by Paul Jordan
GAME 30 – 3/3/2010
8:00 PM – STEGEMAN COLISEUM, ATHENS GA
GEORGIA BULLDOGS 13-14 (5-9)
KENTUCKY LEADS SERIES 111-24
RECENT MEETINGS:
1/9/2010: KENTUCKY 76 GEORGIA 68
3/4/2009: GEORGIA 90 KENTUCKY 85
1/18/2009: KENTUCKY 68 GEORGIA 45
3/15/2008: GEORGIA 60 KENTUCKY 56 (SEC Tourney)
2/19/2008: KENTUCKY 61 GEORGIA 55
2/2/2008: KENTUCKY 63 GEORGIA 58
It doesn’t take a history major to realize that the Bulldogs have set the tone to the end of the last couple of Wildcat’s season. he shocking loss at Rupp last year catapulted the Wildcats into the NIT tournament. There is no chance of that this year, but the Bulldogs can knock the Wildcats down to a #2 seed with an upset loss. Georgia served notice they would not be a pushover earlier with an upset of Georgia Tech and a 8 point loss at Rupp Arena. The Bulldogs will not be dancing this year, but they have more quality wins that a lot of teams in the tournament with wins over Illinois, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Florida on their resume. An upset win over the Cats would be the crown jewel.
STARTING LINEUPS:
G – TRAVIS LESLIE, SO 6’4, 202 — 14.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.7 apg
G – DUSTIN WARE, SO 5’11, 182 — 8.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 3.4 apg
G – RICKY McPHEE, SR 6’1 184 — 9.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.0 apg
F – TREY THOMPKINS, SO 6’9, 247 — 17.9 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.6 apg
F – ALBERT JACKSON, SR 6’11 265 — 3.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.4 apg
Travis Leslie has blossomed into a top SEC guard in his sophomore season and he has very good quickness and does a good job of creating his own shot. He is also a pretty efficient at putting back missed shots as almost half of his rebounds are on the offensive board. Leslie does not have much of an outside game however, and is prone to turning the ball over. He has been a very consistent scorer this year and is prone to a big game. His length can give Kentucky problems. Dustin Ware is still pretty inconsistent as a scorer and has about as many single digit scoring games as double digit games. He is still not a great overall shot at 38.2% but has grown into a pretty good sharpshooter, hitting 37.2 of his treys, including six of his last ten. He is a decent ball handler and pretty tough defensively, but his size will be a liability in this game. Ricky McPhee can be deadly from beyond the 3-point arc as he has four games this season with 4 treys and one with five and is shooting a solid 39.5% from 3-point land. McPhee is also prone to rack up a few steals and has 35 on the season. These three make up most of the guard play for the Bulldogs. Freshmen Ebuka Anayaorah and Vincent Williams both play about 10 minutes a game, but offer very little statistically with 2.7 and 1.3 points a game.
Trey Thompkins is no longer a rising star but a bonafide star for the Bulldogs and he is a force to be reckoned with under the basket. He has five double doubles on the season (including one against UK) and a 35 point effort against FAU. He shoots well for a big man and even has 54 3-pointers in his two seasons. He seems to draw a lot of fouls and gets to the line a good bit where he is a 76% shooter. Albert Jackson (from Earlington, KY) does start but only plays about half the game. He is a scrapper for rebounding and is not afraid to mix it up but scoring has never been his forte at Georgia and whatever scoring he does is around the basket. Junior Jeremy Price shares the minutes with Jackson and is more of a scorer, averaging 7.1 points and 4 boards for his 18 minutes a game. He shoots well, at 55% but at 6’8, is a bit undersized. Chris Barnes is another 6’8 forward that is averaging 3.2 points and 3.1 boards in just 15 minutes a game.
OUTLOOK
The Bulldogs are the team that no one wants to play and the way the SEC tournament seedings are looking right now, Kentucky could be facing them twice in about nine days. It’s true that the Bulldogs have been very scrappy, but in all reality, the Bulldogs are a 13-14 team and a team that Kentucky should be able to stroll into their home gym and hang a beating on them. The Wildcats can expect a lot of zone and an attempt to slow the game down, but as Tennessee saw last week, you can only play that game for about 25 minutes before UK finds a way to break that and make a serious run. The talent scale tips heavily to UK and no offense to the Bulldogs, but I think UK knows they need to make a statement with this game. Kentucky 90 Georgia 72
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