Well, it could have been monumental for Georgia basketball. In the end, though, it was just another win for mighty Kentucky and another loss to a No. 1 team for the Bulldogs.
Georgia led the undefeated and top-ranked Wildcats 62-56 with 5:36 to play. But then Kentucky did what it always does — assert its will. Georgia missed the front ends of three consecutive one-and-ones and the Wildcats scored 14 unanswered points on the way to a 72-64 victory.
“Our effort wasn’t good enough,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “We played hard; we played very well; we didn’t play perfect. And they’re so dang good that you almost have to play perfect. That’s not realistic.”
Charles Mann twice missed front ends in the final 4:22 and Kenny Gaines missed one as well. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs simply had no answer at crunch time for the inside-outside combination of Karl-Anthony Towns and Aaron Harrison. They scored 12 of the final 14 points during the decisive run.
The victory keeps the Wildcats undefeated at a 30-0 — the best in a single-season in school history — and drops Georgia’s all-time record to 0-16 against the nation’s No. 1 team.
The Bulldogs fall to 19-10, and 10-7 in SEC play. They were led by two of their seniors honored on Senior Night. Nemanja Djurisic had 18 and Marcus Thornton added 14. Kenny Gaines added 11.
Kentucky Calipari got the test he has been looking for lately for his team midway through the second half. After the Wildcats led 43-39, the Bulldogs went on a 17-4 run that resulted in a 56-47 Georgia lead with 9:12 to play. In between were three of the best offensive plays Georgia has made all year: A driving, baseline dunk by Gaines; a 25-foot 3 from J.J. Frazier and a putback by Yante Maten off of two of his own offensive rebounds.
But as quick as Georgia got the nine-point lead, Kentucky wiped most of it out. It took them all of two minutes to get back within two points. Then the Wildcats finally ran down the lead on Aaron Harrison’s running bank shot with 3:51 to go. That tied the game at 62-all and set up a dramatic finish.
After a three-point play from Towns gave Kentucky its first lead since the 14-minute, Georgia’s Gaines missed the front end of a one-and-one at the 2:27 mark. The Wildcats just added to the three-point lead from there as the Bulldogs’ missed back-to-back 3-pointers from Gaines and Frazier and had another one-and-one miss from Mann.
The Bulldogs’ last points didn’t come until Mann scored on an uncontested lay-up with 29 seconds to go. By then the outcome had been determined.
Certainly we would’ve liked to have shot free throws better,” Fox said. “Didn’t get (to the foul line) a lot. Would’ve liked to have shot the 3 better. But you’re not going to play perfect against that kind of team.”
Georgia got exactly it wanted at halftime — a 32-all tie and a chance to win the game in the second half. For that they could thank Djurisic, chiefly.
The senior forward made a driving bank shot from the right wing as the halftime buzzer sounded. That capped a 5-0 run to end the half and gave Djurisic 14 points in the game.
It also stymied a potentially problematic run by Kentucky. The Wildcats led 28-27 and Andrew Harrison was on a fast break after a steal when he was fouled hard by Georgia’s Gaines. Even though the two were side-by-side, the officials called it a flagrant and Harrison went to the line and made two free throws and then made a jump shot on the ensuing possession. Kentucky led 32-27 at that point.
But the Bulldogs wiped it out over the final 1:56.
