After playing a 106-100 masterpiece on Saturday against Florida and rising to No. 6 in this week's AP Top 25 poll, Kentucky found itself trapped in the SEC's favorite winter sports tradition -- a complete rock fight on the road -- on Tuesday night at Georgia.
The unranked Bulldogs took the fight to the Wildcats from the opening tip, and Mark Pope's squad never responded in an 82-69 loss at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens. The game featured poor shooting by both teams, 45 combined fouls called, nine trips to the scorer's table for replay reviews, and lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.
"Incredibly disappointing," Pope said flatly after seeing his team physically bullied for the third time this season. The game followed a similar script to previous setbacks to Clemson and Ohio State.
"There were so many factors," the UK boss added. "They played well. We did not play well. The glass was a huge issue again. One of the things about the glass, it lets you play slow and extend possessions... It just makes it tough. That's been really problematic for us."
Georgia (13-2, 1-1 SEC) won the battle on the glass 41-34 and scored 17 second-chance points.
Freshman forward Asa Newell led four Georgia players in double figures with 17 points, and UGA had a fifth with nine points in a balanced-scoring attack. The Bulldogs shot just 41.8% from the field and 29.2% from the arc but rode a 38-19 free-throw advantage to a decisive victory as the Cats battled foul trouble and their own shooting issues.
Kentucky (12-3, 1-1 SEC) shot just 37.5% from the field and went 6-of-25 from long range. Grad senior point guard Lamont Butler tallied 20 points, Brandon Garrison had 13 points off the bench, and Otega Oweh recorded 12, but the rest of the Cats' starting lineup managed only 13 combined on 4-for-16 shooting.
"We didn't play with the movement and decisiveness and patience to attack the other side," Pope said. "What we're talking about now (in the locker room) is why?"
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss...
KEY MOMENT:
Kentucky managed to trim a 47-34 halftime deficit to 55-50 after a Brandon Garrison runout layup at the 12:07 mark of the second half, but that's the closest the Cats could get the rest of the way. After a media timeout, Georgia got to the free-throw line eight times, making all of them, and mixed in a huge 3-pointer by Asa Newell. The 13-4 run renewed the Bulldogs' double-digit lead.
GAME BALL:
Blue Cain, Georgia -- Standout Asa Newell hovered around his team-best season averages for the Bulldogs, but the lesser-known Cain may have made the biggest difference. The sophomore guard, who came in averaging 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, finished with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, outbattling UK star Jaxson Robinson head-to-head for most of the night.
BY THE NUMBERS:
1st - Win over an AP Top 10 team for Georgia since the 2020 season.
2nd - Worst loss ever by Kentucky in Athens, Ga. The worst was a 15-point defeat on Jan. 3, 1990.
8:10 - Kentucky's assist-to-turnover ratio. The Cats entered the game averaging close to 20 assists.
29th- Win for the Bulldogs in the all-time series with UK spanning 161 meetings. Twenty of those have come in Athens.
41-34 - Georgia rebounding advantage, including eight from Blue Cain and eight from one-time UK recruit Somto Cyril.
18 of 72 - Kentucky's 3-point shooting in three losses this season.
QUOTABLE:
"We definitely need to get more tough, we need to get more physical, we gotta get more nasty and more angry when we're playing, bring that edge." Kentucky grad senior forward Andrew Carr.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday at Mississippi State. The No. 14 Bulldogs (13-1, 1-0 SEC) are playing tonight at Vanderbilt. Tipoff is Starkville is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
