2014-2015 Kentucky @ Georgia (Game 30)

[Music] chris stegman coliseum on the university of georgia campus hasn't seen lines like this outside in a long long time the reason the opponent tonight the kentucky wildcats have already made history 29 straight to start the season is a kentucky and sec record and tonight the quest for perfection continues here in athens georgia [Music] kentucky looking to run and that is big time harrison the college study that's impressive [Music] oh how big was that shot for the cats what a great play here big blue nation has to be impressed kentucky history can be made tonight and this is super tuesday presented by cree led lighting the lights are out right now they'll be up high soon it's the sec on espn and the matchup the bulldogs of georgia against the number one team in the country kentucky and there are five teams still fighting for the three remaining spots to fill out the top four and get a double bye in nashville starting in the sec tournament a week from tomorrow welcome everybody brad nessler along with jay bilas well these two teams got together partner a month ago and it was an 11 point win for kentucky both teams were that some of their key players it's a tall order to beat this team before they try to go to 30-0 boy and tall is the right word this team is deep they're very athletic but they've got great size and tremendous length and it's made them historically great on the defensive end they've got their average height is six nine their average wingspan 610 they've got five guys with a wingspan of seven foot or better and when you get near the rim they absolutely cover it up they change shots and they block over seven shots per game that may open the offensive glass a little bit but this kentucky team brad they are historically good defensively holding teams to 34 from the field and that 34 is tops in the country there's the starting lineups the harrison twins in the backcourt trey lyles karl anthony towns and willie cauley stein to those long guys three of them actually up front that jay was talking about for georgia kenny gaines charles mann in the backcourt taylor echols starts tonight because it's senior night and the other two seniors are starters nemi jurassic and marcus thornton and the stars are out tonight charles barkley is here bill belichick is here fred nessler is here so is jay billis let's do this georgia looking for a 20-win season kentucky trying to stay perfect at 30 and 0. pat adams throws it in the air we're underway jim burr and doug sermons the other two officials advantage for lyles working on the inside and a nice move drop step to the baseline and kentucky scores first that's a play they call 31 where they just isolate the post just so iverson cut across the elbows and trey lyles went right into the post against charles mann just overpowered him and how good has lyle's been over his last two games he's the reigning sec freshman of the week 18 points in each of those two games you saw that amazing stack kentucky has led now for 144 minutes in a row and there's a foul inside on paulie stein that goes back to the tennessee game that we did three weeks ago that's the last time they trailed but what georgia brad is going to try to do is spread out kentucky and try to get the kentucky big guys guarding out on the perimeter if they've got to guard ball screens 20 feet from the basket that may open up the lane for some driving opportunities especially for a guy like charles mann who loves to get to the free-throw line and if this georgia team can get to the line you know kentucky can't block their shot at the free-throw line they get there about 25 times a game on the season if they can get to the line they're gonna have a chance top two teams in the conference as far as getting to the free-throw line which is where marcus thornton is and he got one of two thornton didn't play the last time around after having suffered a concussion georgia actually has three players back that didn't play in lexington in that last game on february 3rd in the last game andrew harrison had a terrific contest at ruff had 23 points seven assists in that one here's aaron harrison on a runner from the free-throw line batted around and one of the starters he doesn't play a lot the senior echoes with a rebound if it's longer it's loose georgia's got to get it anything up near the rim it's advantage to kentucky if it comes down below it georgia's got to get every loose ball even without thornton jay they hammered kentucky on the boards in that first trip three-pointer by apples and it comes back out of bounds to the dogs well because georgia can move this kentucky team around on the perimeter jurassic can play out on the perimeter thornton can play out on the perimeter that means they've got a chance to get a run-up for some offensive rebounds so they're going to have an opportunity to get some second shots [Applause] sure such a good three-point shooter has 30 on the year [Applause] thornton has to give it back up man he threw it away mark fox in his sixth year here in athens went over the 100 win mark 104 now did a remarkable job at nevada before he came here to georgia and about to have his second 20-win season in a row here at georgia that hadn't happened since the 90s only the second time in georgia history they went three straight years under tubby smith and ron jersey with 20 plus but that's an amazing stat you and i were talking about three-pointer by gaines rebounded by elias here's a lob to carly stein that was too high and he couldn't reach it off the backboard so he didn't get it but you like to see andrew harrison look to pass ahead and look to push it when he's aggressive in the open floor he's absolutely at his best the more possessions kentucky can get in the game the better they're going to be first time kentucky has trailed in 145 minutes and it's jurassic on the inside a nice little flex cut by juris that's along the baseline andrew harrison with a hook shot got it when he drives any time that he gets pain under his feet he's a much better player and john calipari wants him to get to that sec logo every time he drives it a little flex cut and a post by thornton i'm not sure how much george is going to get in the post unless they can face up and drive that's what thornton's thinking about here [Applause] missed the shot though loose ball rebounded by kentucky aaron harrison going up and under it and he scores for the first time tonight boy when kentucky when kentucky gets out and runs they're so much more effective they get easy baskets over the last five games brad they're shooting over 50 percent from the field their offense is starting to match their defense which is really scary mismatching the post down hitch baseline and he's fouled but jurisdiction got some really nice shot fakes so he got a switch and got aaron harrison down to the post and a really nice shot fake to get him off the floor and you can see jurassic right here on the right as soon as he passes that ball he's going to come get a little flex cut screen and he's going to be wide open underneath just a miscommunication kali stein didn't get there and not enough pressure on the ball to keep it from getting an easy assist juris hitch three points early you know i think he doesn't get a credit for how good a player he's been you and i were talking about this before the game he's got over a thousand points he's got almost 550 rebounds he's a good outside shooter and he's gotten better every year his mom and dad are here from montenegro i've never seen him play until saturday and now they were here for senior night nice touch hopefully we'll get a chance to talk to them a little bit later on juris it's really big factor in this game and now with jj frazier in the ball game for georgia mark fox goes to his own fraser smaller and he doesn't want to have to have him posted up andrew harrison again drives [Applause] rebound comes off to gino who got it to frasier geno also in there having missed several games with the broken wrists jurassic tried at three well karl-anthony towns just went right over the top of mayton mayden's got to block him out and a whistle before the drive is going to be on kenny paul gino [Applause] we talked about senior night only three were introduced before the game jurors said you among them they trail by two espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is presented by cree led lighting and in part by wendy's proud sponsor of the 2015 john r wooden men's player of the year award and the lexus command performance sales event now through march 31st see your lexus dealer [Music] tonight's game is part of espn's journey to the tournament presented by sonic a season-long spotlight of games that'll impact the tournaments this one will impact everybody and we saw charles barkley earlier and bill belichick here's a better person to look at ashley judd here's another one as well janice bake well hi brad before the game coach calipari admitted that there's no question that his players want to win every game this season but want his one thing will is another tonight will be a game of wills in fact coach cal said this is an ncaa tournament level game one that will not be over at halftime and one that he knows his team his team is going to take some dings in how they respond and who responds will be the key so far so good in the opening four and a half minutes for the cats george's matching up in a zone and they want to make kentucky take contested twos and right now kentucky oh of three on every two point shot that has been contested they're three of five on uncontested shots that last one by cauley stein was and he missed it george's got a chance to draw even or take the lead jurassic tries to wheel to the baseline got his man out of the air do the foul nice job to get call anthony towns up in the air you have got to keep your feet on the floor against nemi jurassic he's got good moves and an excellent shot fake and he goes multiple shot fakes and if you leave the floor he's going to get into your body all of a sudden there's going to be six free-throw attempts early on in this game for georgia because they're getting kentucky into the air jurassic at the line two of three there's his mom and dad and ronco unmoved by their son's terrific move nonplussed they're from pogrista in montenegro the capital of that country and had never been to the united states until saturday to watch their son play they watch him on the internet they saw some of the games that we've done that ended up airing there but even better to watch him in person and he's just tied it up first tie the ball game with tyler euless in the ball game now for kentucky georgia can go man-to-man but it looks like they're sticking with that that 1-2-2 matchup booker and dakari johnson in there as well so is marcus lee so almost an entirely new lineup for kentucky as john calipari has gone to that platoon system a good portion of the year when he hasn't had injury or foul trouble ball out of bounds to georgia but brad george has done a really nice job of staying in between kentucky and the