Georgia

Laura Cook Gabrielson and James Williams Clay IV were united in marriage Saturday, May 29, at 2:30 p.m. The Rev. Lane Alderman officiated at the double ring ceremony in the garden of the Country Club of Roswell in Roswell, Ga. James Mackay Gabrielson Jr. and Ann Walker Gabrielson were their mother’s attendants. James Williams Clay served his son as best man. Music was provided by harpist Julie Albertson and soloist Minnielynn Clay. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Harmon Cook of Roswell, Ga. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. James W. Clay of Winchester.

During the past three years, Georgia has proven it can beat Kentucky at home and on the road. In the Bulldogs’ last contest against Kentucky, Georgia dealt the Wildcats a 77-70 setback on Jan. 8 in Athens. Two years ago, the Bulldogs handed Kentucky a 90-85 loss in Lexington. However, since its victory over Kentucky earlier this month, Georgia has lost three of the last five games, including a disappointing 104-91 loss in double overtime to Florida Tuesday. Following the loss to the Gators, Bulldogs coach Mark Fox said the setback was a “tough loss.

Kentucky added a running back to its 2011 recruiting class when Josh Clemons of Fayette (Ga.) Whitewater gave a verbal commitment to the Wildcats Friday. Clemons, a three-star prospect, also had offers from Maryland, Cincinnati, Mississippi State and Northwestern. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Clemons ran for 1,402 yards — and averaged about eight yards per carry — and 18 scores last season after rushing for over 1,600 yards as a junior. He has a 36-inch vertical leap, has been timed in 10.8 seconds in the 100-yard dash and bench presses 325 pounds.

Kentucky coach John Calipari knows his team’s Southeastern Conference opener at Georgia Saturday won’t be an easy task. The Bulldogs are 11-2 and considered one of the top contenders in the SEC East. Prior to the season, Calipari counted Georgia as one of the teams to watch in the division and hasn’t changed his mind. “They’re one of those teams I talked about, and they’re proving me right.” the Kentucky coach said earlier this week. “Mark (Fox)

LEXINGTON — Kentucky and Georgia both started Southeastern Conference play with three straight losses. Yet both teams are talking about the possibility of winning the SEC Eastern Division going into Saturday night’s game here. The Bulldogs, 3-4 overall, are now 2-3 in SEC after a 43-0 win over Vanderbilt following a 41-14 victory a week earlier against Tennessee. Kentucky, 4-3 overall, is 1-3 in conference action after knocking off then No. 10 South Carolina 31-28. “People always say year in and year out that anybody can win on any given weekend, and that’s what’s happening right now,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Sunday.

Murray State coach Chris Hatcher was a standout Georgia high school and college quarterback and also coached in Georgia as well as a stint at Kentucky, where he rose to offensive coordinator under Hal Mumme. It's no surprise to him that Kentucky has seemed to focus its out-of-state recruiting on Georgia. The Wildcats have 12 verbal commitments for next year, and five are from Georgia players. “There are a lot of good players in Georgia. I saw a study where Florida is one, Georgia is two and Alabama is three in players who sign Division I scholarship per capita.

Georgia coach Mark Fox left no doubts on the Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference Monday on what he thought of Kentucky, the team his Bulldogs host tonight. “We get to host a terrific Kentucky team, a team that is loaded with weapons,” Fox said. “I think it is a team that is getting terrific play from a number of different places. Some guys get lots of attention, but they have a lot of players who are making plays. They have an outstanding team. “Their defense is terrific and always has been.

Jennifer O'Neill dribbled at the top of the key with less than 20 seconds remaining in the Cats' game against Georgia Sunday, looking for the open door to shoot what would have been a game-tying three-pointer.  But in a change of pace for the UK team known for its pressure defense, the Bulldogs forced a turnover by O'Neill and managed to pull out a 75-71 victory in front of 7,016 at Memorial Coliseum.  The Cats had won 34 games in a row on their home turf, dating back to last season.

