Georgia Bulldogs delivered at both end against Kentucky

Like beating top-10 teams is something the Georgia men’s basketball team does all the time, the Bulldogs decisively dispatched No. 6-ranked Kentucky on Tuesday night inside a packed Stegeman Coliseum. They hit big shots, they got big stops, and they led the Wildcats for the final 26 minutes of the game.

“This is, of course, our biggest win,” said Georgia coach Mike White after the Bulldogs improved to 13-2 (1-1 SEC). It was the program’s first win over a top-10 team since beating No. 9 Memphis in 2020.

It was also a significant response to the Bulldogs’ SEC opener last week, a 12-point loss at No. 23 Ole Miss. Georgia only scored 51 points against the Rebels, and it had 47 (and a 13-point lead) at halftime Tuesday.

“Thought our guys responded in a big way from a tough outing in Oxford against a team that defended us at a really high level,” White said.

After Georgia’s De’shayne Montgomery tied the game at 23 on a baseline jumper with 7:23 left in the first half, standout freshman Asa Newell got a steal and a dunk to put the Bulldogs ahead for good, Montgomery, Newell, Blue Cain and Silas Demary Jr. carried a lot of the offensive load in the first half, with Cain and Demary combining for 21 points in the first 20 minutes.

Demary went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first half and the Bulldogs went 12-for-12. Demary started every game but one as a freshman last season and has improved in every significant statistical category as a sophomore. He finished Tuesday’s win 14 points including hitting all of his free throws; his free-throw percentage is up to 83.8 this season after hitting 70.6% last season. Georgia was a team-high plus-20 with Demary on the floor.

In an interview last week, Demary said he’s a much more confident shooter at the line and elsewhere than he was as a freshman. His overall field-goal percentage is up a little, to 44.0%, and his 3-point percentage is way up (37.0% after shooting 30.3% last season).

“Last year, I was confident. I wasn’t as confident in my shot as I am this year,” he said. “I feel like I’m taking more attempts and making them and then just shooting the right ones.”

White echoed those words when discussing Demary’s performance against Kentucky.

“Silas hit two 3s — happy for him, man,” he said. “He just takes good ones. He’s worked really hard at it, and he’s turned himself into a good shooter.”

Newell led four Bulldogs in double figures against Kentucky with 17 points. Cain scored 15 (and had eight rebounds), Demary 14 and Dakota Leffew had 11. Somto Cyril had 6 points and eight rebounds before fouling out, and his night and in some ways Georgia’s win was personified by one stretch late in the first half.

After a Demary miss, Cyril got the offensive rebound, had his shot blocked, rebounded his miss and then worked his way free under the basket for a powerful dunk that got the crowd roaring. It also put the Bulldogs up 39-30. Georgia outrebounded Kentucky 41-34 and had 13 offensive rebounds. Georgia also went 29 of 38 from the line, attempting twice as many free throws as Kentucky.

The Wildcats, one of six SEC teams ranked among the AP poll’s top 10, cut Georgia’s lead to 55-50 with 12:07 remaining. The Bulldogs gave them a bit of an opening with four straight missed free throws and a turnover, but after White called a 30-second timeout to settle his guys down, the lead was soon back to nine by the 11:22 mark.

Newell, who does the bulk of his damage inside, hit a 3 from the top of the key to push the lead to 10, 64-54, with 9:18 remaining. A couple of minutes later, he fed the ball into the left corner for a Demary 3 that made it 69-57. The Bulldogs held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Defensively, Georgia held Kentucky to 37.5% shooting, including 6 of 25 (24.0%) from 3-point range. This was only the third time this season that the Wildcats (12-3, 1-1) scored fewer than 70 points, and they lost all three games.

“We’ve got a ways to go, of course, but I’m proud of our connection and the defensive intensity,” White said. “Those guys are hard to guard, and I thought our guys left a lot of energy out there on the floor.”

That energy, from the players and the crowd, will have to be replenished quickly because No. 17 Oklahoma (13-1, 0-1) pays a visit to the Steg on Saturday.