basket and making them shoot over and when kentucky has had to shoot over a georgia body they've missed jots when they get an angle to the basket kentucky has scored at a good clip they're over four in those contested shots you talked about kentucky can switch absolutely everything now dakari johnson on man [Applause] anytime that georgia gets a favorable switch i think they've got to attack that switch natan trying to work for position and he's got the height on booker they get it over to thornton in the corner didn't get the roll those are the type of shots where i would have to go down oh great defensive play by frazier but he steps on the line right in front of his coach nice hustle though he's a terrific young player he's just a sophomore suffered a concussion that's why he's wearing that mask to protect his face three concussions this year for georgia i don't think i don't even know if the football team and mark rick had that many no it's like a mass unit they've had to make so many changes frazier came in played the point then he was out charles mann moved to the three geno goes into the starting lineup they've had so many different changes but they've continued to play hard and play together and i i don't know how you feel about i think george is an ncaa tournament i do too and i've maintained all year that if they are healthy that they can possibly be the team to beat kentucky but we got a long ways to go to find out there's one of the fine shooters in the conference of freshman devin booker with his first basket and he just keeps getting better and better over a 40-minute period he averages 20 points per game per 40 minutes nice cut to the basket and one nice pass by frazier into mayton and he's got a chance to give to the lead back well you called it brad just a beautiful cut by maiden and then a great delivery the screen and then the roll and euless just about got that but this is the kind of finish you need against kentucky went right past aaron harrison and kept his eyes up you know coaches will tell you your eyes make layups you take your eyes off the rim and you're gonna miss those but maiden who's got terrific hands he can go over either shoulder in the post that was a true that was a great finish in the kind of play that georgia needs to get some momentum going you saw mayton's numbers really some of the best numbers that any georgia player put up against kentucky back at rupp he's another guy that had a concussion was hit by a car of all things on an early sunday morning back in the second week of january and he's got a three-point play and george has got a one-point lead but amazingly he was hit by that car mark fox showed us a picture of the car not pretty and the dent in the windshield that his head made it's it's remarkable but he's back playing booker runner fouled from behind and he'll go to the free-throw line that's one thing that georgia can't do booker is a terrific free-throw shooter you got to just make him shoot over he can't foul a jump shooter even though he was trying to get to the basket that was a difficult shot in the short corner along the baseline he is the wildcats best free throw shooter 83 percent one of the things that's really really impressive about booker brad 14 points a game which you know for a guy who only plays 20 minutes a game but 14 points a game in true road games just a freshman to be able to go on the road and put up numbers like he's put up really impressive you saw a five-time fcc freshman of the week four of those came in a row and that's never happened before except anthony davis and john wall two other kentucky players who were pretty good wow he missed them both jay we talked it up and neither one went [Applause] man and gaines have to get going i don't think georgia can win unless those two guys put some points on the board and gaines can get hot in a hurry he's streaky but he needs to get hot from thornton he took it all the way to the basket got it back and had really cauli stein slapping back in his face i don't know what he was doing there on that second child and the follow is gonna be by dakari johnson gaines didn't even leave the floor on that shot that got blocked when he got the ball back i don't know what he was trying but it didn't work yeah it didn't work and it led to a bucket on the other end wow thornton with a left hand gives a lead back to the dogs 12 35 to go in the half carly stein drops one way comes back with a hook shot johnson second chance is fouled marcus thornton one of the best defenders in the country with just a little screen a slow roll to the basket and uses that left hand to shoot over the top of takari johnson and after that i'm not sure exactly what gaines was trying to do there but terrific job by booker pushing the ball up the court even though he that was a little bit of a weak attempt it gave the big guys an opportunity for an offensive rebound the big guy that followed that shot is at the free throw line we check in with shannon well chatting with the georgia players the last few days marcus thornton j.j frazier they both told me that one thing they learned from the game at rupp four weeks ago is that they cannot let the emotions get the best of them in fact frazier told me the adrenaline in the first half was so much he played out of character and the entire team felt it so they have really tried to treat this game despite the crowds and all of the excitement like any other game so they can control those emotions there's a lot of juice in this building it's not rough with almost 24 000 but i haven't seen this place cooking like this in a long time [Applause] kentucky maintains a one-point lead courtesy of those free throws by johnson here's gaines off the window a really good offense by georgia he'll hand off the ball screen and allowed gaines to turn the corner and get to the rim there's a rejection by georgia that one came from mayton great job by frasier to get that loose ball those are big gaines waits for help georgia with a couple guys short after that pile up defensively on the other end boy georgia well prepared to run its offense out on the perimeter and they're really spreading out kentucky jurassic gives a shoulder to booker in scores they're getting mismatches and taking advantage of them brad that was a terrific pass really nice job by jurassic to get right into the body of devin booker georgia up by three we approach 11 minutes and a 9-4 run kentucky's got to go inside that's where the wildcat strength is and they've got to make georgia guard in the paint good job defensively here by georgia nine on the shot clock jumper i think somebody got a hand on that one of tyler euless they're going to say an air ball though and george will have the ball when we come back 10 55 a fired up stegman coliseum as the bulldogs hoping to stop the streak tonight georgia leading by three with 10 55 to go in the first half and let's take a look at how the dogs are planning for success brought to you by northwestern mutual jay well mark fox is trying to spread the floor and pull the big guys away from the basket so they can attack see all the big guys are outside of the lane and a nice little slice cut and willy cauli stein goes over the top of it jersey with an easy basket then everybody above the free throw line and the nice little after setting the ball screen nights old back cut and rolled to the basket by yante matan in a terrific delivery by j.j frazier and on the other end when georgia has stayed in front of kentucky and made them shoot over the top when they've contested shots contested twos kentucky's oh of eight when kentucky's gotten open looks they're five of seven so that means kentucky has got to do a better shot of get a better job of getting the shot they want instead of settling for a contested two shannon was near the kentucky timeout yeah guys coach cal perry questioning the focus right now in his guys he also said he wants them to get that ball inside whether they drive the lane or they make the pass he said if you don't you're coming out you said today at the shoot around i don't want to fight you but i will i want you to go out and play but i'll fight you and he does that every game games missed off the window and it's going to be kentucky ball karl-anthony towns had that rebound but he didn't snatch it down and maiden was able to knock it out of his hands looked like it went off of andrew harrison but it's kentucky ball those things are only reviewed in the last two minutes towns hook shots good you let him get pain under his feet and get that deep he's going to score karl anthony towns has really developed into an outstanding college player that is going to be a top five pick whenever he decides to come out euless caused that steal oh i didn't think paulie stein could get that high but he could kentucky bring in the heat and trapping georgia in that coffin corner that's what kentucky can do just explode with that length in athleticism everybody talks about the length of kentucky this is some serious length i thought he threw this one out of the gym jay well willie caulistein is a freak athlete and you can see him getting a little freaky right there for shame thinking that he couldn't get up that high brad nestler that's amazing willie cauley stein has had a really a phenomenal year is he player of the year in this conference well i think he is and he's national play national defensive player of the year in my judgment without question and i think he's right up there i think he's third in the national player of the year voting i would put jalil okafor of duke and frank kaminsky tied right now for number one there's still a long way to go before that's decided [Applause] here's a runner by frazier snatched down by townes and euless cross courts it to andrew harrison he's going to be able to save that it'll be georgia ball out of bounds i don't think that's a bad shot at all by andrew harrison but you would love to see him attack the rim on that reversal saturday showcase presented by five-hour energy noon big ten teams take the court michigan state and indiana get together then at four we'll head to the big 12 where kansas and oklahoma number nine and number 15 go at it saturday on espn your home quarter college hoops from athens brad nessler jay villa she had his fake and a packed house full of a lot of georgia fans but there's a lot of big blue in here too and i can't imagine how much they paid for the tickets forte had his shot blocked out of bounds by colleen stein really nice recovery by willie cauley stein to block that shot from behind kentucky's getting caught going over the top on those little flex screen slice cuts and george has taken advantage of it but when you can recover like that to erase a defensive mistake that's tough to play against paulie stein the number one active shot blocker in the sec had over 200 in his career at over 100 steals which nobody else in kentucky's ever done charles mann underneath and he had one blocked by somebody either lee or townes i guess got that one charles mann doesn't have to go through two seven footers to get to the