ATLANTA — Moses Wright scored 21 points and Georgia Tech handed No. 20 Kentucky a third straight defeat of the season with a 79-62 result on Sunday. The Wildcats won their first game of the season, but have now lost for the third straight time.
Wright, who had a balanced outing shot 9 of 14 from the field, grabbed eight rebound, three blocks, three assists and two steals, as Georgia Tech (1-2) recovered from defeats to Georgia State and Mercer to start the season win a marquee win.
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Bubba Parham, who made three 3-pointers and shot 7 of 10 overall from the floor had 17 points, and four assists, while Kyle Sturdivant ended with 15 points on 5 of 6 shooting off the bench for the Yellow Jackets.
“We didn’t hang our heads over those losses,” said Parham. “Yeah, those losses sting. At the end of the day we understood the bigger goal. We put that behind us.
“We just wanted to focus on this game and play the way we wanted to play.”
Also reaching double figures in scoring was Jordan Usher, who ended with 12 points before fouling out and Jose Alvarado, who scored 10 for Georgia Tech, which shot 51.7% from the field on 31 of 60 shooting.
Freshman Terrence Clarke paced Kentucky with 22 points on 9 of 14 shots with three 3-pointers.
The Wildcats rolled over Morehead State in their season opener, but slumped to defeats against Richmond and No. 6 Kansas.
Sunday’s loss now means Kentucky is 1-3 to start the campaign, the program’s worst opening stretch to a basketball season since 2000-01.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’re working on and losing games makes it harder,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Everybody is knocking us around right now.”
B.J. Boston, who scored 11 points, was the Wildcats’ only other scorer in double figures, while Isaiah Jackson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go with four assists.
Kentucky led 22-19 with 6:49 remaining in the first before Georgia Tech used a 13-0 run to take the lead and went into the halftime break leading 34-27.
The Yellow Jackets had 15 steals and had a 33-4 advantage of Kentucky in points off turnovers.
The Wildcats will most likely drop out of the Top 25 ranking after suffering their second loss by double figures.
