Kentucky Proves Physicality in Win Over Georgia State

Vicky Graff Photo

A little over 40 years ago there was a song by Olivia Newton-John named “Physical” that went as viral as it could have in that era.

The chorus went like this:

“Let’s get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let’s get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk
Let’s get physical, physical
I wanna get physical
Let’s get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk
Let me hear your body talk”

Getting physical is exactly what Kentucky had to do again Friday night before routing scrappy Georgia State 105-76. Georgia State tried its best version of bully-ball to knock the Cats around and did bother coach Mark Pope’s team just like Jackson State had tried to do a week earlier.

But in spite of a near brawl in the second half when Amari Williams took a physical shove in the back that led to Koby Brea pushing a Georgia State player and a lot of mouthing, the Cats regrouped and rolled to the win.

“Physical” was certified Gold in less than two months, then Platinum a month later after Newton-John  released it. Billboard declared it the biggest song of 1982, and later ranked it the biggest song of the entire decade.

Who knows? Maybe in March this Kentucky team will be gold and Pope might be the coach of the decade for putting this team together. Considering UK did not have a returning player and likely will be ranked in the top five nationally Monday is mind-boggling and UK got this last win despite missing 19 of 26 3’s.

“Georgia State is built on being really physical,” said Pope. “They are driving into traffic and counting on post guys to take away your help defense. They make the game very, very physical and it is a very different style that we play. You don’t expect to play a team like that and outscore them in the paint by 40 (points).”

Kentucky outscored Jackson State 62-24 in the paint and 23-6 on fast break points. It also had a 33-11 edge in bench points even though backup center Brandon Garrison, one of the team’s more physical players, did not play due to an injury.

The one spot UK did not have the edge was from 3-point range where Georgia State had a 33-21 advantage after hitting 11 of 21 treys.

“The last two games we have not even made 10 3’s but we won a couple of nights ago by being relentless and won tonight by being super physical,” the Kentucky coach said. “I love teams that can win in different ways. We are still going to race up and down and shoot a lot of 3’s but you still have to win when the rhythm of the game goes somewhere else.”

Rhythm could be a problem for a lot of teams in the loaded Southeastern Conference this year. Auburn, Alabama and Kentucky could all be ranked in the top five Monday. Last week nine SEC teams were in the top 25. There will be few, if any, easy wins at home or on the road in conference play.

“This is a good league. Great time to be in the SEC,” Pope said.

Kentucky put seven players in double figures against Georgia State led by Jaxon Robinson with 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting, three rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes. But he had plenty of help.

— Point guard Lamont Butler had 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting along with six assists, four rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes.

— Otega Oweh overcame a slow start to go 5-for-8 from the field and finished with 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal.

— Center Amari Williams — who had to play peacemaker during the altercation — had 14 points including 6-for-6 at the foul line, six rebounds, there assists and one block in 20 minutes. He had no points and only one rebound in the first half.

— Koby Brea missed his first five 3-pointers — a rarity for the nation’s top 3-point shooter going into the game — but made his next two and finished with 10 points, three assists, two rebounds and one block. He has made at least two 3’s in every game this season .

— Ansley Almonor gave UK a huge lift early and finished with a season-high 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting, four rebounds and two steals. With Garrison out, he had to play extensive  minutes at center which is not his normal position.

— Andrew Carr had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

“Physical was the way that Georgia State had to play it tonight,” UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said. “They wanted to make it a half-court game and pound it inside but Kentucky had the big advantage in the paint. Sometimes you just have to figure out a way to win and a way to look good doing it. Kentucky did that tonight.”