ATHENS – Georgia has never beaten the nation's No. 1-ranked team in basketball, and it didn't come close to doing it this time either.
Kentucky, which was just bestowed the country's top ranking on Monday afternoon, looked every bit the part on Tuesday night. It manhandled the Bulldogs 57-44 before a national television audience and a sellout crowd of 10,523 at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia falls to 0-13 against top-ranked teams all time and 0-7 when Kentucky was that opponent. It was the first time since 1978 the Bulldogs have faced the Wildcats when they were ranked No. 1.
"Kentucky is a terrific team," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "Their defense is so good, it was hard for us to score. They just overpower you with their length and their size. That's a fantastic team."
With its 13th win in a row, Kentucky improves to 20-1 and 6-0 in the SEC. Georgia falls to 10-10 and 1-5 in league play.
Though the scoring was relatively low, it was a dominant effort turned in by the Wildcats. They out-rebounded Georgia 41-26 and blocked 10 shots. They held the Bulldogs to 34 percent shooting and limited leading scorers Kentavious Caldwell (7 points) and Gerald Robinson (6) to half their scoring averages. Freshman forward Nemanja Djurisic had 10 points but was shut out in the second half. Dustin Ware led Gerogia with 12 points.
Meanwhile, Kentucky got 19 points and 4-of-4 3-point shooting from senior guard Darius Miller. Freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 14 points and 11 rebounds and center Anthony Davis had 11 boards and five blocks.
"I thought Georgia played good," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "But we can block shots, so the shots you get against other teams you don't get against us."
Caldwell-Pope and Robinson combined to go 6-of-25 from the floor.
"They were just switching screens," said Robinson, explaining the scoring troubles. "But they don't give up any size when they switch screens. They just got bigger."
Kentucky played only seven players, but their bench outscored the Bulldogs 25-1. Nineteen of those came from Miller.
Georgia actually hung with the Wildcats for about two-thirds of a half. The Bulldogs built an early 14-11 lead and trailed 23-22 six minutes before halftime.
But then Georgia when cold on offense, missing six of its next seven shots (five of those 3-point attempts). Kentucky made easy baskets on the other end and closed the half on a 15-4 run that resulted in a 38-26 halftime lead.
"The first 10 or 12 minutes, I thought we competed pretty well," Fox said. "We had a burp there late in the first half and we were never able to get back into striking distance after that. Played them even from then on but that little burp in the first half was extremely costly."
Kentucky gets an extra day to prepare for another road game at LSU (12-7, 2-3) on Saturday.
"We won on the road and it's hard to win on the road," Calipari said. "It's near impossible to win on the road; everybody's getting beat on the road."
Georgia gets a welcomed weekend off before resuming play on Feb. 1 at Auburn. The Bulldogs have much to work on between now and then.
"Our defense has to become more consistent," Fox said. "Our second-half defense was better than our first. That's something we have to establish. Certainly rebounding is an issue for our team. We're playing a smaller lineup. We've got everybody ratcheted down one position and that's making our rebounding difficult. The fact that we take care of the basketball and we don't lose possessions there helps alleviate some of the rebounding woes that we have. But we need to become a more consistent defensive team."
