Tshiebwe, Kentucky too much for Georgia

It was too much Oscar Tshiebwe Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.

The SEC’s preseason Player of the Year showed exactly why he was held in such high regard as he scored 37 points and pulled down 24 rebounds to help Kentucky roll past Georgia, 85-71.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like this,” Georgia head coach Mike White said. “Thirty-seven and 24, 11 offensive rebounds and drew 12 fouls, and shot 12 of 20 with three steals. Credit him, his motor, his toughness, and his physicality—he played well. We didn’t match it at all.”

As a result, Georgia’s brief two-game winning streak came to an abrupt end, dropping the Bulldogs to 13-5, 3-2 in the SEC.

While the final margin certainly indicated an easy win for the Wildcats (12-6, 3-2), Georgia controlled the entire first half.

The 42 points tallied by the Bulldogs tied the season-high for the first half this year as Georgia led by as many as 11 points before settling for a 42-34 halftime advantage with Terry Roberts scoring 13 of his 21 points.

“I thought we got some stops. We got a lot more stops that allowed us to get out in transition,” White said. “We ended up playing with a broken floor a little bit and Roberts had a high-level first 20. We kept our poise, and our low numbers of turnovers in the first half (four) gave us a chance.”

However, everything that went right for Georgia in the first half went terribly wrong in the second. Kentucky began the second half by outscoring the Bulldogs 16-5 to go up 50-47. The Wildcats never looked back.

“They made the most of their first-half opportunities. The crowd got loud, of course, and we made some emotional mistakes offensively,” White said. “They just dominated the glass (44-31). Their strength (rebounding) dominated our strength (rebounding), and we’ve got to get much better in the future.”

Kario Oquendo chipped in with 18 points for the Bulldogs.

“We just didn’t match our first-half effort, and that’s on me,” White said. “That’s something we’ve got to discuss as a staff and figure out why. We just weren’t the same team in the second half that we were in the first, and obviously, Oscar and Kentucky had a lot to do with that.”

The first half was all Georgia.

How much so? Kentucky only led for 12 seconds of the first 20 minutes, that coming at 14-13 with 11:04 remaining in the first half.

The Bulldogs quickly answered even then.

A three-pointer by Jabri Abdur-Rahim put Georgia right back in front and kicked off a 12-2 run by the Bulldogs, who opened up a 25-16 lead.

Kentucky would claw back within five, but once against Georgia responded. This time, the Bulldogs pushed their lead to 11 points before a late three by Cason Wallace cut Georgia’s halftime lead to 42-34.

Roberts finished with 13 first-half points for the Bulldogs, which shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half (15 of 27) while holding Kentucky to just 33.3 percent (11 of 33).

Despite the loss, White was upbeat after the game and believes his team will respond when Georgia hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday.

“We’re better than that and I anticipate us playing better moving forward,” White said. “That said, great players (Tshiebwe) rise to the occasion, and we just didn’t match it.”

Boxscore

Before the game, Kentucky honored football player Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy with a moment of silence.

You can watch the video here.