The Georgia men’s basketball team went up to Lexington and fought 8th-ranked Kentucky into overtime, but came up short, 90-81, on Tuesday night.
With 1:46 left in the second half, Georgia (13-9, 4-5) captured a two-point lead, 73-71, on a Jordan Harris 3-pointer and continued to hold that same advantage in the waning seconds but a jumper by UK’s Malik Monk with eight seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime. The Wildcats (18-4, 8-1) started extra time with a layup and a three, which paced them in outscoring the Bulldogs 14-5 in the deciding period to seal the win.
“It was a very good basketball game and our kids really competed hard,” Georgia head coach Mark Fox said. “You are never going to play a perfect game when you compete your tail off but you make enough plays to give yourself a chance to win. You have to complement the other team too. (Malik) Monk got really hot and hit contested shots including the one that got them into overtime. And you got to tip your hat to the kid because those kids really played well too but it was a really good game.”
Senior guard J.J. Frazier and junior forward Yante MatenClick here to hear it led the Bulldogs’ attack with 23 and 22 points, respectively, in addition to team-high five assists. Sophomore forward Derek OgbeideClick here to hear it notched his second career double-double with a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds, tying his career high.
Monk poured in 37 points, 31 of them coming in the second half and overtime. The Kentucky freshman guard connected on seven 3-pointers in the second half and overtime.
In the first half, Georgia jumped on the Wildcats quickly as the Bulldogs scored the game’s first 12 points and connected on the team’s first six field goal attempts. Harris sank a trey to give Georgia a 14-point lead, its largest of the game, at 19-5 with 14:07 on the clock in the first half. However, Kentucky erased the gap to tie the game at 29-all heading into the half. Frazier led all scorers with eight points.
The Wildcats obtained their first lead of the game, 33-31, early in the second half and strengthened it to as high as eight points with 7:30 left to play but Georgia kept fighting back. The Bulldogs’ late run started when Harris converted a 3-point play from the line to cut Kentucky’s lead to 66-63 at the 5:32 mark. With less than four minutes in regulation, Frazier notched the game up at 70-all with a layup.
“I thought we got a little bit fatigued,” Fox added. “We didn’t rebound the ball well tonight and the second chanced points really hurt us. But again we had a chance to win it and you have to tip your hat to their team.”
The Bulldogs continue their road slate with a game against South Carolina Saturday in Columbia, South Carolina. The tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN2.
CLICK HERE for the final stats for the game.