No. 12 Kentucky scored the first nine points of the second half, including seven by freshman Ashton Hagans, to spark a 69-49 victory over Georgia on Tuesday night in Athens, Ga.

The Wildcats, who jumped from No. 18 to No. 12 in this week's AP Top 25 poll, improved to 13-3 and 3-1 in the SEC with their third straight win. Georgia (9-7, 1-3) lost for the third time in its past four games.

Hagans was the main storyline heading into Tuesday's game. The Cartersville, Ga., resident originally committed to the Bulldogs but switched to Kentucky after coach Mark Fox was fired. It was his first trip back home since the decision.

"My guess is that he's going to get mauled by their fans," Kentucky coach John Calipari said Monday. "Does that inspire him? Does that rattle him? None of us know. Let's see."

Hagans, who was booed each time he touched the ball in the first half, responded by scoring a career-best 19 points with 9:30 still to play. He finished with 23 points. Hagans also had three steals, the first player in school history with three or more steals in six straight games.

Freshman Tyler Herro scored 12 points and sophomore PJ Washington added 10 points for Kentucky. As a team, the Wildcats shot 43.8 percent.

Nicolas Claxton topped Georgia with 12 points. Rayshaun Hammonds added 11. The Bulldogs scored only 18 points in the second half, making just 5 of 26 field goals. They finished at 30.4 percent.

After the 9-0 start to the second half, Kentucky used another 11-3 run between 13:27 and 9:07 to build its biggest lead at the time of 16 points, 55-39. Hagans had four of the 11 points during the outburst.

Kentucky's biggest lead was 20 points, first at 67-47 with 2:39 to play and again with the final score.

Kentucky got off to another slow start, falling behind 11-6 before rallying to lead 18-14 by making four straight field goals as part of a 12-3 run with 10:39 left in the first half.

The Wildcats held onto the lead and were up 35-31 at halftime thanks to eight points each from Hagans and Washington. Reid Travis added six. Georgia got nine points from Claxton.

--Field Level Media