The Kentucky Wildcats were smacked in the mouth on Thursday in their 84-70 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas, a team that was fully prepared for a Kentucky squad coming off a big win in their first exhibition game against #1 Purdue. Their preparedness was fully evident from the start, as the Wildcats struggled to shoot all night, but really struggled stopping the Hoyas on the other end.
Georgetown got up by as much as 10 in the first half, but a Trent Noah three put the Wildcats down single-digits heading into halftime. Kentucky struggled mightily to get back into the game in the second half, as the Hoyas held a steady lead, and even led by as much as 17 with just under 11 minutes to go. What hurt Kentucky? It was a number of things, including struggling to contain Georgetown on ball-screens, and especially in isolation, as the Hoyas had 38 points in the paint. Not only that but Kentucky struggled shooting on offense, even going 0-13 in the second half.
Despite the ‘painful’ loss, Mark Pope is grateful his team was introduced to the challenge Ed Cooley and his Georgetown presented on Thursday. It’s what the Wildcats will be facing in SEC play, especially the physicality part…