Kentucky 70 - 58 Georgia (SEC Tournament) (Atlanta) (No. 2,135)

Game two of the post-tweak era started with a bang, as the Cats hit eight of their first nine shots and quickly jumped out to a 17-7 lead.  But by the 11 minute mark, both Willie Cauley-Stein and James Young were sent to the bench with two fouls each, and much of the rest of the half consisted of Georgia going to the free throw line over and over.  For the game, Georgia shot 30 free throws, while the Cats shot only 18.  This was beyond ludicrous, as the Cats were clearly stronger and more athletic than Georgia.  It makes no sense that on Friday night, UK got 41 free throws (compared to only 24 for LSU), and then the next afternoon, the Cats get only 18 free throws (compared to 30 for a much less athletic Georgia team).  What has bothered me all year in the SEC is not that games are called one way, or another way, but that they seem to be called differently from night to night or week to week.  If the officials had ever been consistent this season, UK could have adjusted.  But you literally don't know from game to game whether this is a game where they're going to call touch fouls, or whether this is a game where you can hammer folks with no calls.

Kentucky is uniquely vulnerable to changes in the officiating, because the Cats get a very high percentage of their points at the line.  For the year, UK has gotten 26.8 percent of its points at the free throw line -- only 17 teams in D-1 get a higher percentage of their points on free throws.  So a huge part of the UK offense will vary from game to game depending on what the officials think.

The officiating also has a big impact on certain players, especially Cauley-Stein.  There have been seven SEC games -- including both the tournament games -- where Cauley-Stein got at least four fouls.  In six of those games, he played less than 20 minutes.  So UK has effectively lost WCS in almost one third of its SEC games this year.  That makes a big difference.

Fortunately, the Cats were not as flummoxed about the officiating as I was.  They kept picking away, and kept attacking the glass.  They dominated Georgia on the boards, collecting 36 rebounds to only 21 for the Dawgs.  The Cats also got good three-point shooting, going 9-16 from beyond the arc.  As a result, they eventually blew the game open (again) in the second half, and left their enormous crowd of fans in Atlanta very, very pleased.  The mood among UK fans over these last two days is the best I've seen it all year, in large part because the team is actually doing better than people expect.

Next up, of course, the Cats have to play Florida again.  This season reminds me of the 2012 season, where UK had an overwhelming team that had to play Florida three different times.  In the last week of the season, the Cats went to Florida and pounded the Gators 74-59.  A week later, in the semi-final of the SEC Tournament, Florida gave Kentucky fits, losing by only 74-71.  The Gators then entered the tournament as a 7 seed, and went on a run that carried them to within minutes of reaching the Final Four.  The Cats make a similar run?  Can they do even better, and pull off what would be a huge upset tomorrow afternoon.  I, for one, will tune in to find out.