia, after putting up 15/8/5 against Florida. However, most of his struggles could be chalked up to the, being kind here, uneven whistle by the officials. He was called for two, questionable at best fouls, in the first half that impacted his play throughout the game. First, he was called for a foul on a Georgia layup attempt where the offensive player pushed off with his off arm in the air. The next one, Demary Jr grabbed his right arm and pulled him to the ground. You could see the impact it had on Williams, and the entire team. I’m not saying it was why they lost, you still have to make shots and they showed the ability to overcome a bad whistle the previous game, but it effected them in not being able to match the physicality of Georgia.

They won’t have time to dwell on this game as they travel to Starkville to take on another defensively physical team in the #14 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are coming off wins over South Carolina by 35 and a 12 point road victory over Vanderbilt so it won’t be an easy task for the Wildcats to avoid falling to 1-2 in conference play. Tipoff is Saturday at 8:30pm on SEC Network.