SEC Basketball: Kentucky beats Georgia on Tshiebwe’s historic game

Led by senior forward Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky got their second straight SEC basketball win with a victory over Georgia, 85-71.

Tshiebwe scored 37 points on 12 of 20 (60%) shooting from the field and 13 of 18 (72%) from the charity stripe while also grabbing 24 rebounds.

That’s the most rebounds by any player in scoring 35+ points in the last 25 years.

Kentucky also had three other players with double digits in the scoring column including freshman guard Cason Wallace who accounted for 17 points.

The Wildcats were coming off their 7-point upset victory over top five Tennessee. Now, with another conference win under their belt, they move to 12-6 overall and are now starting to turn some heads.

Georgia had some positive play but in the end it wasn’t enough to make up for Tshiebwe’s performance.

Guards Kario Oquendo and Terry Roberts combined for 39 points on 14 of 30 shooting. That would be good enough for 55% of the teams points.

Overall, Georgia shot better in the game. The Bulldogs shot 46.2% (24/52) from the field compared to the Wildcats 43.9% (29/66). And they shot 35% (7/20) from beyond the arc compared to 26.7% (4/15).

Kentucky beats Georgia for second-straight SEC basketball win, 85-71

By the numbers:

The 11 point comeback victory is Kentucky’s largest of the season. In Tuesday night’s game they were down by eight points at half and outscored Georgia 51-29 in the second half.

Free throws have been the difference for Kentucky over the past two games. In their win over Tennessee they shot 22/25 (88%) from the line and against Georgia they shot 23/30 (76/7%).

Georgia lost the defensive rebound battle by only one rebound but lost the offensive rebound battle by 12 (4 to 16). Those offensive rebounds allowed Kentucky to put up 14 more shots from the floor.

Looking ahead:

Kentucky will try keep to continue their momentum against Texas A&M and Vanderbilt before taking on the Kansas Jayhawks, who are one of the best teams in the country.

Georgia was on the wrong end of one of the best individual performances of the year and now drop to 13-5. They could build a bit of steam with a statement win over Tennessee next Wednesday.