Georgia Falls To Cats, 80-68

Wednesday 03/03/2010 23:12:07

Georgia Falls to Kentucky 80-68 on Senior Day

by UGA Sports Communications

ATHENS, Ga. --- The University of Georgia men's basketball team suffered defeat at the hands of the visiting Kentucky Wildcats 80-68 on Wednesday, falling for the first time this season at the hands of an SEC Eastern Division foe at home.

A standing room only crowd of 10,523 was on hand to witness the final home game of the season, a loss that dropped Georgia's record to 13-15 (5-10 Southeastern Conference). Kentucky elevated its standing to 28-2 with a 13-2 SEC mark, its most recent loss coming in Knoxville at the hands of Tennessee last Saturday by a score of 74-65.

Tonight's contest was Senior Night for the Bulldogs, and in tribute Georgia head coach Mark Fox started all three of his seniors, center Albert Jackson, forward Tyler Whatley, and guard Ricky McPhee.

"That was a tough loss for our seniors", said Fox. "It was a hard fought battle. We didn't start the second half very well and we never recovered from that. There's no shame in losing to a terrific team and Kentucky is a very good team. I have to credit them for making a lot of plays. This is an experience that our team needed. We needed a game of this magnitude. Now we have to take this experience and learn from it and get better."

While still getting solid contributions from its usual offensive stalwarts, Georgia was led in scoring by junior center Jeremy Price, who scored 19 points and grabbed six rebounds in a reserve role. Sophomore forward Trey Thompkins notched 12 points and five rebounds, and senior guard Ricky McPhee scored 12 points while hauling in three boards. Sophomore guard Dustin Ware scored 10 points and doled out a team-high five assists, while sophomore guard Travis Leslie scored eight points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds. Leslie brought the packed crowd to its feet several times, including in the first half with a thunderous fast-break dunk.

Kentucky was led offensively by freshman guard John Wall, who scored 24 points, while dishing out six assists and swiping three steals. Junior forward Patrick Patterson scored 17 points and led the Cats with 10 boards.

"Kentucky's talent gets all the attention," said Fox. "It takes away from the fact that they are the number one defensive team in the league and the number one rebounding team in the league. They will win plenty of games because they have good players but they will win even more because they are a very good defensive basketball team. We knew that we would have to play extremely well on the offensive end and just couldn't consistently get it going."

Georgia closes out its regular season on Saturday as they travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on the LSU Tigers. Georgia has yet to win a game on the road this season, and look to accomplish that goal this weekend. The game tips at 5:00 PM and can be seen on Fox Sports Net, while heard on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network. Live stats can also be found at www.georgiadogs.com.