Kentucky (8-1) was playing at home for the first time since the season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 20 and has won the last four meetings with Georgia Tech.
Freshman Dion Glover poured in 27 points and Matt Harpring, coming off an ankle injury, had 22 and nine rebounds for Georgia Tech (5-2), which has not won in Lexington since Jan. 2, 1960.
Glover and Harpring tallied five points apiece in a 17-2 burst that put Georgia Tech on top, 27-16, with 5:07 left in the first half. The margin was 30-20 with 3:52 to go before Edwards scored six points in a 14-5 run that closed the half and narrowed the Yellow Jackets' lead to 35-34 at the break.
"I was very proud of our team for a half," said Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. "Kentucky has changed coaches, but they haven't changed their pressure. I thought we handled it extremely well at first, but then they had a big run in the first half. We were fortunate to be up one at halftime."
Kentucky extended an early 40-39 second-half lead when Turner hit a jumper to tip off an 11-0 spurt. Padgett had a jumper and a 3-pointer in the run, which was capped by Mohammed's hook with 14:30 to go that made it 51-39.
After five consecutive points by Georgia Tech, Kentucky used another 11-0 surge to blow the game open. Evans had a pair of slashing layups around an easy driving dunk by Edwards before Edwards made a free throw, Padgett converted two foul shots and Mohammed nailed a turnaround jumper to give the Wildcats a commanding 62-44 advantage with 10:20 to play. Kentucky would hold two more 18-point leads, while the Jackets could not get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
"(Tech) started out well and we were flat, but we made our corrections at the half to make our run in the second (half)," said Evans. "They were getting a little tired in the second half -- so were we. But those are the times when we need to make the run to put them away. Fortunately, we were able to get a few runs together."
"At halftime we made some corrections to our press," said Kentucky coach Tubby Smith. "When you wear a team down, you can run them off of screens. Our press created better looks for us."
(5) KENTUCKY 85, (23) Georgia Tech 71
GEORGIA TECH (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Harpring 35 8-19 5-6 4-9 3 4 22
Maddox 29 3-8 0-2 0-5 0 5 7
Jones 32 2-5 3-4 6-7 1 5 7
Glover 35 10-20 2-5 1-4 2 2 27
Spivey 34 1-3 2-2 0-3 4 3 4
Machado 13 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 0
Vines 9 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Floyd 12 1-5 1-2 1-2 0 2 4
Medlock 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 25-64 13-21 12-31 11 23 71
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Percentages: FG-.391, FT-.619. 3-Point Goals:
8-31, .258 (Harpring 1-9, Maddox 1-3, Glover
5-10, Spivey 0-2, Vines 0-3, Floyd 1-4). Team
rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 5 (Maddox 2, Jones 2,
Harpring). Turnovers: 22 (Glover 7, Spivey 6,
Floyd 2, Harpring 2, Jones 2, Machado, Vines).
Steals: 9 (Glover 4, Jones 2, Maddox, Spivey,
Vines).
KENTUCKY (85)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Edwards 30 4-8 3-8 3-5 6 1 12
Padgett 18 3-6 2-2 1-4 2 4 9
Magloire 25 6-12 0-1 3-7 0 1 12
Turner 28 4-7 2-3 0-2 5 3 10
Sheppard 30 4-9 2-2 2-4 3 2 12
Mohammed 13 5-9 2-5 2-7 0 3 12
Evans 22 7-13 0-1 6-10 3 2 14
Smith 9 0-1 0-0 1-1 1 4 0
Mills 9 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 0 2
Anthony 9 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Bradley 5 0-0 0-2 0-2 0 0 0
Hogan 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Masiello 1 1-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 2
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TOTALS 200 35-71 11-24 18-46 23 20 85
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Percentages: FG-.493, FT-.458. 3-Point Goals:
4-12, .333 (Edwards 1-3, Padgett 1-1, Sheppard
2-4, Evans 0-2, Smith 0-1, Anthony 0-1). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 3 (Magloire, Turner,
Anthony). Turnovers: 22 (Edwards 3, Sheppard 3,
Turner 3, Bradley 2, Magloire 2, Mohammed 2,
Padgett 2, Anthony, Mills, Smith). Steals: 10
(Turner 3, Edwards 2, Mohammed 2, Sheppard 2,
Evans).
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Georgia Tech 35 36 - 71
Kentucky 34 51 - 85
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 24,112. Officials:
Andre Patillo, Curtis Shaw, Carl Hess.
