Kentucky vs. Georgia: Preview

Kentucky got back in the win column on Wednesday and now welcomes a frisky Georgia team to Rupp this weekend.  Lets dive into what we can expect from the Bulldogs

When: Saturday, January 20th at 6pm ET

Where: Rupp Arena

Channel: SECN

Georgia So Far

The expectations are never very high for Georgia basketball and this year was no different.  The Bulldogs were picked to finish 12^th in the conference.  Georgia is ranked 69^th on Kenpom and 79^th in the NET Rankings.  They are 13-4 (3-1) on the season and strangely enough that is the exact same record they had last season before they came to Rupp Arena.

Georgia has feasted on the bad teams in their non-conference while losing to every decent team on their schedule.  They did pick up their first Quad 1 win of the season on Tuesday with a 5 point on the road over South Carolina.  This is not a very good basketball team but they are capable of pushing good teams as they nearly picked off Tennessee last weekend.

How Does Kentucky Matchup

On offense Georgia is old and guard heavy.  They often run a lot of 4 out (and frequently use 5 out) lineups with a lot of iso.  They draw a ton of fouls which is an important part of their offense as they don’t finish great around the rim.  Georgia don’t have a ton of great shooters, but they play enough good ones that spreads teams out and allows their athletes to play in a ton of space and go foul-hunting.

Unfortunately, on-ball defense as well as guarding shooters has been a weakness for this Kentucky team.  The Cats showed improvement against Mississippi State but this Georgia team is a different type of challenge.

On defense Georgia has enough big wings that they can survive if they are aggressive and physical.  They also have a 7-footer in 5^th year senior Russel Tchewa who provides some rim protection and rebounding.  Georgia is a solid defensive team and will punish teams who are sloppy with the ball or don’t have athletes who can create their own shot.

Player To Watch

I’ll go with senior wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim.  Mostly a 6^th man last year for Georgia he has become a good college scorer.  He shoots 41% from three and draws a ton of fouls where he shoots 89% from the line.  At 6’7” he is a matchup nightmare for just about everyone on Kentucky’s roster (except for Adou but it’s unlikely he plays).  He isn’t all that efficient if you can guard him without fouling but he’s a good spot-up shooter if Kentucky has to send his man to help stop drivers.

Who Wins

This is a game Kentucky can not lose.  The Cats already have a Quad 3 loss weighing them down with the computers (the computers do not consider that Kentucky was missing two contributors and had a third on a minutes restriction).  This is a must-win game not only if Kentucky wants to win the SEC but also for NCAA Tournament seeding.

In many ways Georgia is like a better version of UNCW so this should be an opportunity for Kentucky to exorcise some of those demons and prove they’ve learned how to handle this kind of matchup.

Kentucky wins 85-74.