Moses Wright had 21 points and Bubba Parham added 17 in his first start to pace Georgia Tech to a 79-62 win over No. 20 Kentucky on Sunday in Atlanta.
Wright had a team-high eight rebounds and three blocks for the Yellow Jackets (1-2).
Parham went 7-for-10 from the floor, including three made 3-pointers, and had four assists without committing a turnover. It wasn't his first time to come up big against Kentucky; he scored 35 against the Wildcats when he was a freshman at VMI.
Jordan Usher added 12 points and Jose Alvarado had 10 points on Sunday for Georgia Tech.
Kentucky (1-3) lost its third straight game for only the second time under coach John Calipari, who lost to a former assistant for the first time in 18 games. Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner was an assistant when Calipari was at Memphis and later succeeded him there.
Terrence Clarke had a team-leading 22 points and Brandon Boston Jr. added 11 for Kentucky. Isaiah Jackson grabbed 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats continued to have trouble with turnovers. They gave it up 21 times, which led to 33 points for Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech used a 13-0 run late in the first half and took a 34-27 lead at halftime. The Yellow Jackets trailed 22-19 with 5:25 remaining after Kentucky's Davion Mintz converted a three-point play. That's when the Yellow Jackets went on their run, which was sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Parham and Khalid Moore.
Georgia Tech took an 11-point lead with 17:24 on a slam by Wright, but Kentucky responded with a 7-0 run to reduce the lead to 41-37.
But the Yellow Jackets quickly regained the momentum and led by 17 when Usher drained a 3-pointer with 8:05 left to make it 61-44.
The game was the return match in a two-game contract between the two programs. Kentucky won last year's game 67-53 at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky is 8-3 against Georgia Tech since the Yellow Jackets left the Southeastern Conference.
--Field Level Media
Kentucky | Georgia Tech | |
Terrence Clarke 22 | Scoring | Moses Wright 21 |
Davion Mintz 6 | Assists | Michael Devoe 5 |
Isaiah Jackson 12 | Rebounds | Moses Wright 7 |
Olivier Sarr 4 | Free Throws Made | Kyle Sturdivant 4 |
Devin Askew 1 | Steals | Michael Devoe 3 |
Isaiah Jackson 1 | Blocks | Moses Wright 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Kentucky | 62 | 44.9 | 8-20 | 10-11 | 16 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 21 |
Georgia Tech | 79 | 51.7 | 8-21 | 9-11 | 20 | 19 | 5 | 15 | 6 |