Kentucky basketball vs. Georgia all-time (26 different coaches, 20 different arenas)

(Updated through regular season matchups in 2017)

Georgia has been a bit of a strange opponent for the Wildcats in basketball.  They seem so difficult at times (even putting up quite a fight in Rupp), but their overall results Kentucky are easily the worst of any of the longtime "SEC East" foes.  Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida have all given UK much more consistent trouble.  That is NOT to say that we look forward to any trip to Athens.  It's always a physical battle.

Let's get to the numbers...

Kentucky is 123-26 overall against Georgia (82.6%).  Their only better marks against SEC opponents?  Missouri (100%), Ole Miss (89%), Auburn (83.6%), and MSU (82.9%).

The only opponents UK has played more than 149 games against?  Tennessee (222) and Vanderbilt (189).

Kentucky is 60-5 at home vs. Georgia (92.3%)

Rupp Arena: 35-4 (89.7%) - the only losses were in 1985, 2002, 2004 and 2009

Memorial Coliseum: 19-0 (100%)

Alumni Gymnasium: 6-0 (100%)

Buell Armory Gym: 0-1 (0%) - loss was in 1923

Kentucky is 42-17 on the road at Georgia (71.2%)

Stegeman Coliseum (since 1965): 35-14 (71.4%) - longest winning streak there is 7, longest losing streak is 3

Woodruff Hall (1926-1964): 7-2 (77.8%) - losses were in 1931 and 1950

Moss Auditorium (1925): 0-1 (0%)

Kentucky is 21-4 at neutral sites vs. Georgia (84%)

Jefferson County Armory (Louisville): 5-0 (100%) - SEC Tournament wins in 1943, 1944, and 1950, plus regular season wins in 1952 and 1956

Georgia Dome (Atlanta): 2-0 (100%) - 2004 and 2014 SEC Tournament games

The Omni (Atlanta): 2-0 (100%) - two regular season neutral site games in 1979 and 1988

The Pyramid (Memphis): 1-0 (100%) - 1997 SEC Tournament Title game

Bridgestone Arena (Nashville): 1-0 (100%) - 2016 SEC Tournament

Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville): 1-0 (100%) - 1984 SEC Tournament

Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (Knoxville): 1-0 (100%) - 1940 SEC Tournament Championship

Owensboro Sportscenter: 1-0 (100%) - 1954 regular season game

Municipal Auditorium (Columbus, Georgia): 1-0 (100%) - 1960 regular season

Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge): 1-0 (100%) - 1988 SEC Tournament Championship (vacated)

Alexander Memorial Coliseum (Atlanta): 2-1 (66.7%) - regular season wins in 1958 and 1962, and the "Tornado game" loss in the 2008 SEC Tournament

Atlanta Municipal Auditorium: 3-2 (60%) - won 1921 SIAA Tournament Championship, lost in 1925 Southern Conference Tournament, won in 1926 Southern Conference Tournament, won in 1928 Southern Conference Tournament, lost in 1929 Southern Conference Tournament

Freedom Hall: 0-1 (0%) - lost in December 1986 under Sutton

By type of game:

SEC regular season home: 59-4

SEC regular season road: 40-15

SEC regular season neutral: 8-1

SEC regular season overall: 106-20

Pre-SEC regular season home: 1-1

Pre-SEC regular season road: 2-2

Regular season overall: 109-23

SEC Tournament: 10-1

Southern Conference Tournament: 2-2

SIAA Conference Tournament: 1-0

Postseason overall: 13-3

By UK coach:

John Calipari: 13-2 (7-0 home, 4-2 road, 2-0 SECT)

Billy Gillispie: 3-2 (1-1 home, 2-0 road, 0-1 SECT)

Tubby Smith: 16-5 (8-2 home, 7-3 road, 1-0 SECT)

Rick Pitino: 15-2 (8-0 home, 6-2 road, 1-0 SECT)

Eddie Sutton: 6-3 (3-0 home, 1-2 road, 1-1 neutral, 1-0 SECT)

Joe B. Hall: 23-4 (12-1 home, 9-3 road, 1-0 neutral, 1-0 SECT)

Adolph Rupp: 41-4 (20-0 home, 11-4 road, 6-0 neutral, 4-0 SECT)

John Mauer: 3-1 (1-0 home, 1-0 road, 1-1 SoCon Tournament)

Ray Eklund (1926): 2-0 (1-0 road, 1-0 SoCon Tournament)

Clarence Applegran (1925): 0-2 (0-1 road, 0-1 SoCon Tournament)

George Buchheit (1921, 1923): 1-1 (0-1 home, 1-0 SIAA Tournament)

By opposing coach:

Mark Fox (since 2010): 2-13 against Kentucky (all against Calipari)

Pete Herrmann (interim '09): 1-0 against Kentucky (vs. Billy G)

Dennis Felton (2004-09): 4-9 against Kentucky (3-6 vs. Tubby, 1-3 vs. Billy G)

Jim Harrick (2000-03): 2-6 against Kentucky (all against Tubby)

Ron Jirsa (1998-99): 0-4 against Kentucky (all against Tubby)

Tubby Smith (1996-97): 0-5 against Kentucky (all against Pitino)

Hugh Durham (1979-95): 8-28 against Kentucky (2-10 vs. Pitino, 3-6 vs. Sutton, 3-12 vs. Hall)

John Guthrie (1974-78): 1-9 against Kentucky (all against Hall)

Ken Rosemond (1966-73): 2-14 against Kentucky (0-2 vs. Hall, 2-12 vs. Rupp)

Red Lawson (1952-65): 0-15 against Kentucky (all against Rupp)

