For the first time since the 2008-09 season, Kentucky Basketball fell to Georgia at home, with an 86-78 defeat on Tuesday night. The Wildcats, who had been on a 12-game winning streak, now find themselves 0-2 against Georgia under coach Mark Pope. Meanwhile, Georgia's Mike White has improved his record to 3-2 against Kentucky.
Kentucky has been navigating the season without three key players: Jaland Lowe (shoulder), Kam Williams (broken foot), and Jayden Quaintance (knee). Despite these setbacks, they managed to secure eight wins in their last nine games before facing losses to Florida and now Georgia.
The Wildcats started strong, jumping to an eight-point lead in the first half. However, things slowed down when Pope turned to his bench.
Kentucky’s reserves contributed just 8 of the team's 78 points. Jasper Johnson led the bench with five points, Brandon Garrison added two, Mo Dioubate had one, and Trent Noah went scoreless.
The bench struggled overall, shooting 2-of-12 and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, while playing over a quarter of the team’s total minutes.
Jasper Johnson and Trent Noah had a tough night, with plus-minus ratings of -16 in 15 minutes and -13 in 6 minutes, respectively. In contrast, Georgia’s bench was a game-changer, adding 29 points and providing a spark Kentucky couldn’t match.
Coach Pope acknowledged the need for more bench involvement, saying, “We gotta find a way to get our guys’ minutes down. Probably can’t have Otega (Oweh) at 38 (minutes) and DA (Denzel Aberdeen) at 36 (minutes). It’s just ‘cause our actual performance suffers as those guys get fatigued.”
The starters logged heavy minutes, with only Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno playing under 30. The lack of bench production left Kentucky unable to maintain their early advantage. This loss highlights the Wildcats’ ongoing depth challenges in a season already impacted by injuries and raises questions about how the bench can step up in crucial SEC matchups ahead.