Five things you need to know from No. 6 Kentucky’s dispiriting 82-69 loss to Georgia
READ MORE
Game day: Georgia 82, No. 6 Kentucky 69
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Expand All
Five things you need to know from No. 6 Kentucky’s 82-69 loss to Georgia in the Wildcats’ men’s SEC basketball road opener:
1. No “3s,” no “W’s for Kentucky. In suffering its third loss of the season Tuesday night, Kentucky (12-3, 1-1 SEC) made only six of 25 3-point tries.
Errant 3-point shooting is a thread that runs through all three of UK’s losses this season.
The Wildcats made only seven of 27 from behind the arc in their 70-66 loss at Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
It was 4-for-22 for Kentucky on 3-point tries in the 85-65 drubbing Ohio State applied to the Cats in the CBS Sports Classic.
Beyond the obvious importance of the points that come from hitting 3-point shots, the cutting and backdoor opportunities that are integral to Mark Pope’s offensive system are not available without accurate shooting from behind the arc to stretch defenses.
2. It is going to be a rugged road in the SEC. On Saturday, in the first day of Southeastern Conference men’s basketball play this season, road teams went 1-7.
Vanderbilt’s 80-72 victory over LSU in Baton Rouge was the sole victory for a visiting team.
In Tuesday night’s early games, Georgia was a relatively comfortable victor and No. 10 Florida annihilated No. 1 and previously unbeaten Tennessee 73-43 in Gainesville.
Given the perceived strength of the SEC — 14 of the league’s 16 teams were in the top 50 of the NET rankings entering play Tuesday — road wins figure to be precious.
That’s why Kentucky’s loss at Georgia (No. 36 in the NET) was disappointing. The Wildcats face two road games this week. On Saturday, UK is at Mississippi State (No. 13 in the NET).
Though UK has beaten MSU in 19 of the past 20 head-to-head meetings, if one puts stock in the NET, the Georgia game was the better opportunity for UK to steal a road victory this week.
3. Physical play continues to confound Kentucky. Much as Clemson and Ohio State did in UK’s previous losses, Georgia mucked up Tuesday night’s game with a brand of physical play that Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart would have admired.
The Bulldogs muscled UK in the lane. Georgia had bodies on Kentucky cutters. The Dawgs harried Wildcats ball handlers from baseline to baseline, making it difficult for UK to get into its offensive sets.
“Georgia imposed its will on Kentucky,” the UK Sports Network’s Tom Leach told his listeners after the final horn had sounded.
Kentucky, which entered the game second in the nation in scoring averaging 90.1 points a game, was held to 69.
As often happens when one team plays far more assertively than the other, there was a vast disparity in foul shots attempted between the two teams.
UK attempted only 19 foul shots, making 15. Georgia, conversely, shot a whopping 38 free throws, making 29.
4. Georgia’s Kentucky ties. Two Bulldogs players who made contributions to the Georgia victory have connections to UK.
Somto Cyril, who signed with Kentucky under the previous head coach but switched to Georgia after the UK coaching change, had six points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot.
The 6-foot-11, 260-pound Cyril played a big role in Georgia’s physical playing style — and fouled out in 18 minutes of playing time.
Meanwhile, Georgia forward RJ Godfrey had six points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 22 minutes.
The 6-8, 230-pound Godfrey is the brother of Kentucky football linebacker Grant Godfrey.
5. Mike White climbing vs. the Big Blue. Georgia’s win over Kentucky upped Bulldogs’ coach Mike White’s mark against the Wildcats to 6-12. White’s six victories over Kentucky are the third-most by an active SEC head man.
In descending order of their number of wins over UK, these are the records against Kentucky of the current Southeastern Conference head coaches:
▪ Rick Barnes, Tennessee, 12-12 (1-1 at Clemson, 0-1 at Texas, 11-10 at Tennessee).
▪ Bruce Pearl, Auburn, 10-18 (4-9 at Tennessee, 6-9 at Auburn).
▪ Mike White, Georgia, 6-12 (4-10 at Florida, 2-2 at Georgia)
▪ Nate Oats, Alabama, 3-5 (0-1 at Buffalo, 3-4 at Alabama).
▪ Lamont Paris, South Carolina, 2-0.
▪ John Calipari, Arkansas, 2-4 (1-4 at Massachusetts, 1-0 at Memphis).
▪ Buzz Williams, Texas A&M, 2-4 (0-1 at Virginia Tech, 2-3 at Texas A&M).
▪ Matt McMahon, LSU, 1-1.
▪ Dennis Gates, Missouri, 1-1.
▪ Todd Golden, Florida, 1-4.
▪ Mark Byington, Vanderbilt, 0-0.
▪ Porter Moser, Oklahoma, 0-0.
▪ Rodney Terry, Texas, 0-0.
▪ Mark Pope, Kentucky, 0-1 (0-1 at Utah Valley).
▪ Chris Beard, Mississippi, 0-2 (0-1 at Texas Tech, 0-1 at Ole Miss).
▪ Chris Jans, Mississippi State, 0-3.
This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 9:40 PM.
