Kentucky Basketball Preview – Know Your Enemy: Georgia Bulldogs
By Paul Jordan
GAME 15
January 8. 2011, 4:00 PM
STEGEMAN COLISEUM – Athens, GA
GEORGIA BULLDOGS (11-2)
TV – SEC NETWORK
SERIES HISTORY
Kentucky leads 112-24
RECENT GAMES
3/3/2010: KENTUCKY 80 Georgia 68
1/9/2010: KENTUCKY 76 Georgia 68
3/4/2009: Georgia 90 KENTUCKY 85
1/18/2009: KENTUCKY 68 Georgia 45
2/15/2008: Georgia 60 KENTUCKY 56 OT*
*SEC Tournament
John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats get their SEC season underway on the road versus the Georgia Bulldogs. This is the first time that Kentucky has begun league play on the road since 2006-07 and just the second time in the last eight seasons. As you can see, Kentucky has been dominant in the series overall with a 112-24 advantage and the Wildcats have won six of the last eight meetings, including the last three games in Athens. Despite the huge historical advantage, this has been a very interesting rivalry lately and Kentucky went 17-7 over the Bulldogs the past decade. That may sound like a big advantage, but when you consider that Georgia got seven of their 24 wins in the past ten years, you can tell that they have stepped it up some.
This is an interesting Bulldog team. Two years ago, they were horrid in league play, going just 3-13. The three teams they beat though were Florida, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. John Calipari can thank the Bulldogs for that 90-85 loss at Rupp as most people see that as the last nail in Billy G’s coffin. Last season, Mark Fox took over the team and Georgia became that “team that no one wants to play”. Even though the Bulldogs went just 5-11 in the league, five of those losses were by five points or less and it was obvious that Fox had instilled a fighting, never say die spirit to the Bulldogs. This year, Georgia is off to an 11-2 start and we will see how good these Bulldogs really are this weekend.
THE STARTERS
#22 – G – GERALD ROBINSON – JR – 6’1 – 165
12.6 ppg, 4.7 apg, 2.3 rpg
#1 – G – TRAVIS LESLIE – JR – 6’4 – 202
13.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.2 apg
#3 – G – DUSTIN WARE – JR – 5’11 – 182
7 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.5 rpg
#33 – F – TREY THOMPKINS – JR – 6’9 – 247
17.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.5 apg
#50 – F – JEREMY PRICE – SR – 6’8 – 264
9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.5 apg
BACK COURT
Gerald Robinson is a proven scorer at the PG position. Robinson sat out last year as a transfer from East Tennessee State, but Kentucky fans are familiar with him as he dropped 25 on Kentucky during the 2008-2009 season. Robinson reached 1000 points in just two seasons at TSU but is in a bit of a scoring slump and has scored just 18 points in his last three games. Robinson can score from all over the floor and is hitting 30% of his 3-pointers. He is also a good passer and skilled at getting the ball to Georgia’s big men. Travis Leslie is one of the most athletic players in the SEC (who can forget his dunk over Boogie Cousins last year) and he had a couple of solid games against UK last year, averaging 14 points and 8.5 rebounds. Leslie’s a consistent scorer (in double digits in all but three games) and a good rebounder for a guard. He has two double doubles on the season. The one downside of Leslie’s game is that his three point shooting has dropped from 54.5% to 18.8% this season. Stopping Dustin Ware is going to be the key to shutting down the Bulldog’s 3-point game. Without Ware’s 39.1% from beyond the 3-point line, the Bulldogs as a team would be close to 27% shooting. Ware has gone cold lately with no treys in his last three games, but when he is on, he can carry this team. Against Georgia Tech, Ware was 7-9 on his three-pointers for 21 points. Ware can also dish the ball with a stellar 2.93 A/TO ratio. Sherrard Brantley has been struggling with his shot all season and is hitting just 30.8% from the field and and is just 3-14 in his last four games. He is averaging just 3.5 points on the season.
FRONT COURT
Trey Thompkins was the preseason pick for SEC player of the year and is getting back into form after a slow start to the season. He’s coming off a 26 point, 11-16 from the field game against EKU and has been the Bulldogs most consistent performer all season. He’s a great rebounder and hits a third of his 3-point attempts. In short, Thomplins can score from anywhere on the floor and is solid defensively. Terrence Jones will have his hands full hoping to contain Thompkins. Jeremy Price is the enforcer min the front court, but he is capable of filling up the basket as well. He averaged almost 18 points a game the first three games of the season when Thompkins was out of the lineup with an injury. He can also handle himself in the post as he scored 19 points and had 6 rebounds in just 20 minutes against Kentucky’s front court last year. Price is very good at scoring close to the basket and does not mind the physical play. Chris Barnes brings some more bulk off the bench with his 6’8, 240 frame. He gets a lot of blocks and is averaging 4.2 points and 3.8 boards in just 18 minutes a game.
OUTLOOK
Make no mistake, this will be a solid test for Kentucky. The Bulldogs will throw a lot of bodies at you and will try to run on Kentucky. But color me as one of the skeptics of the Bulldogs this season. Yes, they are 11-2 on the year, but are struggling to call any of their wins a “quality win”. At this point 11-4 Colorado would have to qualify as quality. And then there are those close calls to the “cupcakes”. Georgia has managed to avoid the SEC trend of embarrassing losses but their have been close calls. 72-70 over 2-12 Mississippi Valley State. 61-59 over 5-9 St. Louis. 61-58 over 2-11 Manhattan. 56-53 over 4-11 Mercer. and 64-57 over 7-8 EKU. Wins yes, but hardly impressive.
UK and Georgia have two common opponents on the season and the comparisons are telling. Georgia beat MVSU by 2 points while Kentucky won by 25. Kentucky beat Notre Dame by 14 while Georgia lost by 6 in double OT.
Looking at the matchups, this appears to be yet another game where the length of Kentucky’s backcourt is going to present problems. Look for either Darius Miller or DeAndre Liggins to neutralize the 3-point shooting of 5’11 Dustin Ware. Brandon Knight should also be able to give Robinson problems defensively as well. The one area that will give Kentucky problems is in containing Trey Thompkins. He will be tough to control and even Price will be a challenge for Harrellson, so this is a game to look for Eloy Vargas to step up. Even with the problems with Leslie, Kentucky has the edge in overall talent. Playing on the road in their first SEC game is a big thing for the freshmen, but look for a 80-71 Kentucky win.
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