Kentucky's loss to Georgia made very bad history in Rupp Arena

Kentucky has been on the wrong side of their series with Georgia lately.

Feb 17, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope calls out to his players during the first half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

The Kentucky Wildcats did more than suffer a Quad 2 loss at home against a desperate Georgia team looking to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. In fact, the game made some history for Kentucky, but not in the way you think.

Kentucky's loss to Georgia was a brutal one in the way it unfolded. The Wildcats were down as much as 12 in the first half and were required to dig themsleves out of a hole once again like many games this season. But, the comeback attempt failed, as a Georgia layup with 43 seconds left essentially iced it for them to leave with the win.

By now, you know how the game unfolded and you're here for the very depressing notes that came about from Kentucky's loss. For starters, Mark Pope suffered his third home loss of the season. This marked Georgia's first win in Rupp Arena since 2009, which was Billy Gillespie's last season as head coach in Lexington. Overall, this is Georgia's third win over Kentucky in the last four games each other. That's the first time that has happened in the series in over 100 years, according to Ryan Black of the Courier Journal.

Kentucky has now also lost five SEC home games in a two-year span. That has only happened to three other coaches in program history.

Times that a coach has lost 5+ SEC home games in a 2-year span at Kentucky:

▫️Mark Pope: 2024-2026
▫️John Calipari: 2022-2024 (left UK)
▫️John Calipari: 2019-2021
▫️Tubby Smith: 2005-2007 (left UK)
▫️Eddie Sutton: 1987-1989 (fired)

— WT - Mo D Enthusiast (@WildcatsTongue) February 18, 2026

The loss also marks the second time that Kentucky has ever lost consecutive games by eight points or more to the Georgia Bulldogs. The last time that happened was 1989-90. To add to the bad Rupp Arena history, Kentucky has lost in Rupp Arena three-plus times in a single season just 13 times. Mark Pope is responsible for doing that in each of his two years at Kentucky so far. This game was also the worst loss Kentucky has suffered to Georgia outside of Athens, which shows just how dominant they have been throughout the century-long series between the two teams.

This was a game that Kentucky just needed to simply take care of business and they did not do that. Georgia played desperate and it paid off. They disrupted the Wildcats in a lot of ways, but especially off of turnovers and knocking down threes thanks to very poor execution by Kentucky's guards with closing out on shooters. Kentucky just did not adjust and it bit them badly towards the end of the game.

Now, Kentucky is left with some bad history that was made on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena.