There’s a lot of positivity both locally and nationally after Kentucky Basketball put up a valiant effort against SEC-leading Florida Saturday in Gainesville.
If the Wildcats can play that hard in each of their six remaining regular-season games, they have a shot to win out. That would definitely put them in the top four of the SEC standings going into the SEC Tournament.
That said, there needs to be a one-game-at-a-time mantra these next three weeks. There are still a lot of tough games on Kentucky’s schedule, including Tuesday night against Georgia. No team and game can be overlooked.
The Bulldogs can score at a high clip and rebound. Like Florida, they don’t shoot the ball well from three-point range, but they move the ball well and shoot the ball well from the field overall.
All five primary starters shoot at least 43 percent from the floor and average at least 7.1 points per game. Their first guy off the bench is their third-leading scorer at 12 points per game.
This is a good Georgia team that knows it needs a win Tuesday night to boost its chances at making the NCAA Tournament.
Let’s take a deeper look at Georgia, players to watch, and keys to the game Tuesday night.
Players to watch on Georgia
1. No. 5: Jeremiah Wilkinson — 6-1, 185 lbs. So. Guard; POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. (California Transfer)
Stats: 17.1 pts, 2 rebs/gm., 41 stl, 41.9 FG%, 33.9 3-PT FG%, 77.6 FT%, 25.6 mpg
Wilkinson is a scoring beast, with eight games scoring 20+ points and two games scoring 30+ points. In addition, Wilkinson also has eight games with three or more steals. Don’t underestimate his ability to shoot from three-point range, either. Nine times this season, Wilkinson has made at least three three-pointers, and six times he’s made at least four three-pointers.
In his freshman season at California, Wilkinson was named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year and to the ACC All-Rookie Team. He was Cal’s leading scorer in ACC play and second-leading scorer overall on the season. Among all freshmen, Wilkinson was second in the ACC and 12th in the country in scoring.
2. No. 0: Blue Cain — 6-5, 195 lbs. Jr. Guard; KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Stats: 13.6 pts, 5.3 rebs, 46.4 FG%, 27.9 3-PT FG%, 89.4 FT%, 27.6 mpg
A third-year player with the Bulldogs, Cain is a really good scorer and rebounder. Cain has three games with 20+ points this season, and he has two double-doubles this season. He also has an additional game with 10+ rebounds.
Cain comes from a family of athletes. His dad, Chris, played golf at Duke from 1988-91; his mom, Myriah (Lonergan), played basketball at George Washington from 1992-96 and is in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame; and his sister, Sophie, was a setter on the volleyball team at Appalachian State from 2020-23.
3. No. 6: Kanon Catchings — 6-9, 220 lbs. So. Forward; BROWNSBURG, Ind. (BUY Transfer)
Stats: 10.8 pts, 4.9 rebs, 42.1 FG%, 34.6 3-PT FG%, 64.2 FT%, 22.9 mpg
Catchings chose to stay at BYU last year after Mark Pope left to become Kentucky’s head coach. Playing on a team that made the Sweet 16, Catchings averaged 7.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 17.4 minutes of playing time per outing and ranked second on the team with .4 blocks per game.
This is a player whose family is rich in basketball. Most notably, Kanon is the nephew of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings. Tamika was a 2012 WNBA Champion with the Indiana Fever, in addition to winning Finals MVP that year and WNBA MVP in 2011. She was a 10-time All-Star and five-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, leading the league in steals eight times and making First-Team All-Defense 10 times. In college, Tamika was a star at Tennessee, earning National Player of the Year honors from the AP, Naismith, USBWA, and WBCA. Tennessee won the 1998 National Championship.
In addition, Kanon’s mother, Tauja, was a first-team All-Big Ten player at Illinois who was selected by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2000 WNBA Draft. Kanon’s grandfather, Harvey, played 11 seasons in the NBA with the 76ers, Nets, Bucks, and Clippers, compiling 2,335 points, 3,639 rebounds, and 1,226 blocks in 725 career games.
4. No. 2: Somtochukwu “Somto” Cyril — 6-11, 260 lbs. So. Center; ENUGU, Nigeria
Stats: 9.5 pts, 5.5 rebs, 63 blk, 74.8 FG%, 56.4 FT%, 21 mpg
Cyril is going to be a handful on Tuesday. He’s a beast in the frontcourt, and Kentucky is going to have to have a plan for him.
Shot blocking is Cyril’s calling card. He has 16 games with multiple blocks, 12 games with three, five with four, two with six, and one with eight. That’s how good he is. In addition, he has two double-doubles and nine games with a perfect field goal percentage.
