Kentucky Wildcats earn win 30 with dramatic comeback over Georgia Bulldogs

The Kentucky Wildcats are just one win away from a perfect regular season after a hard-fought 72-64 win over the Georgia Bulldogs. However, it did not come easy as they had to dig deep and pull back perhaps their best stretch of basketball of the year.    A  Yante Maten layup gave the Bulldogs a 56-47 lead over Kentucky with 9:06 remaining and the half of Stegeman Coliseum that was not wearing blue and white went into a frenzy.  Kentucky was flat, uninspired, and done.  With 5:00 left, Kentucky still trailed 62-56.  So much for perfection, right?

Nope.  Kentucky shut the Bulldogs down over the last five minutes, outscoring them 16-2 to secure win #30.  This was part of a larger 25-8 run to close the game.  The will to win on this team is off the charts.

"“We’re a really together team, so we knew we just had to lean on each other and depend on each other and that’s what we did,” sophomore guard Aaron Harrison said. “Players came through.” Kentucky struggled in a number of areas Tuesday night in a crazed environment at Stegeman Coliseum. The Wildcats shot just 39.7 percent from the field, their lowest total since Jan. 10 at Texas A&M. They were outrebounded by a much smaller Georgia team, 38-41, and they were outscored in the paint 36-40. And yet, when the game mattered most, UK threw all of those factors out of the gym and rose to the occasion once again. “That’s the one thing when you have this many guys, you just have to find a combination, and then ride it,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “That’s what I kind of did today. But it wasn’t, again, anything I did, you have kids here who have a will to win, they believe they’re going to win and they made the plays they needed to make.”"

Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

You have to give credit to the Georgia Bulldogs.  They certainly played well enough to win, but it appears that well enough just won’t do to beat these Kentucky Wildcats.  In order to topple the perfect Wildcats, you may have to play the perfect game.  

"2. Georgia did almost everything right. Almost. The Bulldogs shot 47.3 percent to UK’s 37.9 percent. Georgia outrebounded the Cats 41-38. Georgia had 32 defensive rebounds to 11 offensive boards for Kentucky. The Bulldogs had 13 assists to Kentucky’s eight. Georgia usually shoots more free throws than its opponents, however, and that didn’t happen Tuesday. Kentucky was 18-of-25 from the foul line. Georgia was just nine-of-18. The Bulldogs missed five key free throws over the final 4:22. Charles Mann missed the front end of a bonus situation at 4:22. Kenny Gaines missed the front end at the 2:27 mark. Mann missed yet another front end with 44 seconds left. And J.J. Frazier missed two free throws with 11.1 seconds remaining. “We played hard, we played very well but we didn’t play perfect,” said Georgia coach Mark Fox. “And they are so dang good that you almost have to play perfect, and that’s not realistic.”"

Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday is the last game of the regular season and then it gets real.  At 30-0, there are precious few opportunities for this Kentucky Wildcats team to feel the sting of a loss without it sending them on a permanent vacation.  You can debate the value of a loss before the NCAA Tournament, but at this point, I don’t think it is an option for this team as they are on a “Perfection or bust” trek.  That said, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned in a game like last nights.  

"“I hope we go down 10,” Calipari said he told them. “We need to find out who’s who, who’s going to make a play.” Then Andrew Harrison did. As he had in the first half, the sophomore point guard swooped in to steady them. He sank a 3-pointer in the right corner to ignite a 7-0 burst, which he capped with a lob to Marcus Lee for a sky-scraping slam that got UK within two with 7:15 remaining. Game on. Georgia stretched the lead back to six, but the Cats surged again behind junior 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein and Andrew’s twin, Aaron Harrison. The former’s steal led to the latter’s layup and a foul. Aaron missed the free throw, but Cauley-Stein soared in for the rebound and a dunk. When Aaron Harrison’s double-clutch jump shot dropped with 3:57 left, the game was tied at 62 and a “Go Big Blue” chant roared through Georgia’s building. Towns, a freshman, completed a three-point play to finally give UK the lead for good. “You have kids here that have a will to win and they believe they can win and they made the plays that they needed to make,” said a disheveled Calipari. “I just want the regular season over with. I’ve been telling the guys for two weeks, ‘Just get this over.’ The real stuff starts in a week or two. Let’s just get this done.”"