basket very often this is an nba front line that he's playing against just the length that you have to go you got past tyler euless now he's in among the redwoods when they played can when kentucky played kansas in indianapolis brad earlier in the year they were blocking so many shots i was saying it was like playing frisbee marcus thornton threw up a prayer as the shot clock expired and it went in booker answers with a three on the other end or that's the way you answer a prayer wow that sends a message that you you can't celebrate you better get back i like the way kentucky's getting the ball up the floor because george is hitting him hard george is playing well and kentucky's starting to respond and again they just take it away underneath you gotta drive in if you're gonna drive into three guys you gotta kick it out and then that second pass you're gonna get an open shot nice pass lyles gave up an open shot and works for that one over thornton and then the follow by lee who one hands it and throws it down mark fox has seen enough as his team trails by three for only the second time tonight or do they knock down a three-pointer by booker and then that follow shot so five straight gives him the lead and marcus lee hasn't gotten an offensive rebound that good since last year in the ncaa tournament against michigan where he had seven offensive rebounds nobody boxes out marcus lee just a little bit of help and you gotta drop down rotate down and that just absolutely did not happen cameron forte needed to be more physical and get down to that baseline and take marcus lee out instead he watched him dunk it so we're at the 7 55 mark and kentucky they led 6-3 early and now a 21-18 lead right here at the 755 mark nba wednesday coming up tomorrow nights starts with nba countdown presented by key at 7 30. and then dwyane wade in the heat taking on the lakers followed by chris paul and the clippers against portland at 10 30. tomorrow night [Music] speaking of the nba special guest joining us a night off from the nba charles barkley what's up chuck hey guys thanks for having me we need we needed some quality analysis no no no first of all hey brad first of all you're great on both football and basketball that's impressive thanks man you do a great job also way to carry jay and all those guys last time i saw you was after an auburn football game i know that got a little bit late well you know you had a little we had a little fun raise your air mails at three and the outlet euless brings it up and now wide open look by lyles how impressed have you been with kentucky so far charles well i gotta test him i want to see him play in person i've seen them on tape quite a bit obviously getting ready for mars match but i want to see them play in person and i will tell you this you've got to keep them off the offensive board that's to me the key of the game if you don't keep them off the offensive board i don't like their half offense unless bookers in the game but you got to keep them off the offensive board more with charles and jay in this ball game when we come back 7-19 remaining in first half cats by three kentucky by three with 7 19 remaining in the first half when georgia gets a touch in the paints they've been able to score but charles they got to get some guard play right now well the key is going to be guard play because you look at their half court offense they're pulling the big guys away from the basket and that opens up the lane but those guys can't finish they're going to be in trouble and they especially can't drive into traffic and expect to shoot over they're going to have to drive and draw the defense then kick it out oftentimes that second pass is going to be the open shot you know the one thing that kentucky has unique jay that most people understand most of the time when you play in an nba or a college game you play against one seven-footer when you play against two seven-footers it really clogs up the lane so you got to make the mid-range shot that's going to be the key portland trailblazers are the only team in basketball to be a college or pro that has a taller lineup by average than kentucky and they are a legit contender in the western conference and they're going to be game two of our matchup tomorrow night's shameless promo but i just said that a while ago so that's all i love that kid ready too he gets more out of his talent than a lot of guys do yes he's got skill he uses a great shot fake and he can step away and hit a three he's also a good cutter you know jay the one thing i noticed like i said i want to see kentucky play in person with i've only seen him on television other than towns they don't have any guys that can really score in the low pose if they don't get offensive rebounds see that that's the perfect example right there that was he got a shot but it wasn't a good shot anytime you can stay between their big guys in the basket and make him shoot over you got a pretty good opportunity you just can't let him get a deep post where they've got two feet in the pain they can bury it gaines will try three those are shots that kenny gaines has got to hit he went two or 13 at rough up and under and that one came out zero hits the rebound georgia a chance to lead again this trip [Applause] charles how did you do in this building when you played at auburn well they had dominique wilkins so it didn't go well they had james banks they did they had a really good team i think one of the years they made it to the final four you know they had like uh i forget stefan marberry's brother's name but they just threw the ball on the rim and had like five guys trying to dunk off as a rebound they had vern fleming eric marbury yeah eric marberry they had james uh excuse me i forget uh terry fair they had terry fair they had vern fleming they had dominique they had a really good team coach durham did a fantastic job with him also but they just threw the ball on the rim and just dunked it dominique probably would have been here tonight but he's doing tv or radio no actually dominique wiggles excited he's getting a statue in atlanta oh no he got a big deal tonight but they're going to unveil a statue for him thirsty uh for the uh the hawks it's really cool i'm really excited for that i can't wait to get there i am too he was not voted one of the top 50 nba players when you were and i think everybody still thinks that that was uh not right i mean he's still 12th in scoring all time or whatever it was did you guys go in the hall of fame together it was one of the cool things to me because i was one of the guys complaining he didn't go in the hall of fame the first year he was eligible but i'll tell you what i just want to take my hat off first of all i'm here with danny ferry tonight and let me tell you something dana perry has done a great job with the house and i hope they give him his job back he's a friend of mine he made a mistake but i hope they give him his job back but i'm really excited for the i want to give my shout out to the hawks the unveiling the dominique wilson statue thursday i can't wait to get there the hawks have the best record right now in the east playing great team basketball they're fun to watch they are amazing to watch they had four all-stars obviously folks guten boonholzer is obviously the favorite for the coach of the year but like i say i'm here with danny ferry i just want to give him a shout out because i think he deserves executive of the year also great inbounds play during the timeout in georgia back in front by one and georgia going back to the zone and kentucky is going to have to get some movement it's been one pass and a shot there's a nice drop step by towns didn't get it but he'll go to the free-throw line you know jay first of all you do a fantastic job i'm not kissing up to you i watch a lot name me the team that actually have a legitimate shot of b kentucky i think i think there's only four or five what's your short list i think wisconsin can do it but they've got to control the tempo it's a really good defensive rebounding team they don't turn it over and they can control the tempo of the game i think virginia's got an opportunity to do it i think it i think duke can but it's going to be difficult because kentucky's guards are so much bigger and duke doesn't have a ton of depth uh gonzaga could can but i wouldn't favor them i think kentucky's gonna have to help a little bit whoever they play they're you know against ranked team styles their average margin of victory is 17 when they're engaged and they really they really want to play they're they're in they're really hard to beat right now they're held in georgia two missed free throws by towns and georgia still has the lead near the five minute mark jurassic [Applause] you know i tell people the biggest advantage kentucky got is that guy on the sideline i think john calipari does not get enough credit or respect for what he's accomplished it's a i just love the way the guy coaches but he changes all the time here's euless for a triple and that one comes out and i think there's going to be a foul on lyles trying to get that rebound now euless doesn't miss many of those he's a good open three-point shooter and that was as wide open as you're gonna get if he keeps getting those shots you know george is playing really well and they're up one i mean kentucky they can they can explode on you [Applause] jj frazier stepped out of the same exact spot [Applause] mark fox saying he was forced out but that was the same spot when he played the passing lane on defense and tried to get a steal earlier so second time he's turned it over literally within a couple of feet of his head coach there wasn't a ton of pressure on him there yeah this is the one guy that got a double down low good move but he didn't finish again but offensive rebounds that's the one thing there's this thing i noticed tonight you got to keep them off the boards but they're not great in a half fourth set georgia out rebounded and by 12 back at rough in february booker with a pull-up they talk about a contestant shot and james is all in his face on that one place is cooking in here charles let me let me tell you something as a player and jay would know this not saying that you couldn't play brad but you couldn't this would be like the ultimate competition game for a player to play the number one team in the country and nobody in the world thinks you can win this would be awesome and the building is going crazy this is great environment here for the bulldog it means it's not auburn but it's pretty good i'm not sure why you had to sing the georgia fight song i guess you lost a bet to ernie but you can't sing either by the way clearly i can't i think it's a bad song though i'll tell you devin booker's done a really nice job of running the floor any time that there has been a change in possession and conversion he's just running the lane and it's been oftentimes the left lane and this kid can really shoot it his dad melvin booker played at missouri was all big eight back when they're on the remember when there's only eight teams in the conference