The entire Smith family was in attendance, sitting behind the Kentucky sidelines where Tubby Smith sat.
Allen Edwards added 19 points for the Wildcats (13-2, 2-0 SEC), who have won 11 of their last 12 games. Kentucky has won the last nine games between the schools and leads the all-time series 92-17.
Ray Harrison scored 17 points and Michael Chadwick added 16 for Georgia (8-6, 0-2), which has lost three straight games. Two of those defeats have come at home to teams in the top six. The Bulldogs lost to top-ranked North Carolina at home in overtime on Dec. 27.
G.G. Smith, who entered the game averaging 13.4 points per game, was held to eight. Saul Smith, who comes off the bench for Kentucky, had six on a pair of 3-pointers, including one over his brother in the first half.
The atmosphere surrounding the game may have gotten to Georgia in the early going as the Wildcats raced to a 9-1 lead following two free throws by Jeff Sheppard. But G.G. Smith finally calmed the Bulldogs down, hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing for Georgia's first basket of the game at the 15:36 mark. Nazr Mohammed had a basket off an offensive rebound, but Smith drained another three to make it 11-7 with 14:15 left.
The Bulldogs pulled within one point on three separate occasions, the last time at 15-14 after Lorenzo Hall scored on a backdoor layup with 9:07 left. Kentucky, though, held steady and never relinquished the lead. Saul Smith hit the first of his two treys to push the margin back to four. The Wildcats' lead hovered between four and eight, but Phenizee Ransom pulled Georgia within 32-26 with 20 seconds left, but after a timeout by Kentucky, Saul Smith hit his other 3-pointer, with 4.3 seconds to play.
A 3-pointer by Scott Padgett to start the second half bumped the lead to 12, but Georgia responded with a 7-0 run that made it 38-33 with 17:16 left. The Wildcats pushed it to 44-33 before one last push by Georgia made it 47-41 with 11:57 left. But Kentucky put the game out of reach with a 14-5 tear.
(6) Kentucky 90, GEORGIA 79
KENTUCKY (90)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Edwards 34 6-16 4-8 1-6 3 3 19
Padgett 33 3-5 1-2 1-5 3 3 8
Mohammed 27 6-8 0-0 3-7 0 2 12
Turner 36 5-8 10-13 2-5 5 2 20
Sheppard 20 2-7 2-2 1-3 3 5 7
Smith 10 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 6
Evans 21 3-5 5-7 1-7 1 0 12
Mills 9 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 1 2
Magloire 10 0-2 4-4 1-2 0 4 4
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TOTALS 200 28-56 26-36 10-37 18 22 90
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Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.722. 3-Point Goals:
8-17, .471 (Edwards 3-7, Padgett 1-2, Sheppard
1-3, Smith 2-2, Evans 1-1, Mills 0-2). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 8 (Evans 2, Padgett,
Mohammed, Turner, Edwards, Mills, Magloire).
Turnovers: 13 (Mohammed 3, Turner 3, Edwards 2,
Magloire 2, Mills 2, Padgett). Steals: 5
(Edwards, Evans, Padgett, Sheppard, Turner).
GEORGIA (79)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
J Jones 24 1-5 0-0 2-4 2 2 2
Chadwick 31 6-11 2-7 3-5 2 5 16
Hall 19 3-6 0-1 0-1 0 5 6
Smith 36 3-9 0-0 2-4 4 1 8
Harrison 35 5-13 7-10 0-1 3 4 17
Brown 12 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0
A Jones 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Oliver 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Ransom 16 4-7 2-2 3-5 0 5 10
Dukes 4 3-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 7
Nordin 15 5-8 2-2 2-4 0 2 13
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TOTALS 200 30-68 13-22 13-27 11 26 79
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Percentages: FG-.441, FT-.591. 3-Point Goals:
6-21, .286 (Chadwick 2-5, Smith 2-4, Harrison
0-6, Ransom 0-2, Dukes 1-2, Nordin 1-2). Team
rebounds: 10. Blocked shots: 3 (J Jones 2, Hall).
Turnovers: 14 (Chadwick 3, Harrison 3, J Jones 3,
Ransom 2, Nordin, Smith). Steals: 8 (Harrison 2,
Smith 2, Chadwick, Hall, J Jones, Ransom).
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Kentucky 35 55 - 90
Georgia 26 53 - 79
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Technical fouls: Kentucky 1 (Magloire). Georgia
1 (Hall). A: 10,523. Officials: John Clougherty,
Don Rutledge, Rusty Herring.