Make Cyril work. That’s what Kentucky is going to have to do. He may not be as notable a player in the SEC as Rueben Chinyelu or Nate Ament, but he’s the most efficient player in the SEC. That’s what makes him imposing.
5. No. 3: Jordan Ross — 6-3, 195 lbs. Jr. Guard; PLEASANT GROVE, Ga. (Saint Mary’s Transfer)
Stats: 7.1 pts, 2.8 rebs, 43% FG, 30.8 3-PT FG%, 77.8 FT%, 21.2 mpg
Ross is a veteran player from Saint Mary’s, playing on two NCAA Tournament teams and two West Coast Conference regular-season title teams. Last year, Ross started all 35 games for the Gaels, averaging 8.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 26.5 minutes of action per game. He led the Gaels in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.33 and would have ranked No. 6 nationally in assist-to-TO ratio but fell 15 assists shy of the 3.0 apg standard to qualify for national leaders. Ross had 15 points on 6-11 shooting in a win over Vanderbilt in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
This season, Ross has eight double-digit scoring games.
6. No. 4: Marcus “Smurf” Millender — 5-11, 175 lbs. Jr. Guard; HOUSTON (UT-San Antonio Transfer)
Stats: 12 pts/gm., 2.8 rebs, 92 ast.-47 TO, 46% FG, 37.3 3-PT FG%, 84.7 FT%, 25.2 mpg
Millender started his first game for Georgia this Saturday at Oklahoma, scoring 16 points and dishing out five assists. He’s scored in double figures 16 times this season and 13 games with multiple three-pointers.
What Millender is doing this season shouldn’t be a surprise. Last year at UTSA, Millender averaged 14.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a team-high 1.7 steals in 34.5 minutes per game. Millender also shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Head Coach: Mike White (4th Season, 73-54; 14th Season Overall; 316-182) — 48 years old
Mike White comes from an athletic family, and he has had a successful head coaching career himself. The brother of current Tennessee Director of Athletics Danny White and current Florida Atlantic Director of Athletics Brian White, Mike’s dad, Kevin, was Duke’s Director of Athletics from 2008 to 2021, and his wife, Kira, is a former All-SEC volleyball player at Ole Miss.
A four-year starter at Ole Miss, a program that went to three NCAA Tournaments when White was there, White was later an assistant at Ole Miss before his first head coaching stint at Louisiana Tech. He spent three seasons there before becoming the head coach at Florida, taking over for Billy Donovan.
In seven seasons at Florida, White led the Gators to four NCAA Tournaments. The Gators went to the Elite Eight in 2017, with Chris Chiozza hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime in the Sweet 16. Florida was also led by SEC Sixth Man of the Year Canyon Barry, the grandson of Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry.
White has won Conference Coach of the Year honors in three different conferences, including the SEC in 2017.
1. Make the lay-ups. Make the easy shots.
Kentucky has adopted the “Cardiac Cats” mentality this season. But that doesn’t mean they have to make it hard on themselves by missing 15 of 23 layups against Florida. Make at least 90 percent of your layups and shots right at the rim to give yourselves a greater margin for error if you do fall behind by double-digits early.
2. Three-point shooting and defense
The Wildcats have improved significantly at shooting from three-point range. Next up is defending from three-point range. Over their last five games, opponents are shooting 42-121 from three-point range. That’s 34.7 percent. It’s not a high number, but it’s still notable. Three teams have made 10 or more three-pointers in Kentucky’s last five games. Not to mention, Tennessee was 8-15 in the first half of the game on February 7th.
Kentucky has to be better at defending three-point shooting. It’s the great equalizer and a difference maker if teams can make three-point shots, especially this time of year.
Kentucky’s effort on the boards was good overall on Saturday against Florida. Georgia isn’t quite at that level on rebounding, so this is a game where the Wildcats need to impose their will on the boards.
4. Taking care of the ball
Georgia opponents average 14.6 turnovers per game. Playing at home, Kentucky must take care of the ball and limit the turnovers. Stay under 10, and that should be part of a winning formula for the Wildcats.
Score Prediction: Wildcats 87, Bulldogs 84
I think this game is going to be very close. Georgia has players who can create matchup problems for Kentucky, especially Somto Cyril. It will also be very interesting to see how Kentucky responds after a loss on Saturday that many people are viewing as one with still a lot of positives.
Georgia can score, and I think that will make Kentucky have to work down the stretch to hold off a feisty Bulldogs team. Kentucky will win this game, but it will be a 40-minute battle Tuesday night.