he's still one of their top six scorers his dad his son missed his first two three free throws but he didn't miss many 83 percent coming in well i don't even want to notice quote but i'm pretty sure auburn's winning at missouri tonight and booger gives the lead back to kentucky [Applause] well kentucky going to put full court pressure on with willie cauley stein he's going to see memories up 12-7 in the nba how many guys do you see like willie cauley stein that can guard a point guard all the way to a five man maybe three guys not many guys are that big and that athletic but i will tell you this this next four minutes is really huge for georgia because this thing can go it's a one point game now but it can go to six eight ten quickly the next four minutes to me are going to be the key game for georgia great point here's thornton tough catch off the window sometimes it looks like he's losing the ball of his hand and he still scores booker and he's got a chance for a three-point play 333 remaining charles barkley great to see you chuck brad jade thanks for having me thanks for coming out i'll see you mark matt for ashley judd but she said no hey but just thanks for having me espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is brought to you by chili's 20 dinner for two fresh is happening now and the quick silver card from capital one earn unlimited 1.5 percent cash back every purchase every day half time report brad jay all right chris we'll see you guys in three and a half minutes 24 23 georgia with a lead and shannon was near mark fox's huddle during that timeout well brad as tough as his guys on the quarter plane right now the emotion in that huddle you can really feel it he's just urging his guys to make up the make up for their mistakes with the effort that they put forth on that and that on that court he also said he wants him to get back set their defense that's certainly been a key for them there was not a basket on that shot by booker who's going to inbound before the timeout really kentucky has not gotten much in the half court it's been at conversion they've been pushing the ball up the floor and getting a few easy things but george's half court defense has been very good booker again a contested jumper from about 17 feet and didn't go and the ball would be out of bounds to georgia you know really kentucky when they've gotten opportunities in the paint they've not finished plays and i do think they have settled for way too many contested jump shots and that's exactly what georgia wants them to do is take difficult two-point shots and for the most part brad george has limited kentucky to one shot there have been a couple offensive rebounds you're not going to shut this team out on the offensive glass but georgia's first shot defense has been pretty darn good all game long georgia has what would normally be its starting lineup on the floor with geno in there right now there's nakari johnson with another block shot for kentucky we talked about it they averaged seven blocks a game which is tops to the sec in second in the country and on two point attempts i think you talked about this already a two-point attempt they blocked 19 of your shots so every fifth shot you put up is coming back in your face and you have to you just have to keep going but you have to be smart about it and jurassic is smart about it he's used shot fakes very effectively he's been a very good cutter that time he thought he had an angle and was able to dribble the ball basically from 60 feet out and get all the way to the rim enemy three out of four at the free-throw line tonight this is his first george is one of eight from three-point range and that one that they hit was that prayer that thornton put up from the right corner and really from two-point range they've been pretty effective 9-17 overall for eight of 17 overall 17.7 rebounds in the first meeting between these two teams and he's looking for number 10 right there oh he's a key and he's done his job and then some in the first half the guys that have to start getting hot are gains and man i don't think georgia can win without gains of man putting points on the board booker has to give it up as forte got out on him here's jakari johnson in the lane and he'll go to the free-throw line it was a good idea by thornton to contest but you don't want to foul johnson in there make him shoot over the top they haven't made anything and jurassic's trying to keep his body between johnson and the basket boy you bring those arms down and foul one it puts two on on thornton he doesn't want to pick up a third before halftime akari johnson sort of talks that one in i gotta give him credit he was a 45 free throw shooter a year ago and he's up over 60 right now and tonight he's three for three he's really improved i think from last year to this year in large measure because he's in better condition he's changing ends better running the floor his footwork's really good when he's down in the low post he's just not an explosive guy he's still when he goes up for a turnaround jumper jump hook he's not an above-the-rim guy you're right though his body's changed since a year ago kentucky i think has played poorly on the offensive end you give georgia credit with the defense that mark fox's team has played but still kentucky tied in this ball game not having played anywhere near its potential offensively cut underneath by forte the extra dish to jurassic nice pass by fulton interior screening for georgia has been very good they are just picking off kentucky and the wildcats not communicating on that low cross three-pointer goes for andrew harrison and he can be a game changer if he gets hot from the outside but kentucky's got so many different weapons it seems like every night somebody's going to get hot somebody's going to make shots and andrew harrison the last game at 23 points he's about to put up a couple more maybe gonna put him up from the free-throw line as gaines picks up his second foul i wonder if they're gonna look at the monitor on that one to see if that was excessive in any way i don't i think it was just a hard foul but yeah they're gonna call a flagrant [Applause] again the officials jim burr pat adams doug sermons here's another look yeah that was yeah that was clear there was not a play on the ball the question is what is it excessive to be a flagrant one i think it is and i think that was a good call but the official's going to go over the monitor to take a look at it like an illegal block in the back on a punt return yeah i mean there was no legitimate play on the ball here games just goes in and you know i think it was the right call now there i don't think they're gonna it doesn't look like they're gonna move it up to a flagrant two which is what they were looking at because once you call it a flagrant foul you can't pull it back so mark that down with 208 remaining in the half if that may change as charles barkley said the last four minutes of the game in this case the last two minutes of this half so that's two shots in the ball for kentucky so they can get some separation here it kind of takes the air out of the building a little bit i think it'll come back in if georgia makes some good plays here this is not the death knell by any means but it's an opportunity for kentucky on the road to separate andrew harrison's the eighth best free-throw shooter in the conference and shows why as he drains them both kentucky's a pretty darn good free-throw shooting team and they make over 70 of their free throws so you foul them and it's not like you get any kind of a break they punish you for it as they did to arkansas over the weekend and they went 21 out of 28 from the stripe george is sticking with the zone fade away by harrison we said don't let him get hot he hit a three he had two free throws and now he hits another bucket and kentucky's got its biggest lead and he's feeling now that was a a nice little step back got some separation from cameron forte looked like there was a after that basket a little bit of warning for delay a game looked like somebody hit the ball and kept georgia from inbounding it quickly andrew harrison scored seven straight points and it gives kentucky a five-point advantage with 145 to go in the half georgia sticking with those flex cuts along the baseline now jerusalem's trying to post up and now mann with a collision against harrison on an offensive final man georgia has had a couple of opportunities where they pushed off and it hadn't been called and that just dipped that shoulder and andrew harrison was continuing to move his feet to maintain legal guarding position that's a that's one that could have been let go and it has been let go through the course of the game but but i think a good call 7-2 kentucky run and they can add to it here on this trip the crowd starts chanting defense they need a stop because it could start to get away from them before halftime georgia not very big along the top of this zone i think harrison can get into the paint lyles echoes does a nice job the senior got a piece of that tipped it to one of his teammates you know frazier hasn't gotten open for anything part of it he's being guarded by andrew harrison so he got size on him and he's a small guard and it's tough for him to to shoot over the top of so many big guys he's giving away about seven or eight inches in that deal [Applause] see inside matin trying to post up and karl anthony towns with that right arm just wrapped around him and he doesn't think he fouled it clearly did townes will sit with two and that's probably all we will see of him in this half which has 67 seconds remaining yate matin the freshman out of pontiac michigan five points so far in the game that can be a tough decision for john calipari he has to take one seven footer out then he looks down at the bench says which seven footer should i put in for that seven foot let me see yeah and brad this is with alex poitras out for the season with a knee injury this team was deeper right it's really amazing the depth that kentucky had to start the season they're still a very deep very long very athletic team but you have poiters in there and you've got another transition athlete that can guard multiple spots terrific offensive rebounder i mean that was a loss that affected this team but still it just rolls on us with acl surgery now for the year mayton got one of two nice euless for three didn't get the bounce who's going to win the loose ball frazier comes out of the pile gets it to man on the break nice job running the court those two cuts the lead to two and a great pass by j.j frazier now the building alive again as they get back within a bucket not a 13-second difference shot clock and game clock harrison feeling it the three doesn't go this time and man's got the rebound georgia can tie this thing up or have the lead if they play for one and hit it well mark fox just calling a a set they want to get into it with about 12 seconds left high ball screen man's going to be able to engage dakari johnson as the secondary defender time to move now it's down to eights there's one