[Old School Hound]

There are two teams in the SEC that I think are much better than what they are getting credit for nationally-- Mississippi State and Georgia.

Mississippi State is starting to get their flowers. Georgia isn't. As someone who watches random games and would like to think he keeps up with teams more than the average fan, I'll tell you that we should be wary of this one. Not saying we won't be favored in Stegman, just saying that this one will probably be a tough game and that the 'Dawgs are better than people probably think. Maybe I'm hyping them up too much-- they lost to Marquette by 11, lost to an Ole Miss team that's probably a little untested/overrated right now, and beat St. John's when Pitino had them coming off a tough stretch of games, but I see this as a test given how no one is talking about them and how it's sandwiched in-between the Florida and Mississippi State games.


As for Georgia, you'll see a trend of Florida and Georgia talent on Mike White's squad. If I don't mention that the player's from Florida, then they're from Georgia (sans Somto Cyril).

Asa Newell is the team's leading scorer. The Floridian prepped at Montverde and was #13 in ESPN's Top 100 last season. He goes 6'11 and averages just over 15 points and just under 7 rebounds per game. He's leads the team in points & rebounds; he's also very consistent-- he's had one game with 9 points and two with 20 and 26, but every other effort has been between 12 and 18 points. If he gets Williams in foul trouble, it could be a long night for Kentucky. Not that rankings are the only thing that matter, but I'd have to think that he'll be the highest rated player on the floor in terms of where everyone was coming out of high school and that it won't really be close.

Somto Cyril is a name that Kentucky fans will be familiar with. He's played in every game and a player with those types of recruiting accolades is obviously going to be important for a school like Georgia. But I don't think he's really anything for them that we wouldn't have thought he'd be at Kentucky. He's played in every game but averages almost as many fouls per as points. He does get about 4-5 rebounds and a couple of blocks in ~15 minutes per game though. No one is going to confuse Kentucky with a team of physical bangers, so refer back to what I said about Amari getting in foul trouble and think about the trouble Carr has keeping a load like this off the glass.

Dakota Lefffew is a 6'5, 190 lb. Georgia native who also transferred in from Mount St. Mary's. He's a super-Senior who averaged 17 per in a First Team All-MAAC season in '24. He's averaging 12 per for Georgia and should lead the team in three point attempts this season.

De'Shayne Montgomery was ineligible for the first part of the season after coming over from Mount St. Mary's. Another Florida native, he sat out the Fall-Winter semester and has played in four games so far this season. He goes 6'5, 190 and averaged over 13 points and shot over 40% from three on a couple of attempts per game last season.

Tyrin Lawrence is another super Senior. He spent the past four seasons at Vanderbilt and will play starter's minutes, but his results are all over the board. He, along with returning Junior Silas Demary Jr., and returning Junior shooter Blue Cain are a handful of guards in the 6'4, 180 range that will see a lot of minutes. 

RJ Godfrey is a 6'8, 240 lb. forward who spent the past two seasons at Clemson and gives most of his contributions in the rebounding and defensive areas. Expect Kentucky to try to attack him. No cares about putting him on the line, as he's a sub-67% free throw shooter for his career. 



Keys to the Game:

- Don't start slow. This is asking a lot of this team and I trust in Pope to make adjustments, but we're going to be playing at Georgia and their students have had almost a full week to lick their wounds from their loss in the CFP. If we start slow, the crowd gets into the game and can carry them. Tennessee and Auburn may be ranked higher, but they don't have the tradition that Kentucky has and their fans will treat it that way. Coming out hot and not letting the arena get loud would be huge.

- Probably stating the obvious here, but keeping Asa Newell in check is going to be huge. I'd expect that Williams gets the draw and that we'll hope he stays out of foul trouble. As much as a I worry about Newell going one-on-one and getting lots of his, I'm more worried about their guards beating Robinson & Brea and wreaking havoc when Williams has to step off and protect the rim.

- Make Georgia work defensively. Florida isn't the type of team who likes to switch a ton, but they had to more than they'd have liked against Kentucky. Georgia is more used to switching and won't mind doing so (unless Cyril is out there, but again, probably stating the obvious here). Not saying one philosophy is better than the other, it's just how their teams were built. Kentucky is more talented than Georgia, so making them work for everything on both ends means you like our chances, it's just a matter of executing. 

- Getting Carr involved. Georgia is on the smaller side, and this is the kind of game where he can exploit them on the offensive end (though in a different way than he did against Duke or Gonzaga).

- In the theme of what we'll probably hear for the rest of the season: shoot the ball well, don't get killed on the glass, and don't bail the opponent offensively by letting them shoot a high percentage at the rim (whether it's cleaning up misses, catching players on duck-ins, or just completely cooking Brea).

"Keeps up  with teams more than the average fan."   LMAO  Cacti, I've never seen anyone more engaged in roundball action than you.   I'll  bet on your wedding night you had to check out that Valparaiso-Drake game before gettin' busy with the whoopi.