Jim Whatley (1949-51): 0-4 against Kentucky (all against Rupp)

Ralph Jordan (1946-49): 0-4 against Kentucky (all against Rupp)

Elmer Lampe (1940-45): 0-7 against Kentucky (all against Rupp)

Harry Mehre (1931): 1-0 against Kentucky (vs. Rupp)

Herman Stegeman (1921-30): 4-6 against Kentucky (1-1 vs. Buchheit, 2-0 vs. Applegran, 0-2 vs. Eklund, 1-3 vs. Mauer)

The Best (and Worst) opposing SEC coaches in UK Basketball History

As Kentucky fans know, the Southeastern Conference has never been as easy as it seems from the outside.  People may laugh at John Calipari's "everybody's Super Bowl" comments, but it's true.  Does a team like Auburn sell out games unless they're playing UK...or Alabama?  What about Georgia...it's just UK and Georgia Tech, right?  They put EVERYTHING into playing UK.  And it isn't just the fans and players.  Coaches define their legacies by their results in the Kentucky games.

Which SEC coaches have had the most (and least) success against our Cats?  Glad you asked...

MOST SUCCESSFUL:

1) RAY MEARS (TENNESSEE)

Record against UK: 15-15 (.500)

Years: 1962-1977

Faced: Adolph Rupp (8-12 vs. Rupp), Joe B. Hall (7-3 vs. Hall)

Memorable: He infuriated Rupp with everything from his hideous orange clothing to his deliberate style of play to his success, even winning four in a row against UK in the late '60s.  

2) BILLY DONOVAN (FLORIDA)

Record against UK: 17-27 (.386) at Florida, plus 0-2 at Marshall

Years: 1997-2015 at Florida

Faced: Rick Pitino (0-2 vs. Pitino), Tubby Smith (10-12 vs. Smith), Billy Gillispie (2-2 vs. Gillispie), John Calipari (5-11 vs. Calipari)

Memorable: Had a 7-game winning streak against the Wildcats from 2005 through 2008, the same timeframe during which his Gators won two national titles.  Also beat UK three times in a single season (2014), the same year Florida became the first team to go 21-0 in the SEC.  UK matched that feat in 2015.

3) DON DeVOE (TENNESSEE / FLORIDA)

Record against UK: 11-14 (.440) including 11-12 at UT, 0-2 at Florida

Years: 1979-1990

Faced: Joe B. Hall (9-6 vs. Hall), Eddie Sutton (2-6 vs. Sutton), Rick Pitino (0-2 vs. Pitino)

Memorable: Beat UK for the 1979 SEC Tournament title in Birmingham.

4) ROY SKINNER (VANDERBILT)

Record against UK: 14-18 (.438)

Years: 1959-1976

Faced: Adolph Rupp (9-15 vs. Rupp), Joe B. Hall (5-3 vs. Hall)

Memorable: One of the main reasons we now speak of "Memorial magic," as the Commodores had a "mysterious" way of pulling out victories during his era in Nashville.

5) NOLAN RICHARDSON (ARKANSAS)

Record against UK: 7-12 (.368)...but he was 6-5 during the regular season

Years: 1992-2002

Faced: Rick Pitino (4-6 vs. Pitino), Tubby Smith (3-6 vs. Smith)

Memorable: Won his first four regular season games against UK...but also lost his first six SEC tournament games against us.


HONORABLE MENTION: 
Wimp Sanderson (11-18 against UK at Alabama)
Dale Brown (18-33 against UK at LSU)
Tommy Bartlett (6-8 against UK at Florida)
Mark Gottfried (5-8 against UK at Alabama)
Kevin Stallings (12-23 against UK at Vanderbilt)
Mike Anderson (3-4 against UK at Arkansas)


And the LEAST SUCCESSFUL?

1) RED LAWSON (GEORGIA)

Record against UK: 0-15 (.000)

Years: 1952-1965

Faced: Adolph Rupp

Memorable: Six of his first seven games against UK were lost by 30+ points, including a 143-66 annihilation in 1956.

2) EMMETT LOWERY (TENNESSEE)

Record against UK: 1-25 (.038)

Years: 1948-1959

Faced: Adolph Rupp

Memorable: Lowery had the unfortunate task of facing UK during Rupp's most successful years, and was thrashed repeatedly.  His teams lost four SEC tournament games to Rupp in Louisville, with margins ranging from 15 to 39 points.

3) JAN VAN BREDA KOLFF (VANDERBILT)

Record against UK: 0-12 (.000)

Years: 1994-1999

Faced: Rick Pitino (0-8 vs. Pitino), Tubby Smith (0-4 vs. Smith)

Memorable: Gave up a combined 221 points in two blowout losses against the 1996 national champion Wildcats.

4) OLE MISS COACHES...

Bonnie Graham: 0-14 from 1950-1962

Lee Hunt: 0-9 from 1983-1986

Bob Weltlich: 1-14 from 1977-1982

Rod Barnes: 1-10 from 1999-2006

Andy Kennedy: 2-12 from 2006-present

5) AUBURN COACHES...

Jeff Lebo: 0-6 from 2005-2010

Tony Barbee: 0-5 from 2011-2014

Cliff Ellis: 1-13 from 1995-2004

Joel Eaves: 2-11 from 1951-1963


DISHONORABLE MENTION:
Floyd Burdette (0-10 against UK at Alabama)
Harry Rabenhorst (0-14 against UK at LSU)
Press Maravich (1-11 against UK at LSU)
Bob Polk (3-23 against UK at Vanderbilt)
Lon Kruger (2-13 against UK at Florida)