more screen mann has to give it up jurassic might have a shot at the buzzer doesn't got it [Music] well mann didn't get into it early enough but nemmy jurisdict bailed him out the kiss off the glass and jurassic has had a great first half he's the reason that georgia is tied right now with kentucky at the half mom and dad looking out as we go to shannon coach you guys knew you were going to take some dings in this first half what has been the most significant for you guys well they're hurting us in pick and roll we were trying to switch it not sure that's going to work with us in this team but also key play up five one-handed rebound they score we missed they scored love could have been seven grab balls with two hands all those simple things that we've done all year but georgia's playing great they're not backing down they're not afraid it's gonna be a great game thank you coach i think he said it all right there it's gonna be a great game great first half tied at the break 32 apiece kentucky try to stay perfect and go to 30-0 georgia looking for its 20th win of the year and they have held their home court time for the mazda halftime report chris seth and jay are standing by guys kentucky 32. this is only the second time all year that kentucky's been tied at halftime as we take a look at our sonic showdown jake well jurassic was terrific in the first half both he and thornton combined for 22 points they were eight of 13 from the field the rest of the the bulldogs were four of 15 but jurassic really was the key in the first half his ability to step away uh cut off of screens his use of shot fakes getting into the defense and his ability to play in the post inside and out just had a terrific first half 14 points he had three rebounds that shot he made at the end of the half to tie the game bailed george out of a bad possession but george's game plan i think was terrific to pull the big guys away from the basket get them in screen and roll situations involve them in ball screens they executed very well but brad we've talked about it throughout the first half george's guards have to score you know man gains frazier they combined for two of ten i don't think that's going to be enough in the second half they're gonna have to score kentucky had a five-point lead going into the final minute jurassic with that basket at the buzzer tied it up at 32. i mentioned only the second time this year they've been tied at halftime previous time was the first week of december they were tied at 26 apiece with texas they went on to win that one by 12. first meeting this year they beat georgia by 11 at rough arena and now the dogs at home thinking upset so we got a long ways to go tyler euless starting the second half on charles mann i think john calipari wants some defense in this second half because georgia on his 12th field goals had nine assists that's a 75 percent assist rate the assist rate that kentucky gives up is 40 whoa georgia opens up with a three by gaines with the miscommunication on a switch and paulie stein did not get out on kenny gaines and kenny gaines was one of six in that first half that was a big bucket for gaines to try to get started and on one shot georgia matches its biggest lead of the game town's off the window cauley stein great offensive rebounding missed the shot though as we check in with shannon well brad today at practice coach fox reminded his guys to come into this game with full confidence confidence that they could win you really saw that confidence in their eyes as they walked out of the tunnel uh marcus thornton grabbed the guys he talked about poise and poys was something else coach fox mentioned to me he said we played a little amped up in that first half we have to have poised offensively and we have got to set our defense they start off with a three to take the lead let's see what they do their second trip down court man extra pass was one two melee off marcus thornton thornton saying it was off booker so georgia turns it over kentucky played the first i don't know if i've seen a team play first half without turnover didn't have any turnovers in the first half well some of their bad shots should have been counted as turnovers they they took so many contested twos and i thought settled at times but you know brad their big guys have got to start finishing plays around the basket you get the ball within five feet of the basket just because somebody's in front of you still have to score harrison got a three that's aaron harrison his first three of the night and it ties it up for the seventh time tonight along with devin booker aaron harrison's the leading scorer on this kentucky team a streaky shooter he's not shot the ball all that well this year and that's those are shots that are difficult to hit over the kentucky defense but gaines has got to make those we've had 15 lead changes seven ties and harrison got his own miss taking it inside for a second attempt and got it let's see if the basket's good it is [Applause] five straight points for aaron harrison and a foul on kenny paul gino but pat adams running in after the ball went through the basket to call that on geno and i don't know exactly where well he fouled karl-anthony towns that's what it was he just grabbed towns to keep him from going in for an offensive rebound so the basket's going to count and then kentucky's going to get the ball out of bounds underneath so the foul was unrelated to the shot it was on the rebound gino fouling karl anthony towns mangino's sitting down so kentucky takes a two-point lead back to the zone gains out top it's an odd man front three two one two two whatever you want to call it harrison gives it off to towns he'll have to give it back up on the outside of euless and now booker for three [Applause] forte with a rebound [Music] you know we watched kentucky come out and warm up before georgia came out here you and i looked at each other you said they don't look that worried they didn't look worried at all they looked like they were coming out for the start of the game tourists hit great cut to the basket and with the left hand picks up his 16 point they're getting great cuts off those little slice screens kind of a shuffle cut to the basket on ball reversal and kentucky's got to jump to the ball and get in the get in the way of those cutters and put pressure on the ball thornton has just picked up his third foul and that's not good news from our fox you can see as the ball is reversed that's a little shuffle cut slice cut right to the basket and a finish with the left hand and if you don't jump to the ball and bump that cutter and you get an easy run up there you better get great pressure on the ball to take away vision sure about that last file marcus thornton certainly didn't like it nor did mark fox but here's another look that's a lot of ball a lot of ball but you know brad it seems like any time a guy brings his arm down the bias is going to be toward a foul and aaron harrison's really opened things up here with seven points in the first two minutes and 45 seconds so this half so many guys on this kentucky team that can give you offense but the problem is they don't get it consistently and their big guys are going to have to start giving it to them man on a drive rejected by times or what timing by carl anthony towns and harrison gonna go to the free-throw line again whenever there's a blocked shot and kentucky can look to run they can really get an advantage situation and both andrew harrison and aaron harrison have looked to push it up as has devin booker devin booker's done it by running and running the left lane karl anthony towns the best shot blocker on this team knocking that back and that's where you get offense off of defense and it's been all aaron harrison in the second half by the way georgia now the opening three minutes of this half as two of their starters having picked up their third foul and marcus thornton and most recently kenny gaines you know one of the things that shannon spake mentioned about the emotional investment that you make when you're playing against kentucky but the wildcats have so many bodies and they keep coming at you they can wear you down it's like body blows in a prize fight ultimately it's going to catch up to you and you're going to lose your legs here's ben george's biggest weapon here's hit shot a hook shot on the baseline last touch by kentucky pam forte was able to come over the top and knock that away from towns frazier checks in for georgia and again at least he's in there when euless is as well those two virtually the same size here they are matched up against one another that makes it a fair fight yeah he is yet to score frazier he has now just a little ball screen and the floor opened up wide for jj frazier nobody came over to block or challenge that shot towns really threw a shoulder in and scores in close and you get that low post position karl-anthony towns is gonna score get fouled or both just about every time you got it you got to make a a kentucky big guy catch it off the block if they catch it in the lane they're going to have a great opportunity to score duress that scores and a foul that seemed like that should have been a good basket but the referees had that on the floor those are the kind of continuations that you really feel like you should see you know fake handoff face up [Applause] and looked like they said they got it right away i i thought it was after he went up but apparently they blew it on the floor yeah they blew it on the floor all right [Applause] four minutes in and kentucky by four [Applause] georgia again with marcus thornton on the bench keynes is the guy that's got a he's got to do something out there he's a good player but he has struggled against kentucky that's an offensive foul and so jurassic pixar i think they called it on towns but that's an offensive foul they just didn't call it that way carl anthony towns got that foul but boy when he gets good low post position with two feet in the paint forget it he's gonna score [Music] the sec on esp edwards stegman coliseum in athens georgia kentucky leads by 4 43-39 brad nessler jay billis shannon's fake and j bill has taken us inside the play brought to you by continental tire well here's an example of georgia putting the big guys of kentucky into a ball screen jurassic setting a ball screen there's a switch and not great communication between booker and willie cauley stein but even if you make a mistake on a switch you got to play through it paulie stein came off of kenny gaines kennedy's knocked it down and gaines has struggled against kentucky in the two games now that george has played against kentucky gaines now a combined four of 21. and he's gonna have to he's gonna have to get some points in this thing if george is gonna want to win he's too good of a player to be limited in this way even though kentucky is just a superior defensive team to really anything in college basketball he's got to figure out a way to score before that break in the action i said the foul was on jurassic which i thought it was in an offensive file they called it on