Georgia Basketball: Bulldogs Take Down Kentucky On Senior Night
Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Kentavious Caldwell Pope scored on 10 of 11 tries from the free throw line and Donte Williams was perfect in 8 tries from the free throw line to lead Georgia past Kentucky 72 to 62. Georgia shot 79.5 % from the line for the game on thirty-four attempts. After Kentucky cut the Georgia lead to 6 half way through the second half, Georgia hit nine straight free throws during the next seven minutes as the Bulldogs puts the Wildcats away.
Kentucky shot a miserable 55% on 18 tries from the free throw line and free throws were the story of the night as the teams otherwise played statistically even. Tonight marked the first time that Georgia defeated Kentucky by 10 or more points since 1996.
Georgia eventually led by 15 late in the game, allowing coach Mark Fox to return seniors Sherrard Brantley, John Florveus, and Vincent Williams to the floor for a curtain call, delighting the Georgia faithful and giving the large number of Kentucky fans who visited the Stegman Coliseum a chance to beat the traffic.
Photo Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
With the win, Georgia moves to 15 – 15, 9 – 8 in the Conference. Kentucky dropped to 20 – 10 and 11 – 6 in the Conference. Kentucky still holds a 115-26 all-time series lead, but Georgia has beaten Kentucky nine times in the past 12 seasons. Mark Fox is now 2-2 vs. Kentucky in Athens (Consequently, in Athens he’s 2-2 against Florida and 3-1 against Tennessee). With the win, Georgia is guaranteed to finish at least .500 in the SEC regular season, a feat now accomplished twice in the Mark Fox era.
Worth Noting…
• Caldwell-Pope remains one of just 10 players in all of NCAA Division I that has scored in double figures in each of their team’s games. He’s the only SEC player to accomplish this feat and one of just five from the “BCS” leagues to do so. Only four players in the SEC have completed the entire season score 10 or more points a game since the 1996-97 season.
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the first player (and, now one of three-Jeremy Atkinson, UNCA, and Chris Evans, Kent) in the NCAA to score 500 points, 200 rebounds, 50 assists and 50 steals.
• Tonight marked the first time this season that Georgia has scored 70+ points in back-to-back games.
• Kenny Gaines and and Sherrard Brantley both eclipsed the 100-point mark for the season tonight, bringing the team total to eight players with at least 100 points.
• Caldwell-Pope moved up two spots on the all-time sophomore points list. With his 24 points, he passed both Bob Lienhard and Jarvis Hayes to move into fifth place.
Next Up: Georgia heads to Tuscaloosa for it’s regular season finale against Alabama. Georgia lost the first meeting in Athens, 52-45, snapping its five-game winning streak. Georgia will be going for its first win over Alabama since Feb. 2010.