Kentucky crumbles in final minute as Georgia escapes with a 86-78 win

The Kentucky Wildcats were back in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night, looking to take care of business against a Georgia team that has been struggling as of late, losing five of their last six games and coming off a 16-point loss to Oklahoma. Following their nine-point loss to Florida, a game where early mistakes costed them late, the Wildcats were not able to get the job done against Georgia, falling 86-78 after an unsuccessful late comeback attempt, giving them their first win in Rupp Arena since 2009.

Kentucky faced a Georgia team that entered the game on the bubble in many NCAA Tournament projects, so it was a game where they just needed to get out with a win and look good doing it, but that was not the case. After a troubling first half, things continued to go worse. In the first, Kentucky maintained a seven-point lead for a while, but down the stretch of the half is where things went badly. Georgia went on a 12-2 run and had plenty of success making Kentucky's offense uncomfortable. The Bulldogs had 10 points off turnovers, including allowing just two field goals for Kentucky in the last five minutes. Georgia also had six steals in the first half off of the seven turnovers by the Wildcats.

The Wildcats really struggled late in the first half with the scrappy Bulldog defense and it lead to panicking on both ends. The Bulldogs came in shooting 31 percent from three, but were an efficient 6-17 in the first half, while Kentucky was 3-12. Georgia took a five-point advantage into halftime. The Bulldogs maintained the respectable lead for a while, but they really began to blow things open around the 11-minute mark. They went on a 10-0 run to go up 66-55 with 10:55 left. They were threatening and the Wildcats then were forced to try and claw their way back, but it was an unsuccessful attempt after cutting it to three with two minutes left thanks to a big 6-0 run. Georgia not only bothered Kentucky's offense and created turnovers, but they continued to make timely buckets very efficiently, as a layup with 43 seconds left iced it to give the Bulldogs the win after the Wildcats had it as a three-point game with under one minute left.

Despite the help of Otega Oweh and Collin Chandler, who combined for 46 points, Kentucky just couldn't get it done in a game that they needed to simply take care of business in, as they finished the game just 1 of 7. Now, a Quad 2 home loss has been added to their resume. Next up, the Wildcats will hit the road during this home-strech of the season to take on the Auburn Tigers in what is likely to be a very hostile environment on Saturday on the Plains.