towns instead so georgia with a ball and jurassic with the three-pointer that's off the mark how about that challenge by willie cauley stein you were right by the way it was an offensive foul that wasn't called that was a clear chicken wing offensive foul takari johnson what a drop step missed with a left hand and ball comes out frazier on the run another one where kentucky doesn't finish georgia does a good job of staying between the wildcat big guy johnson and the basket and making him finish over them and he can't do it mayton trying to get around those long arms cauley stein and that man and a runner on the baseline charles mann that's charles mann's game he's a a driver first and does a great job of getting to the free-throw line it shoots about six seven free throws a game hasn't been there yet but he needs to continue to attack last game he didn't get to the free throw out either that's the first time in 88 games that he hasn't made it to the strike and as jay said haven't been there tonight either harrison aaron missed the shot rebound and the dish to carly stein and he missed him close and george has got a chance to tie it again why wouldn't he just go up on the same side and force georgia to block that shot of foul i mean he had no chance to get that to the other side of the rim that's a foul there by cauley stein got away with it frazier three-pointer rimmed out without a 14 minutes kentucky trying to go to 30-0 leading by two boy with as poorly as kentucky has played on offense it's remarkable they've got the lead absolutely remarkable there's their first official turnover as jay said earlier some of the shots they took could have been considered turnovers but that's the first one officially in the book georgia has played that 3-2 zone the odd man front and kentucky really hasn't penetrated it off the dribble i think they can get into the middle of it and make a play but they haven't done it and thornton too high for frasier georgia gives it right back they can't afford those unforced errors george's eighth turnover of the game and mark fox asking for some help from the fans and he gets it he knows that his team has worked hard to have an opportunity and there's a long way to go in this one almost 14 minutes to go a little horn set against the zone kind of such a pick for euler's he lets fly not even closer to a three-pointer euless has really struggled from the perimeter and he's gotten some open looks he's a much better shooter than he has shown here in athens now again frazier's lined up with one of the harrisons thornton with three fouls got it inside tie game or a little flex cut then a duck in and the drive by thornton that was excellent offense by georgia and now mark fox doesn't have to ask for noise [Applause] 43-43 aaron harrison out of control underneath frazier three on two gaines with him up under in georgia lead [Applause] georgia at home leading 45-43 their head coach park cheerleader urging the fans on and his dogs have responded thornton hits the deck as he hits the window and then following a poor shot on one end kenny gaines up under and in and georgia leads 45-43 with the body control of kenny gaines and georgia out rebounding the much bigger and more athletic kentucky wildcats in this game george has been finishing plays in kentucky i'm sure that's what john calipari is telling his group shannon was over there oh yeah brad actually he's telling his group something we've heard all season this is good for us he said right now we are going to find out what we need in this team they open up out of a break with a hook shot that towns missed and frazier just pushing his teammate forte up the court you know kentucky went to that little stack play where they just screen in and the low man comes in to the middle and they got the shot they wanted they're just not making them you get the ball within six seven feet of the basket you gotta score and kentucky is just not doing it booker with a hand check foul [Applause] kentucky's only down a bucket here with over 12 minutes to go in regulation but you know that georgia wants to continue to spread the wildcats out make the big guys come out on the floor and guard only kentucky's third team foul of the half at the 12-minute mark another ball screen to engage karl-anthony towns gaines got loose on the baseline and the big guys are out on the perimeter trying to guard ball screens that's going to open up drives and george's ability to attack the rim booker at three long three doesn't go for the rebound dogs with their biggest lead at the 11 and a half minute mark boy this is a big possession for georgia if they can get another bucket here and get a little bit of separation they can put some real game pressure on kentucky there's the switch thornton on with aaron harrison on him patch down to forte look too strong but forte got a hand on it and now matin somehow comes out of the pile with it frazier deep ball got it took it from the oconee county line and knocked it in who is that masked man you said if georgia scored they put some heat on kentucky an 11-0 run by the dogs including this from jj frazier well he is right by the hash mark i think mark fox was thinking i don't know about that oh great shot they don't come much deeper than that one [Music] that was way outside the nba line speaking of which doubleheader tomorrow night starts at 7 30 with the nba countdown brought to you by kia and then the heat in the lakers get together at eight at 10 30 it's the clippers and the trailblazers nba on espn tomorrow night [Music] j.j frazier that was reminiscent of mississippi state when he hit seven out of seven for 37 points a career high that's only his second field goal of the night but he brought the house down and it brought a timeout from kentucky is sticking with that zone good job to get the ball inside you know booker had a shot out of that corner the corners are going to be open because the big guys in the bottom of that zone have to cover the corners but that means if you throw out you're going to be able to look inside because they're not going to be able to recover at least theoretically shouldn't be able to recover man working against towns stops in the lane dishes it off to thornton underneath that was a pretty play by charles mann drive draw the big guys and then drop it off harrison had a moment forte got out on him and now the hook shot goes by towns again that's his move in the lane he's got a lot of game down low a little turn around jumper got the jump hook and he can power his way to the basket and kentucky's got to continue to go inside to play inside out we've only got a half of a half to go and georgia leads by five forte up off the window his first basket kentucky's got to do a better job of guarding those ball screens because georgia is getting all the way into the lane not getting a direct line to the bucket but the finishing plays when kentucky is not 9 35 to go do you believe this shot j.j frazier a little more high percentage shot by gaines on the baseline drive and the dogs lead by seven [Music] brad jay and shannon if they can hear me thanks chris we got you villanova considered according to joe lenati a number one seed you buying that jay yeah for now i mean obviously this is subject to change joe's predicting what the committee will do and predicting what they would do right now but wisconsin i think in arizona both still alive for a number one seed going down the stretch if wisconsin can win the big ten tournament they've already won the big ten outright same thing with arizona they won the pac-12 outright and if they win the tournament i think they both make a pretty darn good case of course gonzaga lost over the weekend and as you said to me earlier their margin for error is zilch 2-3 zone right now from kentucky because they cannot keep georgia out of the lane they're getting ball screened to death georgia was six for six and their last six shots before those two missing but then a tip in i think they give it the forte where was it well maiden was there but dante maiden kept that ball alive if he doesn't keep it alive there's no way that georgia has a chance for that offensive rebound george is sticking with this zone and kentucky has been unable to solve it they give that basket to maten and the lead again now stretches to nine and just got cut to six by andrew harrison andrew harrison has shot the ball very well in this game remember he had 23 at rough against georgia he must like seeing the bulldogs at the man-to-man now for kentucky [Applause] jurassic with 16 points in this game to leave georgia 10 on the shot clock sets a pick for man he's going to try to take it inside and threw it away or dribbled it away i should say and now kentucky has to take a time out with a guy in the deck that's either that's either a foul or a walk he fell down without dribbling you fall down that's a walk i mean i thought he was fouled all right watch this all right he's not dribbling all right he gets hit and he goes down to the floor that is a walk you are not allowed to fall down with with possession of the ball you fall down anytime you want as i've proven but that's that's either a walk or a foul the collision was with man and then jurassic came over to just try to get a jump ball because he didn't know whether or not there's been a timeout called and a timeout was called by kentucky and they're down to one don't forget saturday's showcase presented by five hour energy part of the journey to the attorney presented by sonic in kansas and oklahoma jayhawks have won 11 straight conference titles unbelievable you're talking about all the great coaches kansas has had they just keep rotating over the years over decades kansas has had eight coaches in its long and storied history you know the guy that invented the game which is kind of no small feat james naismith fog allen who's in the the hall of fame and then they've they've had three straight coaches that are hall of famers larry brown roy williams and bill self will be in the hall of fame and that 11 in a row is one of the most remarkable streaks in the history of college basketball nice follow off the miss of lee by carl anthony towns he's got 10 for the game now kentucky trying to put on some full court pressure lee in the game he'll be he's guarding jurisdic [Applause] [Music] [Applause] james gives it up to jurassic frazier turns fires came up short way short and now kentucky's got a chance to cut get down to two and it is valley nice feed inside marcus lee slams at home george's nine point leads evaporated to a deuce that is so hard to defend you drive in if you give the least bit of help kentucky's big guys are going to the rim and they are pitching that ball up there you cannot come off the kentucky big guys here is it she's going to be bumped by marcus lee [Applause] and the 15th foul on kentucky as we break it here with 6 55 remaining georgia trying to cling to an upset leading by two [Music] espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is presented by cree led lighting and in part by the mazda cx-5 and the new taco bell app millions