Kentucky pulled away late Tuesday night to beat Tom Crean’s Georgia Bulldogs at home by a score of 78 – 69.
What may have seemed like an easy conference victory for the Wildcats, the final score doesn’t quite represent the type of game the Dawgs put up.
Georgia finished out the first half leading Kentucky by a score of 37 – 31, led by no other than freshman guard and future NBA lottery pick, Anthony Edwards. Edwards, the Atlanta native finished the contest with a game high 23 points on 8/17 shooting as well as 3/9 from three-point range. Joining Edwards in the double digit category was Jordan Harris, who finished the night with 10 points, helping to electrify the sellout crowd in Athens. Edwards also tacked on 5 rebounds and 2 assists, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat John Calipari’s disciplined squad.
Kentucky featured a much more balanced offense, with four players scoring in double digits. Kentucky spread the floor very nicely and were able to get good spacing for high quality shots.
Leading the Wildcat charge were freshman guard Tyrese Maxey and junior forward Nick Richards. Maxey finished with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 blocks while Richards had 17 of his own, going along with 7 rebounds.
Kentucky struggled rebounding the ball in the first half as well as shooting free throws, but the Dawgs poor three-point shooting helped the Wildcats stay in the game. Georgia led by as many as nine points in the first half but just couldn’t hang on late in the 2nd.
Immanuel Quickley hit a three-pointer with 8:09 left in the game to give Kentucky their first lead of the 2nd half. The game remained close until Quickely hit another dagger three with only 3:59 remaining, giving Kentucky a 66 – 61 lead that eventually snowballed into a Wildcat victory and an agonizing defeat for the Bulldogs.
“I feel like we just didn’t play with toughness in the second half,” Edwards said postgame. “I played bad defense. We all played bad defense.”
Coming off a big upset victory over Memphis, this win would’ve given the Dawgs major brownie points in NCAA Tournament talks. It was a hard fought game until the last minute and shows Georgia can hoop with anyone this season.