Georgia led by eight points at halftime but Kentucky surged in the second half and beat the Bulldogs 85-71 Tuesday night in Lexington, Ky.
Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC) came into the game having won six of its last seven but was outscored by 22 points in the second half.
Terry Roberts scored 21 points and Kario Oquendo 18 for the Bulldogs.
Oscar Tshiebwe scored a career-high 37 points and grabbed a season-high 24 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Tshiebwe had 23 points with 15 rebounds in the second half and Kentucky (12-6, 3-3 SEC) rallied to follow up its win over then-No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday
Cason Wallace added 17 points, Antonio Reeves had 11 and Jacob Toppin finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Tshiebwe scored Kentucky’s first eight points of the second half before CJ Fredrick hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats their first lead since a brief edge with 11 minutes left in the first half. Kentucky took the lead for good midway through the second half, but it didn’t reach double figures until Tshiebwe had a dunk and two free throws for a 12-point edge with two minutes to go.
Tshiebwe finished 12-of-20 shooting and 13 of 18 from the line with his rebounds roughly even on both the offensive and defensive boards. In posting his 11th double-double this season, he was the chief reason the Wildcats outscored the Bulldogs 18-2 in second-chance points and were plus-13 on the boards.
After shooting just 33% in the first half in trailing 42-34, the Wildcats hit over 54% in the second half and scored 51 points. It was the opposite situation for Georgia, which shot 56% in the first half and just 36% in the second.
Georgia hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday.