of combinations what will you [Music] make [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and the cats dodge another bullet in double overtime towns will take it and he'll knock it [Music] [Applause] down [Applause] and kentucky has survived so those were the close calls ole miss and texas a m back-to-back overtimes the game jake called at florida and the lsu game that we had for you on super tuesday and it's hard to be perfect that's that guy bill belichick in the house tonight his team undefeated before they ran into the giants and lost the super bowl belichick even wears hoodies to basketball games gaines up high and got it they are dominating the paint and not just throwing it into the post they have spread the floor they're getting into side pick and roll action and georgia is getting into the lane almost at will that's 36 points in the paint for the bulldogs here's townes and he has been the man in the second half it moves like that 10 of the half 12 in the game well towns has been spectacular of late he was 20 of his last 23 field goals coming into this game and in this one he is now 7 out of 10 for 14 points [Applause] george's game plan has been spectacular just putting kentucky's big guys in positions to have to guard out on the floor that's not that's a foul yeah he threw one too many shoulders and this time thornton hits the deck and he goes the other way now was that a little bit of a flop yes but that with that lowered shoulder and i think that's the fourth foul on karl anthony town it is when he caught the ball just dropped that shoulder and even though that's not enough force to knock down a guy as strong when he put that arm out just an automatic call might have gotten away with the shoulder but not the elbow and the forearm exactly and he sits with four georgia leads by four and that's a big part of their low post offense the only part of their low post offense that's been finishing in this game and with that thornton goes up against hikari johnson and carly stein knocks it out of bounds but the foul is on johnson well that was a tough one because johnson was backing up and thornton was going right into his chest i don't know what he could have done there other than just wave a red cape and say olay marcus thornton playing in his 129th game for the bulldogs which ties a school record when he plays at auburn on saturday he'll break that map and he's done a nice job in this game that's his 13th point five of eight from the field in this one another one of those guys has gotten better every year much like juris hitch yeah played with injuries and he's such a good defender you guard multiple positions and an excellent rebounder and a pretty good free throw shooter tonight three or four from the line the lead goes back to a half dozen for georgia with 5 30 to play you know you thought that george's guards had to perform at a high level in order to beat kentucky but really it's been the big guys that have played extraordinarily well thornton jurassic even yantai maidens come in and done an excellent job they backed off andrew harrison which they should never do but he missed the three and thornton's got the rebound georgia with a six-point lead can make it eight or nine with under five minutes to go in regulation there's another big possession for the bulldogs [Applause] they are really spreading out kentucky man against andrew harrison had it taken away from him by cauley stein and now the outlet aaron harrison and he's got a chance for a three-point play boy what a turnaround there a chance to go up eight or nine for georgia and they give up a layup and a potential and one little spin move by charles mann and kentucky has been very effective at conversion they get the ball down court quickly and gaines with really kind of a needless foul there if you're going to foul you got to keep them from scoring [Applause] so aaron harrison going to the free-throw line where he's four for four tonight [Applause] 11 of his 13 points have come in this half kentucky shooting under 40 percent in the second half what a rebound oh paulie stein can't ever let that happen on a missed free throw boy that's a four point play and a really a six or seven point turnaround [Applause] now to four and a half to go or that crowd that was a huge exchange right there sure was here's man being harassed by euless and a little bit too much harassment this one drives coaches crazy doesn't it jay it's just free yeah it's just a tough out to get you know thornton gives up control and then when dakari johnson comes across a lot of times that second slot will cross and guys bump into each other and you can get around those are the kind of plays that a lot of teams run on a free-throw blockout but you're right you got to get you got to get right into your man and thornton didn't do that from the very beginning and that's what set that up for kentucky man's first trip to the free-throw line we mentioned in the win over missouri's the first time in 88 games that he hadn't been to the stripe and it took him all the way to 422 tonight to get there in this one and he missed it the man's done a nice job in this game especially giving the ball up because he's had what six or seven assists in the ball game a couple of turnovers but he hasn't scored at the same rate as he did last year but he's really had some excellent games chance for kentucky to give us our 10th tie of the night or they could lead with a three aaron harrison through gains got it we're tied for the 10th time at 62. aaron harrison has really improved that mid-range game that shot fake got gaines off balance and smart move by gaines not the foul but that was a tough take and make off the glass from aaron harrison great move now georgia needs to answer as we approach three and a half to go for a little screen for the screener if gaines had come off that right away he had a shot now he's in traffic and he's tied up the ball's ripped out and the foul is going to be on games i believe it is and mark fox is saying how does that happen aaron harrison went after that ball with two hands instead of slapping at it he went to grab it and was able to take that ball away from gaines mark fox complaining that there was a foul but i don't think there was 17 lead changes 10 ties in the ball game this is a look at the last play as we go to timeout even at 62. super tuesday has been such 10 ties in the ball game 325 to go jay and i have been talking about george's backcourt coming through they do have 16 points in this half but it's been their big guys that have carried the load so far this game well jurassic thornton and mayton have combined for 40 points 17 rebounds and four block shots there's maiden going up for a second chance opportunity and getting it in at juror 6 with 18 points has been magnificent in this game with his ability to play inside and out and georgia brad has shot 51 in the game and kentucky has shot 39 but still it's a tie game in large measure because kentucky is scoring off of georgia's turnovers georgia has 11 turnovers to kentucky's four and the wildcats have put up 15 points off those 11 turnovers there's towns playing with four fouls gaines almost able to jump that handoff and take it the other way three minutes to play 10 on the shot clock towns got his man in the air goes inside doesn't get it but the second try is good how about that with four fouls off that horn set they throw back shot fake drive and then he gets his own miss and now he's got an n1 that's a terrific job by carl anthony towns and thornton should have taken that charge or tried to block that shot he just backed away there maybe because he was in the charge circle but just too easy for karl anthony towns to get to the rims it's a great drive by towns jay that's kentucky's first lead in 12 minutes exactly and to have played what i consider to be so poorly on the offensive end i mean you have to think what more can georgia do they're shooting 50 from the field you know 11 turnovers is certainly not a good thing but it's not a killer and yet kentucky still got a three-point lead going down the stretch with under three minutes to go in regulation kentucky was down 56-47 by nine as you see there in the graphic and now it's kentucky in front by three [Applause] that was a that was a it was a carry on that was on his hip games the pass underneath and a blocking foul is going to be on aaron [Applause] harrison this is kenny gaines first trip as well to the free throw out [Music] [Applause] so lyles goes out and towns comes right back in [Applause] and again carl anthony towns playing with four fouls and he has been almost well without that the biggest cat in the second half along with aaron harris and georgia not helping themselves from the free-throw line you got to think that kentucky's going to look to get the ball inside here george is going man-to-man now that's with matin on towns freshman on freshman euless leaves it for towns oh just a beautiful play curling off the towns and towns just diving to the basket and being found by euless with an excellent pass and now with just under two minutes to go kentucky has matched its biggest lead that they had in the first half up by five gaines tough shot rebound euless kentucky now just that close to being 30-0 gaines really i thought settled there didn't put kentucky in a position to foul calipari calling a set right now andrew harrison with the ball out top andrew harrison good decision brings it back out now with seven on the shot clock he works against man throws one up there i think he's looking for help from one of the big guys underneath and it goes harmlessly out of bounds turnover kentucky calipari called the play there i don't think that kentucky ran it anywhere near the way that he expected early on and then i think you're right i think that's exactly what andrew harrison was doing he's throwing that ball up for a lob but that's where he just needs to take that shot himself i think this is a vital scoring possession for georgia down by five with a minute to go [Applause] there's a wide open fraser but he hit the side of the backboard they ran a little hammer action there and that you got to make that shot he's wide open and after hitting one from about 27 feet away he missed an open one on the baseline saturday 6 30 acc showdown virginia and louisville get together and then at nine the greatest rivalry in college basketball duke won an overtime thriller back on february 18th and that'll be the deemed on the site for the rematch duke north carolina dan and jay will be there to bring it to you [Applause] and while this one doesn't have the luster of duke in north carolina this is the 145th time that these two teams kentucky and georgia have gotten together and it looks like kentucky's going to find a way to pull out another one got a really good free throw shooter at the line this team to this kentucky team brad just they answer the bell it doesn't matter whether they play well they play poorly they find ways to win they keep plugging you know we said at halftime you know they they didn't look bothered at all by the