Five things you need to know from UK basketball’s 92-69 exhibition win over Georgetown

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 92-69 win over Georgetown College in a men’s college basketball exhibition game at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:

1. A Thiero shall lead them. After a determined first-half effort from Georgetown sent Kentucky into halftime with only a 35-34 lead, it was UK sophomore swingman Adou Thiero who quashed any thoughts of a mammoth Tigers upset at the start of half two.

Thiero, a 6-foot-8, 222-pound product of Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, scored Kentucky’s first five points of the second half. Twenty seconds into half two, Thiero powered in a layup at the basket, got fouled and made the free throw.

Fourteen seconds later, Thiero turned his own steal into a layup to put Kentucky up 40-34.

Next, a nifty pass from Thiero set Antonio Reeves up for a three-pointer and a 43-34 UK advantage.

Thiero also assisted on a Reeves dunk (17:46) and another Reeves trey (15:40) — the latter which put Kentucky ahead 54-40 and forced Georgetown coach Chris Briggs to call timeout.

For the game, Thiero finished with 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals — and three turnovers (no one is perfect). In 21 minutes of play, Thiero was a team-high plus-26 in the plus/minus category.

Though he is far from the most-hyped player on the Kentucky roster, Thiero “knows how to play” and has a chance to be an invaluable “glue guy” for the 2023-24 Wildcats.

2. Dillingham’s encore. After scoring 40 points in last weekend’s Kentucky men’s basketball Blue-White Game, freshman guard Rob Dillingham faced the tough task of trying to follow up on that performance.

In the Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage at Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena last Saturday, Dillingham hit 14 of 23 shots, 3 of 7 three-point attempts and 9 of 12 free throws.

The 6-foot-3, 176-pound product of Hickory, North Carolina, also grabbed five rebounds and doled out seven assists in the intrasquad scrimmage.

Though he was nowhere close to 40 against Georgetown, Dillingham produced a respectable encore showing Friday night, finishing with 16 points, five assists, two steals and making 7 of 11 shots..

Most impressive, Dillingham showed the muscle he’s added via work in the weight room since UK’s summer exhibition games in the GLOBL JAM in Toronto with some tough finishes through contact in the lane.

3. Sheppard 2.0. Former North Laurel star Reed Sheppard made his first game appearance in Rupp Arena in a Kentucky Wildcats uniform with 12:07 left in the first half.

One minute and 41 seconds of elapsed time later, the son of former UK basketball stars Jeff Sheppard and Stacey Reed splashed a three-pointer from the right corner off a nifty pass from Rob Dillingham.

Public address announcer Patrick Whitmer intoned “Threeeee for Sheppard!” as the Rupp Arena crowd roared.

If you wondered, the last time “three for Sheppard” was spoken in Rupp for a UK player was Feb. 22, 1998, when Jeff Sheppard hit 2 of 5 treys en route to 11 points in an 85-74 win over Georgia.

For Friday night’s game, Reed Sheppard finished with nine points, two rebounds, two assists (the first of which was a perfect alley-oop pass that produced an emphatic Justin Edwards dunk) and one turnover in 20 minutes of play.

4. Kentucky in exhibitions. UK’s win over Georgetown College ran the Wildcats’ all-time record in exhibition games to 151-12. The Cats have now won their last 30 exhibition games in a row.

Kentucky’s most recent defeat in an exhibition came on Aug. 17, 2014, a 63-62 loss to the Dominican Republic in Nassau, Bahamas.

(The 2014-15 Cats were able to bounce back from the disappointment of that defeat to win their first 38 games of the ensuing season, before being upset by Wisconsin in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Final Four).

As UK head man, John Calipari is now 48-1 in exhibition games.

5. UK history vs. Georgetown. With its victory, Kentucky ran its record in exhibition games vs. Georgetown College to 4-0.

UK also played and beat the Tigers before the 2005-06 regular season (85-63), before the 2014-15 season (121-52) and before the 2019-20 season (80-53).

In the early decades of the 20th century, Kentucky and Georgetown College were frequent opponents in the regular season.

UK leads the all-time series in games that count 35-15. The Wildcats amassed that all-time edge in spite of the fact that Georgetown won the first six and eight of the initial nine meetings between the teams.

Georgetown’s most recent win over Kentucky came on Feb. 1, 1927, a 26-19 home victory for coach Walter Hovater’s Tigers over coach Basil Hayden’s Wildcats.

The last regular season game to date between UK and Georgetown came on Dec. 2, 1938, a 39-19 victory for Adolph Rupp’s Cats over Bob Evans’ Tigers before 3,000 fans at Alumni Gym.

What impact will Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC have on UK? It’s complicated.

Kentucky’s past with Oklahoma and Texas has included both triumph and heartache

How Oklahoma and Texas rank vs. the current SEC schools in sports and academics

In spending on sports, how Oklahoma and Texas match up with the current SEC members

The Kentucky basketball star for whom Rupp Arena has always been their ‘happy place’

What’s the proudest moment in UK sports history? Here’s Mark Story’s top 10.