Kentucky Basketball beats Georgia Bulldogs: 3 things to know and postgame banter

The Kentucky Wildcats looked great in their first game of the SEC tournament.

They beat the Georgia Bulldogs with a score of 62-49. As you can tell, it was a defensive slugfest that saw the Cats dominate for most of the game en route to the lowest point total for a game UK has been in this season. It was actually just the second time UK has won a game this season in which they didn’t score 70 points.

The other?

December’s 66-61 win over Georgia.

Kentucky looks to build off of this game as they prepare for Collin Sexton and the Alabama Crimson Tide tomorrow.

Kentucky ended the first half on an 8-0 run.

It was back and forth for the majority of the first half between Kentucky and Georgia. The Bulldogs came off of an intense win against Missouri, and it looked like they ran out of gas at the end of the first half. The Cats were able to take advantage and execute an 8-0 run to close out the half.

By doing this, it gave Kentucky more confidence to start the second half, and that’s where we saw the Cats take off. They were able to get the lead to 17 at one point, and they rode that wave for the rest of the game.

The Cats played with a different type of poise during the game.

We’ve seen this team play up and down all year, but something looked different during today’s game. Throughout, each play seemed much more crisp than we’re used to. Executing their plays, talking on the court, and rotating on defense are all things the Cats did really well today.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for not only the rest of this tournament, but the one that matters as well. Year after year Cal gets his teams to play their best, and we had a great example of that today.

Kevin Knox played his game today

Too many times this year we’ve seen Kevin play timid, not taking certain shots that he should. Today, it seemed like he didn’t care who was on him, he was shooting. His confidence has always hindered his potential, but now it seems like he feels like he’s best player on the court.

This is the kind of attitude we’ve been waiting to see from Kevin. He’s an outstanding player, and when he’s hot, there aren’t many people in the country who can guard him. He scored 15 points today to go with 9 rebounds. Knox needs to continue to get better as the tournament goes on if Kentucky has any chance of making a run.

Collin Sexton played like an animal against Auburn, scoring 31 points. Kentucky is going to have to try and find an answer for him as they play Alabama tomorrow.

Now, celebrate the win!