CRAWFORD | Kentucky's 1st taste of SEC road life is bitter in 82-69 loss at Georgia

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- How tough is life on the road in the Southeastern Conference going to be? Look no further than Tuesday night's early window games.

After leading Georgia early, Kentucky lost the handle on its game in Athens late in the first half, trailed by 13 at the break, and after battling back within five early in the second half, missed five straight shots and soon found themselves down 14.

Kentucky fought foul trouble, a charged atmosphere, a tough shooting night and, with about six minutes left, fought Georgia itself in a tangle under the basket. None of that made much difference in the end. Kentucky fell, 82-69, as the Bulldogs improved to 10-0 at home.

And looking across the league, you wondered if the Wildcats got off easy. Florida absolutely bludgeoned No. 1 Tennessee, 73-43. One game after Kentucky put 106 points on the Gators, the nation's top-ranked team was lucky to top 40.

Not that it's much consolation for Kentucky. Or anyone else in the league. This was a winnable road game for the Wildcats. At least, in comparison to many of its road games. Sure, Georgia came into the game with a record of 12-2, but the Bulldogs ranked No. 50 in Ken Pomeroy's efficiency ratings — 13th-best in the 16-team SEC.

So, there's that.

If there's a bigger concern with this loss, it's this. When you look at Kentucky's body of work, it's evident if you can keep the Wildcats at 70 points or less, you can beat them. Kentucky's progress against more physical teams is, perhaps, not where it had hoped.

Foul trouble hindered Kentucky. Amari Williams picked up his fourth foul with more than nine minutes left. Andrew Carr picked up No. 4 not too long after. Brandon Garrison played well holding down the fort. But that wasn't enough.

Kentucky didn't help itself. It put Georgia on the free-throw line 39 times, and was outscored 29-13 from the charity stripe. Kentucky turned it over 14 times leading to 13 Georgia points.

Georgia's physical, active defense held Kentucky to 6-21 from three-point range, and the Bulldogs outscored Kentucky, 36-26, in the paint and outrebounded the Wildcats, 41-34.

Kentucky got 20 points from Lamont Butler, 13 from Garrison and 12 from Otega Oweh. Georgia was led by Asa Newell with 17 points, Blue Cain with 15 points and Silas Demary with 14.