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Kentucky seeks to continue road success at Georgia

Jan 24, 2007 - 4:58 PM No. 25 Kentucky (15-4) at Georgia (11-6) 7:00 pm EST

ATHENS, Georgia (Ticker) -- With Kentucky back in the national rankings, coach Tubby Smith guides it against a Southeastern Conference club he is very familiar with.

Smith and the No. 25 Wildcats look to continue an undefeated start on the road in the SEC when they travel to Georgia on Wednesday.

Prior to becoming the 20th coach in Kentucky history, Smith guided the Bulldogs for two seasons from 1995-1997. Despite that short stay, the coach still finds it difficult to travel here for games.

"It's always a bittersweet experience to go to Georgia," he said. "I've got a lot of friends there that I still know. I know they had a tough loss the other day against Alabama, but they're a very good team. They execute well, and they're good defensively."

Despite his feelings, Smith and the Wildcats have had a lot of success against the Bulldogs, winning each of the last five meetings and three of the last four here.

By continuing that success, Kentucky (15-4, 4-1 SEC East) would grab a more solid foothold on its national ranking, its first in nine weeks.

The Wildcats moved into the top 25 despite having an 11-game winning streak and a 10-game run at home snapped with a 72-67 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. Bobby Perry scored 13 points and Joe Crawford added 12.

Kentucky, however, did extend its unbeaten start in league road games to 2-0 with an 87-49 rout of South Carolina on January 16. The Wildcats and top-ranked Florida are the only two SEC teams without a league road loss.

Georgia (11-6, 3-2 East) fell to 1-2 on the road in the league with a 78-76 loss at Alabama as the Bulldogs could not hold a big, early lead.

Sundiata Gaines scored 22 points and Takais Brown 21 for Georgia, which raced out to an 18-2 start and led by as much as 18 points before watching Alabama rally.