Game Rewind | Cats blow out Georgia
Behind 24 points from Jamal Murray, No. 22 Kentucky (18-6, 8-3) dominated Georgia (13-9, 6-5) in an 82-48 victory.
UK 74, UGA 41 (2:36, 2H): Would imagine Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray are done for the night. Murray finishes with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Ulis finishes with 14 points and eight assists. Isaac Humphries has also fouled out with three rebounds and zero points. Skal Labissiere has tied a career-high with seven rebounds. He also has four points on 2-of-7 shooting. Charles Matthews earned some praise from John Calipari in his halftime interview and now has seven points and five rebounds. Perhaps the only complaint for UK tonight is the free-throw shooting. UK is 12 for 20 at the foul line.
UK 70, UGA 37 (7:20, 2H): Everything clicking for UK tonight, which is about to finish its second consecutive blowout win at home. Derek Willis has joined Jamal Murray (24) and Tyler Ulis (14) in double figures with 11 points. Ulis is up to eight assists. Freshman forward Skal Labissiere is one rebound from tying a career high at seven. His six rebounds tonight are his highest total since setting that high with seven boards against Boston on Nov. 24. Isaac Humphries has not found as much success as he did against Florida. He's got three rebounds, four fouls and zero points.
UK 63, UGA 32 (11:05, 2H): UK has this one on cruise control as the lead has reached 31 points. Georgia did end its long field-goal drought after missing 22 consecutive shots, but Kentucky holds a 21-8 advantage in the second half. Jamal Murray is up to 24 points and looks to have a good chance to top the 30-point plateau for the second consecutive game. Tyler Ulis is closing in on a double-double with 14 points and seven assists. Georgia is shooting 22.2 percent from the field for the game.
UK 47, UGA 24 (16:58, 2H): Georgia has now missed its last 21 field-goal attempts, and UK has opened the second half with a 5-0 run to stretch its lead to 23 points. Jamal Murray is up to 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Tyler Ulis has five assists to go with nine points. To make things worse for Georgia, J.J. Frazier just picked up his third foul. He's missed all five shots tonight. Georgia is shooting just 17.2 percent from the field for the game and 16.7 percent (1 for 6) from 3-point range.
HALFTIME: Kentucky 42, Georgia 23
Kentucky shot 56.7 percent (17 for 30) from the field and 50 percent (5 for 10) from 3-point range as Georgia missed its last 17 field-goal attempts in the half. Freshman guard Jamal Murray leads UK with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis has nine points to go with four assists. Junior forward Derek Willis has six points and four rebounds, and freshman guard Charles Matthews added six points and three rebounds. Georgia kept things close for much of the half despite its shooting slump thanks to a 13-for-16 mark at the free-throw line, but UK closed the half on a 6-0 run. The Bulldogs are shooting 20 percent (5 for 25) from the field and totaled eight turnovers.
UK 30, UGA 22 (3:45, 2H): Kentucky ended a scoring drought of just more than six and one-half minutes with a Skal Labissiere put-back dunk at the 5:39 mark and has now hit three consecutive shots. Georgia has missed its last 10 field-goal attempts over the last 9 minutes and 42 seconds but has kept itself in the game thanks to an 11-for-12 mark at the free-throw line. Jamal Murray is up to 10 points. Labissiere has four early rebounds, his largest total for a complete game since Jan. 12 against Mississippi State.
UK 24, UGA 16 (7:49, 1H): Both teams have suddenly gone cold from the field. UK has not scored in the last 4:22 and has three turnovers in that stretch. Georgia has missed its last eight shots and accounted for the only points scored since the last media timeout at the free-throw line. UK is still shooting 60 percent (9 for 15) for the game, but Georgia is down to 31.3 percent (5 for 16). Isaac Humphries is getting early minutes for UK with Alex Poythress out and Marcus Lee's foul trouble continuing (he's already got two fouls), but he missed an early chance at a layup that could have ended the scoreless streak.
UK 24, UGA 13 (11:44, 1H): Cats getting a nice boost from freshman guard Charles Matthews, who already has four points. Matthews has not scored that many points in an entire game since scoring seven points against EKU on Dec. 9. He only had 10 points in all of SEC play entering the night. Jamal Murray is up to eight points on 3-of-3 shooting. Tyler Ulis now has three assists. As a team, UK is 9 for 12 from the field and 4 for 5 from 3-point range. UK has five points off two Georgia turnovers.
UK 14, UGA 8 (14:51, 1H): Balanced start for UK as each of the five starters has scored by the first media timeout. Junior forward Derek Willis leads the way with six points thanks to two 3-pointers. Each of the other starters has two point. Isaiah Briscoe also has two early assists. As a team, UK is 6 for 8 from the field and 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Georgia is 4 for 7 from the field but has yet to attempt a 3-point shot. The Bulldogs also have two turnovers.
POYTHRESS UPDATE: Senior forward Alex Poythress is officially out tonight with a right knee injury. UK will start Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Jamal Murray, Derek Willis and Marcus Lee for the second consecutive game.