Kentucky travels to Athens, Ga., Saturday looking to avenge its Jan. 17 loss to Georgia in Lexington. The Wildcats sit in first place in the Southeastern Conference?s Eastern Division, five games ahead of the last-place Bulldogs. In the four weeks since the teams last met, UK has posted a 6-1 record, while UGA has gone 2-5.
Both teams are fighting injury problems. Kentucky?s leading scorer Gerald Fitch has missed the last two games with a sprained right index finger, while Georgia point guard Rashad Wright sat out Wednesday?s loss at Vanderbilt with an injured left ankle.
Kentucky has won 11 of its last 12 SEC road games.
The Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia owns an 11-10 record entering the weekend and has dropped five of its last seven games. UGA had a season-low 39 points in Wednesday?s loss at Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs? last win came against Ole Miss, 64-51, on Feb. 4.
Four Bulldogs average double figures, led by Rashad Wright?s 13.7 ppg. Damien Wilkins contributes 12.9 ppg, while Jonas Hayes adds 11.9 and Chris Daniels 10.0 per contest. Daniels is UGA?s top rebounder (third in the SEC) with 8.9 boards per game.
Dennis Felton is in his first season as head coach at Georgia after spending the past five seasons as coach at Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. There he guided the Hilltoppers to a 100-54 record. His career record is 111-64 (.634).
Felton is 2-0 in his career against Kentucky, including one win while at Western Kentucky. He is the only current SEC coach with a winning record against the Wildcats.
Cat-Dog Connections
Coach Tubby Smith coached the Bulldogs for two seasons (1995-97) and posted a 45-19 (70.3%) record. He remains the most successful coach (by percentage) in UGA?s modern history. In ?96, he took the Dogs to the Sweet 16 where they lost on a buzzer-beater to eventual NCAA runner-up Syracuse. In ?97, after losing eight lettermen, including all five starters, Georgia won a then-school-record 24 games. It marked the first time that UGA recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons.
Smith?s eldest son, G.G., was the point guard for the Bulldogs from 1996-99. The younger Smith served as a manager for UK from 2001-02 while earning his master?s degree in sports management.
Georgia native Gerald Fitch has started 102 career games for the Cats. Fitch was the Georgia Class 4A Player of the Year in 2000 at Macon Westside. He played with UGA?s Chris Daniels in an all-star competition as a senior.
UK?s redshirt point guard Patrick Sparks played for Dennis Felton the past two years at Western Kentucky before both made the move to the SEC this summer. The Hilltoppers made NCAA Tournament appearances in both of Sparks? two seasons, while the Central City, Ky., native earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors as a sophomore. He?ll become eligible for the Cats in 2004-05 with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Tubby Smith is 10-3 against Georgia since making the move from Athens to Lexington. Dennis Felton owns a 2-0 record against the Cats. In addition to earning his first SEC win against UK in January, his WKU squad handed UK a 64-52 loss in the NABC Classic in Rupp Arena in 2001-02.
Series History
This is the 122nd meeting in the series between Kentucky and Georgia, with UK holding a 101-20 lead over the Dogs. The all-time winningest team in SEC history, UK also owns 100-plus wins over Tennessee (132) and Vanderbilt (127).
After falling to UGA in Lexington on Jan. 17, the Cats have lost three of the last five meetings. Kentucky swept the two matchups last year after being swept by the Bulldogs in 2002. UK has won 25 of the last 29 meetings, dating back to the 1990 season.
The Wildcats lead the series in Athens, 33-13. Kentucky has won eight of its last nine games in Stegeman Coliseum, with the only loss coming two seasons ago.
Kentucky is 74-1 when shooting over 50% from the field during the Tubby Smith era. The only loss? To Georgia in Rupp Arena during the 2002 season. The Bulldogs shot 54.1% to earn the victory.
