ST. LOUIS _ No Jarred Vanderbilt. No problem.
With its leading rebounder and energy guy relegated to the bench, Kentucky opened play in the Southeastern Conference tournament on Friday by handling Georgia, 62-49.
A collective effort smothered Georgia and propelled UK into the semifinals on Saturday against Alabama. The Tide rallied in the second half to beat No. 1-seed Auburn in the day's first quarterfinal.
Forward PJ Washington, who figured to have a more prominent role with Vanderbilt sidelined with an ankle injury, outplayed Georgia star Yante Maten. For only the ninth time in his last 96 games, Maten failed to score 10 or more points. He made only 2 of 10 shots and finished with nine.
That set the tone. Although Georgia came into the game with a nation's sixth-best defense, it was the UK defenders who starred.
Maten was defended by Washington with frequent help from teammates on double-teams.
On offense, Washington got help from several teammates. He led UK with 18 points, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Knox added 15 each.
Kentucky improved to 22-10. Georgia fell to 18-15.
Kentucky led 30-23 at halftime. It was UK's largest lead to that point and the fewest points in the first half by a Kentucky opponent this season. The previous low: the 26 scored by Texas A&M at College Station on Feb. 10.
Georgia made only 8 of 29 shots in the first half. Maten made only 1 of 6 shots.
Georgia tried to establish Maten in the low post early. But in a matchup reminiscent of Kentucky's game at Tennessee, Washington had much the better of the matchup of post-up forwards.
Maten played the role of Tennessee's Grant Williams. He abandoned the low post midway through the half. His only basket was a jumper from the elbow area with 9:49 left.
Late in the half, Maten returned to the post. In one telling sequence, he nearly fell down trying to get a shot off, then stumbled out of bounds after the rebound got redirected his way.
Led by Washington's seven points, Kentucky enjoyed a 20-4 advantage in points from the paint.
Gilegous-Alexander was UK's main man on offense in the first half. He made 5 of 6 shots and had three assists. Two other of his passes found Sacha Killeya-Jones and Knox open for shots. But they missed.
While Alabama outscored Auburn 50-22 in the second half to win the day's first quarterfinal, Kentucky removed any chance of another stunning comeback.
The Cats expanded the margin to as much as 17 points early in the second half. Georgia twice called time before the first television timeout. On the second, with 16:28 left, coach Mark Fox came onto the court to near the top of the key to ask for timeout. As his players neared the bench, his facial expression said: What are you doing?
Kentucky was playing free and easy now. A pretty touch pass by Quade Green resulted in a fast-break dunk by Washington. That put UK ahead 47-30.
Two possessions later, UK had three offensive rebounds, the third by Wenyen Gabriel after Gilgeous-Alexander had to throw up a 3-point heave from near midcourt to beat the shot clock.
Meanwhile, Maten could not come to Georgia's rescue. His second basket did not come until a put-back dunk with 9:54 left.
Georgia threatened to reduce the UK lead to single digits with about nine minutes left. With the margin at 47-36, William "Turtle" Jackson missed a 3-pointer.
Then Hamidou Diallo, who had struggled with his perimeter shooting much of this season, hit a 3-pointer from in front of the Kentucky bench.
It was that kind of afternoon for Kentucky.
Georgia finally got within 10 points of Kentucky inside the final 90 seconds. Too little too late.
