UGA Basketball Hammers No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats | Dawgs Show They Are For Real

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ATHENS - UGA basketball fans didn’t even bother to storm the court on a night where the Bulldogs got their first win over a top-ten team in five years.

Georgia out-rebounded Kentucky. Georgia outplayed Kentucky. Georgia beat Kentucky. 

Saying any of those three things in the past would have been asking a lot. Declaring all three of them about one game? 

This is a different Georgia team. That’s the point. This team, barring some sort of collapse that doesn’t appear likely, will punch its ticket to the NCAAs for the first time since Mark Fox, who is now a UK assistant, was around a decade ago.

The win was something this program has not seen in some time. You’ll be excused if you thought… oh, Kentucky will come back and win this game.

Countless times, more than I can remember at least, I’ve watched as a good or even decent Georgia teams built leads against the Cats, and then watched (seemingly helplessly) as the Kitty Cats came back for a tight road win in Athens. 

Not tonight. 

Not tonight at all. This one wasn’t close - the only thing in doubt was just how long it would take for this never-ending game to conclude. 

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This Georgia team, flush with a play-making big man in Asa Newell and nifty guard Silas Demary, wasn’t willing to wilt away like so many Georgia teams have in the past. Easy points weren’t there to be had for the No. 6 Cats. When Georgia needed to collect the ball they did. 

The partisan Georgia crowd chanted “overrated” at the Cats. 

Incorrect. 

This isn’t an overrated Kentucky team. Georgia is just better than it used to be, and folks are not used to this. They’ll have to get used to weekly knife fights in a league where Tennessee, the No. 1 team in the country lost on the road tonight by 30 to the Gators.

The No. 1 team in the country lost on the road by 30 - to the team Kentucky just beat if you are keeping score at home.

The SEC has become a behemoth in basketball. It is a new world indeed.

Truth be told - this is what Georgia basketball should be - and not for just one night. The state is loaded up with talent. The school has money to spend. The passion is there when Georgia is good, but for too long there has been a lack of imagination of what UGA basketball can really be. I’m not willing to let this go as I experienced this acutely earlier in my life, and know what UGA can be in basketball. 

This night, the decisive 82-69 win over the No. 6 Wildcats, is about the reintroduction of a sport that can and should be loads of fun to a football-obsessed fanbase that has another nine months before football plays again. 

That, and this team is actually good. People roll their eyes when you tell them that. Part of that is folks find it hard to believe that Georgia basketball could matter let alone be good. Part of that is just ignorance about this particular UGA team. And part of that is a lack of knowledge about the sport itself for a fanbase that knows another sport much, much better. 

“Wait, there are blocks in basketball, too?”

Two types of blocks actually, but I digress. 

But I can assure you this is a good team. They killed Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. They took home solid, important wins over Grand Canyon and St. John’s. 

And tonight they killed Kentucky. I’m sorry to distract your sulking from the Sugar Bowl, but there is something new to distract you during the winter - UGA basketball.

Welcome to this new reality.