NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ A player conspicuously absent from the announcements of all-this and all-that teams earlier in the week was all-important for Kentucky on Saturday.
In a game featuring five all-league players, Isaiah Briscoe led UK to a 71-60 victory over Georgia in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. UK moved into Saturday's semifinals.
Briscoe's 20 points marked his first game in double figures since Valentine's Day and the most he'd scored since getting 23 against Georgia on Jan. 31.
Fouls limited the playing time of De'Aaron Fox, another all-league (second-team) player. But he contributed 20 points. Bam Adebayo, another second-team all-league player, had a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds). Derek Willis chipped in seven points and 11 rebounds.
Briscoe took center stage, in part, because neither of the game's two X-factors played prominent roles.
Malik Monk, the SEC Player of the Year in a media vote, made only 1 of 7 shots in scoring two points. This followed his 2-for-10 shooting, six-point scoring game at Texas A&M on Saturday.
J.J. Frazier, who made all-league teams selected by the media and coaches, made only 4 of 17 shots and scored 15 points.
Yante Maten, Georgia's other all-league player, made 3 of 11 shots and scored 12 points.
Good start, good middle and fairly good ending. That summarized a first half in which Kentucky never trailed.
Kentucky snapped its streak of poor starts at three games, twice built leads of 13 points and settled for a 32-25 halftime advantage.
Kentucky led for almost 18 minutes of the first half (to be precise, 17:57) despite Monk and Fox being limited by fouls. Monk made only one shot in a two-point half, while Fox sat out the final 6:09 after picking up his second foul.
UK's defense sent Georgia reeling early. The Bulldogs made only two of their first 13 shots.
Coach Mark Fox showed his displeasure by taking off his sports coat before the first television timeout.
Bullish play by Adebayo and Briscoe led the early breakout. But a 3-pointer by Mychal Mulder gave the Cats their first 13-point lead: 25-12. Mulder's shot was part of a four-for-eight half for UK from 3-point range.
With the lead at 27-14, Frazier came alive. His first basket, which came on a pull-up jumper, came with 4:16 left in the back.
When Frazier hit another pull-up jumper, then added a driving layup in transition (the only time he scored on his signature move), Kentucky called timeout to ponder a lead reduced to 28-22.
As in Athens on Feb. 18, Kentucky sent a second defender at Frazier to get the ball out of his hands in the final seconds. Frazier beat the move by finding freshman Tyree Crump for a right-corner 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds left. That brought Georgia within 30-25 (the smallest UK lead in more than 13 minutes).
But Briscoe answered with a pull-up jumper from 15 feet with less than two seconds on the clock.
Briscoe's first 3-pointer since Feb. 7 helped Kentucky get off to a fast start in the second half. The shot was part of a 6-0 mini run.
Kentucky limited Georgia to one basket in the first eight-plus minutes of the second half.
In that time, UK expanded its lead to 47-30 at the second TV timeout. Briscoe led the way with authoritative drives while also handling point guard duties as fouls continued to lessen Fox's playing time.
