If there’s one area where Georgia has been severely lacking, it’s been an inability to get consistent play from its guards—especially at the point.
The Bulldogs once thought they had the player they’d been looking for when former five-star Ashton Hagans committed to the program. Then former head coach Mark Fox was let go. Hagans re-opened his recruiting, ultimately winding up at Kentucky.
Tuesday night at Stegeman, the Bulldogs got a taste of how valuable he would have been. He led all scorers with a career-high 23 points to pace the No. 11 Wildcats to a 69-49 win.
"He's a great player, but I wasn't here," said Crean, when asked about Hagans' initial de-commitment. "He made one visit, and he never came to Georgia; it would be different if I felt like that, because we recruited him for years. He's a really good player in a league of good players. He's an outstanding freshman."
Kentucky coach John Calipari was quick to agree on Hagans, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half.
"The crowd rattled him early, but it inspired him later," Calipari said. "Early on, I had to get him out. He missed a couple of layups, was pressing a little bit, but then he settled in and played the way he needs to play for him and for us."
Tyler Herro added 12 points for Kentucky (13-3, 3-1), followed by PJ Washington with 10.
Nicolas Claxton scored 12 points, followed by Rayshaun Hammonds with 11 to lead Georgia (9-7, 1-3) which converted just 4 of 27 three-point attempts.
"Offensively, we let our lack of shooting affect us on the defensive end some, and we missed a lot of open shots," Crean said. "We made 4 of 27 threes. That's going to happen, but we let it affect us. We let it affect our transition defense, and had a couple of turnovers that made no sense."
Trailing 35-31 at the half, Georgia opened the final 20 minutes hoping to get off to a fast start. Instead, it was Kentucky and Hagans who got rolling, nailing a three-pointer to just beat the 30-second clock before adding a layup that extended the margin to nine, forcing Georgia to call a quick timeout.
Hagans added five rebounds and four assists—and the Wildcats weren't done.
A steal resulted in another easy bucket by the freshman, as Kentucky scored the first nine points before Hammonds made a pair of free throws at the 14:54 mark.
The Wildcats would lead by as many as 13 points until Tyree Crump helped the Bulldogs get within eight.
However, they would get no closer as Kentucky scored eight straight points to go up by 16 with 9:07 to play. A three-pointer by Hammonds snapped a 3-for-20 shooting skid by Georgia, getting the margin back to 12. But it was too little too late, as Kentucky outscored the Bulldogs in the second half 34-18 to cruise to the win.
Georgia shot just 19 percent (5 of 26) in the second half.
"First off, defensively, we didn't do a good enough job of taking away their strengths,” said Crean. “They're very much a right-handed driving team and a left-shoulder post team. It's not a complicated game plan. We were going under on Hagans, and if he made a three, so be it. That's not his forte. His forte is to get in the paint, make plays, and get you to chase him so he can throw it out to the shooters. We wanted to stay home on the shooters, but we also wanted to take away their right hand on the drives and their post-ups. We just weren't aggressive enough. We weren't tough enough on the ball. That has been the story when we've struggled.”
Claxton agreed.
“After a loss like this, you've got to really individually look at yourself and every aspect. Even if you played well with shooting or on defense, you've really got to just try to improve everything. When we have practice on Thursday, we’re going to go hard," Claxton said. "You just try to keep motivating everyone and make sure we get to class on time Wednesday and get ready for Saturday.”
The game got off to a bit of the usual start.
Georgia’s first four field goals all came as a result of dunks (three by Derek Ogbeide, two by Claxton) while Kentucky’s first five field goals all came on layups before Jemarl Baker popped a three-pointer, with just over 12 minutes left in the first half, broke the skid for both teams.
Claxton’s second dunk put the Bulldogs up 11-6. However it wasn’t long until the Wildcats found their groove, going on a 16-7 run for a 23-18 advantage—their biggest lead of the first half.
Georgia would respond twice, tying the game at 27 and 29 before a dunk by Nick Richards sent Kentucky into the locker room holding a 35-31 lead.
"They're really good, but we missed a lot of open shots," Crean said. "They'll get better, we'll get better, and we have to. But outside of anything basketball-wise, our maturity has got to get better. The mental toughness has got to pick up when things are not going well for us."
The Bulldogs return to action Saturday with a noon tip-off against Florida.
