LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Georgetown didn’t come to Rupp Arena on Thursday night to be a footnote in Kentucky’s exhibition tour.
The Hoyas came to throw punches — and the Wildcats didn’t have enough hands.
Six nights after stunning No. 1 Purdue with depth and rhythm, No. 9 Kentucky stumbled against a team picked to finish sixth in the Big East. The Wildcats ran headfirst into Georgetown’s physicality and paid for it in an 84-70 loss that looked less like a tune-up and more like a wake-up.
Missing both of its top point guards — Pitt transfer Jaland Lowe (shoulder) and Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen (minor leg injury) — Kentucky looked disjointed, outmuscled and overwhelmed at times.
The Wildcats committed 15 turnovers, shot just 33 percent from the field and went 0-for-13 from three in the second half.
Georgetown junior Malik Mack led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting. KJ Lewis added 19, and center Vincent Iwuchukwu (14 points, 5 rebounds) provided interior resistance Kentucky couldn’t solve.
For the Wildcats, preseason SEC Player of the Year Otega Oweh managed 17 points. Collin Chandler added 11 and Jasper Johnson scored 7 off the bench, but no UK player hit more than one 3-pointer.
Kentucky trailed by just seven at halftime, but the second half belonged to Ed Cooley’s Hoyas. Georgetown shot 54 percent after the break and led by as many as 17 with just over 10 minutes to play.
Late, Kentucky made a run — grabbing multiple offensive boards on consecutive possessions — but couldn’t finish. A three-shot trip came up empty, and Georgetown’s Jeremiah Williams extended the lead to 13 at the free-throw line with 2:17 to play.
Kentucky also struggled from the line, making 23 of 35.
The Wildcats are now 155-13 all-time in exhibitions, and this marked their first such loss since 2014. But exhibition or not, it was a reminder: there’s always work to do, even for a team as deep as Kentucky’s.
Earlier this week, Kentucky coach Mark Pope called his team’s depth a “rich person’s problem.”
Take away two point guards, however, and depth can become dearth. Pope comes away from this one with a wealth of video for review, and in some ways, that may be just as valuable.
The Wildcats open the season on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Nicholls.
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