fact it was a tie game and that they hadn't played particularly well they've got ultimate confidence that they're going to make the plays necessary to win now georgia's got to score and score in a hurry man fouled before he got to the basket [Music] it'll be on euless kentucky would tie the second longest win streak in sec history this is already the longest streak to start a season that longer one was 32 games and it went over the course of more than one season georgia was trying to get its 20th win and get double-digit sec wins back-to-back years they already have that at ten to six but try to stay in that hunt for one of the top four seeds in the tournament in nashville starting a week from tomorrow that's vital for a lot of those teams because you get a double bond you don't play till friday kentucky we already knew didn't have to play till friday yeah they don't have to worry about getting a double buy nor do they have to worry about a number one seed in the ncaa tournament no matter what happens including tonight on into the sec tournament this team's gonna have a number one seed if this stays the way it is jay six point lead right now for kentucky 45 seconds to go i thought mark fox's game plan and george's game plan was sensation i i do too i think it was an excellent game plan that georgia did so many good things to put themselves in a position to win but you have to you have to take your hat off to kentucky you know the kentucky team didn't play well in the offensive end they didn't finish plays but they kept plugging right and this is a team that i don't know what we want for people that don't like kentucky that's fine that's a matter of taste that's okay with me but what do we want in a college team you know this team sacrifices they share the ball they play their tails off on defense you know it's not like they only try to do it on offense and you know we say we don't like the one and done culture they have guys that come they had six guys that came back two of whom came back twice there's a lot to admire with the way this kentucky team plays and goes about its business i agree 100 percent charles mann at the free throw out georgia's on a scoring drought of almost five minutes you can't do that while kentucky's going 12 straight points and it continues is another missed free throw and that's desperation time georgia trying to foul somebody that isn't a 79 free throw shooter and they do get a steal [Applause] there was an awful lot of contact there [Applause] boy i don't know if that's not that looked like a foul to me but it'll be looks like it's kentucky ball with georgia stepping out of bounds there so kentucky has to be strong with the ball it's a two possession game and if they're strong with the ball and inbound it they're gonna be shooting free throws and they're taking a look at the shot clock too i think 33.8 is what we have going um that's the third time georgia has stepped out of bounds within four feet of that same spot i think they should avoid that part of the court i think it was frasier every time to be honest with you yeah it was 33.8 away from 30-0 for kentucky right both the harrison brothers andrew and eric aaron harrison did a solid job in this second half andrew harrison has started to play some of his best basketball and when he's in attack mode and playing downhill getting into the lane he's a really good player and he's been really good in this one at times as has aaron harrison those guys made some plays when everybody except karl-anthony towns did not have one of his better games after coming into this one averaging 18 over his last two [Music] georgia missed three front ends of one and ones here in the waiting moments [Music] and i think pat adams is warning mark fox they're trying to pull both coaches back to their respective coaching boxes and it's a hard sell right now you can tell by the look on mark's face and in the meantime john calipari tried to bring his team over for a mini timeout and doug sermons broke that up so now there is going to be a timeout taken by kentucky and that's their last one they just couldn't get the ball in georgia did a nice job of five guys playing all out for five seconds well you talk about closing out kentucky scored 12 points in the last four minutes georgia has scored any boy really amazing i mean when kentucky needs to get it done they get it done yeah and they've had opportunities like you know about record are saying i don't think this team is unbeatable i can't remember an unbeatable team in college basketball you'd have to go back to the ucla teams of the late 60s and early 70s to get really unbeatable i mean indiana in 76 the last unbeaten team in college basketball i think even bob knight would say look we could have been beaten right but they they answered every call this kentucky team is similar you may be able to find a number of teams in the last you know 30 plus years that have been as good as kentucky but every time they've been challenged they found a way at texas a m at lsu when they had shots to beat them kentucky answers the bell and wins and they're based now their chances through the regular season through the sec tournament of nashville and through the ncaa tournament obviously they go down you know what's funny i was doing a kentucky game in lexington when they were 21-0 and following the game one of their fans came up and said hey brian only 19 more they had they hadn't counted down at that time if you go 40-0 you win the whole shebang well when we were in the bahamas watching kentucky play in august yeah that's people were coming up cat fans were coming up and saying what do you think j40 no i think jesus a little early let's wait till we get to september to start making those proclamations but you know what they were right now they're going to be just 10 away here in 33 seconds or so it appears foul is on kenny gaines and that's going to do it for him and he had a good second half ends up with 11 points in filing out carl anthony towns stepping into the free throw line at 6 11 and just a freshman from new jersey where he went to st joseph high school same high school that produced jay williams who's sitting in the studio with our seth greenberg but he's a he's a near 80 free throw shooter so you foul him he can have a seven footer in the game that can step the line and knock big free throws down he and devin booker are both finalists for the weyman tisdale award which goes to the top freshman in the country and certainly would be hard to say that there's too many guys better than this guy okafor duke and a couple others but [Applause] he's had a huge game 15 points 13. 18 points and seven rebounds tonight he just continues to play at a really high level in a variety of different areas you know okafor may be a more dominant low post player than karl anthony towns i don't think he's as versatile and he's not quite as good of a shot blocker man through traffic they could have used a few more of those a little bit earlier and now the inbounds andrew harrison they're going to foul him with 27 seconds to go [Applause] karl-anthony towns came into this ball game he has had six double-doubles on the season including four out of his last seven games coming into this one and he's really an outstanding low post player he can go over either shoulder he's mobile he can step away you get him in the middle of the floor he can knock down a shot the three-point range you can also put the ball on the deck and he's hit some big shots in key situations that that jumper he hit against lsu in baton rouge as big a shot as you're going to find by anybody echols with a three jerusach had a hand on it and it's going to be out of bounds to georgia still a two possession game with 15.6 [Applause] they need a quick basket preferably a three right here kentucky's got to guard that three-point line can't go for any shot bags thornton will throw it up there he might be one of their last resorts from three-point land though he did hit one in the first half [Applause] there was a little bit of contact on thornton there on that shot just not enough to call it and kentucky putting george at the line and extending this game and that's going to do it for towns he's going to file out matching his season high with 19 points [Applause] well take a look here when thornton puts up this shot there was a little bit of a little bit of contact well there's not much of a foul there it's just like it was on towns for being bigger story might be bigger sorry my wingspan seven three and a quarter [Music] [Applause] i understand florida's beating texas a m tonight florida's where florida goes to lexington to wrap up the regular season on saturday right now kentucky is a box out and or an inbounds play a clean inbounds from salting this thing away j.j frazier the fourth best free-throw shooter in the conference [Applause] maybe without the mask you know you have to think brad that getting worn down throughout the course of this game has been a factor for georgia because some of their shots have come up short and there's such a physical and emotional investment in this game and kentucky comes at you in waves and i do think teams get worn down especially shooters it's kind of rick pitino's thing to get into get into a shooter's legs and as frazier missed him both he walked down the other way and now fans start filing out but it was a packed house at steadman coliseum tonight and of course some of them came to see an undefeated team and a lot of kentucky fans got in here [Applause] and they give georgia one last chant tonight while the kentucky fans are going go big blue everybody talking at the same time right now it's amazing isn't it amazing how many kentucky fans come on the road yeah and find their way into opponents buildings it's remarkable they're like locusts i'm glad you they're everywhere no i mean that is a compliment they know that big blue nation knows that and ashley judd will go home happy tonight georgia not so much frasier another long three that's probably going to be the last shot of the game brian you know brad georgia played well they did a mark fox's game plan was excellent they did a really good job but boy it takes a lot it is going to take a a tremendous effort to beat kentucky they're that deep and that talented so a half second to go they take out an emmy jurassic because it's senior night and he gets a standing ovation from the crowd that remains marcus thornton coming out as well so mark fox takes out his seniors their last time that they'll set foot on stegman coliseum floor in a competitive game and boy they gave kentucky as much competition as they wanted but kentucky remains perfect it's now 17-0 in conference play it's a perfect 30-0 to start the season they win it 72-64. sportscenter coming up next john bucher-gross and jay harris are along with you good night from athens all right guys thank you very much it was georgia was on the way and now 32 30

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Id: ejmz6qbziiE

Length: 103min 3sec (6183 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 05 2020