A career night from Oscar Tshiebwe leads Kentucky to a comeback win over Georgia
READ MORE
Game day: Kentucky 85, Georgia 71
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Georgia at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Expand All
After another lackluster half of basketball, Kentucky turned to its biggest weapon.
Down eight points to double-digit underdog Georgia at halftime Tuesday night, the Wildcats played through national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe out of the break. That ended up being the recipe for a UK comeback, and, ultimately, an 85-71 victory in Rupp Arena.
It was also a career night for Kentucky’s star player.
Tshiebwe got plenty of opportunities in the first half, but he went 4-for-11 from the field before the break, missing on a number of shots in traffic at the rim and contested jumpers. The 6-foot-9, 255-pound center took it right at the Bulldogs to start the second half, scoring the Wildcats’ first nine points out of halftime before chasing down an offensive rebound off his own missed free throw and kicking it out to CJ Fredrick, who buried a three-pointer to give the Cats a 46-45 advantage, just their second lead of the game to that point.
The Rupp crowd roared with delight when Fredrick’s shot dropped, capping a 12-3 run to start the half for Kentucky and leading to a timeout by Georgia Coach Mike White. All the momentum was on the Wildcats’ side, but they didn’t pull away immediately.
The Dogs kept things close for the next few minutes, before Tshiebwe’s tip steal and fast-break layup gave Kentucky a 67-60 lead with 7:56 left in the game. The Cats handled things from there.
Tshiebwe finished with career-high 37 points plus a season-high 24 rebounds to lead Kentucky. It was his first game with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds as a college player.
Cason Wallace scored 17 points for Kentucky, with Antonio Reeves adding 11 points and Jacob Toppin chipping in with 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
UK was coming off a stunning victory at Tennessee on Saturday, but the Cats had lost to South Carolina — the lowest-rated team in the Southeastern Conference — the last time they played in Rupp Arena.
This game started off the same for Kentucky as many recent ones, with the Wildcats finding themselves in an early hole.
Georgia jumped out to a 7-2 lead with 16:55 left in the first half, and UK missed 10 of its first 12 shot attempts. The Cats were 1-for-8 to start the game and trailed for the first several minutes, not taking their first lead of the game until Toppin threw down a dunk to put Kentucky ahead 14-13 with 11:04 left until halftime. That lead lasted only 12 seconds before Georgia’s Jabri Abdur-Rahim buried a three-pointer to put the Bulldogs back in front.
Georgia led by 11 points on four different occasions in the final minutes of the first half before Kentucky closed the gap to 42-34 by halftime. UK shot 33.3 percent in the first half.
The Cats finished the game shooting 43.9 percent from the field after making just 35.3 percent of their shots Saturday at Tennessee.
UK was 0-6 this season when trailing at halftime until completing the comeback victory Tuesday night.
Sahvir Wheeler, who turned 22 years old Tuesday, returned to the court after missing Saturday’s victory at Tennessee with a shoulder injury. Wheeler did not start against his former team, however, making his first appearance about five minutes into the game. The UK point guard played two years for Georgia before transferring to Kentucky before the 2021-22 season.
Wheeler had zero points and three assists in 11 minutes. He played just 33 seconds in the second half.
Georgia came into Tuesday’s game with a 13-4 record and a 3-1 mark in the SEC, boasting victories over now-No. 16 Auburn, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Still, Kentucky was an 11-point home favorite three days after knocking off then-No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville.
The Wildcats are now 12-6 on the season with a 3-3 record in the SEC.
Kentucky stays home to face Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena. The Aggies are 12-5 this season with a 4-0 mark in the SEC, joining No. 4 Alabama as the only unbeaten team in league play.
This story was originally published January 17, 2023 at 11:26 PM.
