The Big Blue Lowdown

Kentucky started off SEC with a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday, falling 77-70 in Athens, Ga., to a Bulldog team that played like it was the national championship.

The Cats got a good performance from Terrence Jones, numbers wise, but Jones was inconsistent throughout much of the game.

Brandon Knight wasnt much of a factor either. He was outplayed by UGA guard Gerald Robinson, who was a step quicker for much the game.

Georgia played a physical ballgame and pushed the younger Kentucky roster around a bit. Conscious of getting in foul trouble, the Cats played tentatively on defense at times. And Georgia capitalized by feeding the post from start to finish.

Georgia big man Trey Thompkins dumped in 25 on the Cats, scoring on jump hooks, turn around jumpers and some face up jumpers. UK simply had no answer for him.

Sadly for Kentucky, the freshmen were the only bright spots in a game where veteran leadership was sorely needed. Darius Miller did little to nothing after a couple early buckets, though he did do an admirable job defensively guarding Thompkins, the 6-9 Jeremy Price and 6-10 Chris Barnes.

Liggins and Harrellson were largely ineffective. Doron Lamb contributed some big buckets to keep UK around, and finished with 18 points.

Games like Saturday’s show how difficult a time Kentucky has with bigger, more experienced teams. The Cats’ lack of depth could be a critical factor deeper into conference play. This weekend, Kentucky lost to a deeper, similarly talented team that wanted it more.

Thankfully, UK enters a three-game-stretch with lowly Auburn-LSU-Alabama to help kick off any letdown from this loss.