Georgia will look to defeat Kentucky for just the second time in the past 17 meetings on Tuesday in Lexington, Ky.
The Bulldogs (13-4, 3-1 SEC) are coming off a 62-58 win over host Ole Miss on Saturday, while Kentucky (11-6, 2-3) ended a two-game losing streak with an impressive 63-56 victory at then-No. 5 Tennessee on the same day.
Georgia’s Kario Oquendo hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:20 left and scored all 15 of his points in the second half against the Rebels.
Oquendo, who scored the Bulldogs’ last 12 points in the final 5:21, finished 5 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range. Terry Roberts finished with 14 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds and five assists.
Braelen Bridges and Justin Hill added eight points apiece for the Bulldogs, who have won six of their past seven games.
Georgia, which ended a 16-game road losing streak dating back to a win at Auburn on Feb. 2, 2021, has dropped 15 of their past 16 games against Kentucky since the 2013-2014 season.
The Bulldogs have also dropped 10 straight games in Lexington since their last win on March 4, 2009.
“We hope to become an NCAA Tournament program soon, but right now we wanted to be competitive here in Oxford, break through on the road, we did that,” Georgia first-year coach Mike White said. “We’re going to stay in the moment.”
The Wildcats earned their first victory in program history over a Vols squad ranked in the top 10 in Knoxville, Tenn., by making 5 of 6 free-throw attempts in the final 31 seconds after Tennessee closed to within 58-56 with 1:08 remaining.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Antonio Reeves added a team-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds.
CJ Fredrick added 13 points and Kentucky forced Tennessee to shoot 23 of 57 (40.4 percent) from the field, including just 3 of 21 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range.
“Here’s what happened today: we defended and fought like my teams normally do,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “We haven’t been doing that to this point. They made a commitment to each other that they would fight this game, and it was between them. I wasn’t in a couple of the meetings that they had.
“Today every guy was locked in and focused on us.”
–Field Level Media