LEXINGTON - Doron Lamb couldn't get Georgia off his mind. Neither could the rest of his teammates. “We were focused this whole week about Georgia, because they beat us last time,” Lamb said following Kentucky’s 66-60 triumph over the Bulldogs Saturday at Rupp Arena. “They are a great team and showed it today, but we came out with a win.” As for getting revenge against the Bulldogs, Lamb said the win was a little sweeter than any ordinary victory.

Georgia coach Mark Fox says because he has a more complete team this year that his Bulldogs are a better team than they were in his first season last year. “We can score the ball from more places. We feel like we are a deeper team,” said Fox. “We are a more experienced team. We just have a deeper, more experienced roster. Guys are in the second year in the system and are more comfortable doing what we are trying to do. Those things all helped.” Georgia, 11-2, opens Southeastern Conference play by hosting No. 10 Kentucky on Saturday.

ATLANTA (AP) - Kentucky coach John Calipari says sophomore point guard Ryan Harrow is transferring to Georgia State. Calipari says he supports Harrow's decision to be closer to his family in Atlanta. Calipari says the health of Harrow's father played a role in the decision. Harrow averaged 9.3 points per game as a freshman at North Carolina State in the 2010-11 season before transferring to Kentucky. He sat out the Wildcats' 2011-12 national championship season. Harrow averaged 9.9 points in 29 games, including 24 starts, for Kentucky last season.

Former Kentucky high school coach Maurice Dixon is glad to see that Kentucky is interested in Dante Sawyer, a defensive end he now coaches at North Gwinnett (Ga.) “Dante is upper echelon. He is a legit big-time player,” said Dixon, a former coach at Hazard who is now the defensive coordinator at North Gwinnett. “My talk to him is keep your mind open and see this Kentucky offer as an opportunity, and I think he is very interested in Kentucky. Being from Kentucky, I would love to see some of our kids get a chance to go to UK. “Kids down south have a lot of opportunities, and they just don't know about Kentucky unless they get a chance to go and see the facilities.

'12' and '3.' Those were the only figures written on the white board during halftime of Kentucky's SEC tournament semifinals contest with Georgia Saturday. The Bulldogs had 12 offensive rebounds compared to the Cats' three, and coach Matthew Mitchell was not happy about it. Nor was he happy with the halftime score, which showed the Cats trailing 24-19. His team took the simple message written on the board to heart and came out of the gates firing in the second half to outscore Georgia 41-14.

Not sure I can remember a Kentucky fan base being so disappointed in a UK team in recent years - or specifically upset with what it feels has been a lack of all-out effort. Kentucky went to Georgia Thursday night needing a win to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Instead, it lost 72-62 and was again beat too often on the boards and to loose balls while the offense struggled for any continuity. Here's a sampling of Twitter messages I saw from UK fans during the game: n   @MrJoshHopkins: “Dead team walking.” n @aepps25: “lackluster....no sense of urgency with the post-season on da line...

Matthew Mitchell focused on Kentucky, not opponent With Kentucky's first opponent in the SEC tournament not being decided until 6 p.m. Thursday, coach Matthew Mitchell finds it difficult to focus on scouting two other teams.  Instead, he's completely keyed into how Kentucky can be the best version of Kentucky. He is telling his players they have to concentrate on their own attitudes and mindsets heading into Friday. The team also had a meeting before practice Thursday about what they could do to fulfill their true potential.

LEXINGTON - Freshman Willie Cauley-Stein thought Kentucky was playing with the energy it needed at Arkansas on Saturday. Film study showed how wrong he was. “During the game you don't feel like you were playing the way everybody was saying we played but then when you go back on film you can definitely see that (Arkansas) was playing with more intensity, playing tougher. They was punking us,” said Cauley-Stein Wednesday as he looked back on the 13-point road loss. “You see that in film and you're like you don't want that to ever happen again.

Georgia won't apply the same intense, in-your-face defensive pressure that Arkansas did or push the ball in transition nearly as fast as the Razorbacks did Saturday when they beat Kentucky by 13 points. However, Kentucky will face one of the Southeastern Conference's premier players in sophomore guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope when it plays at Georgia on  Thursday. “I've been very impressed with how he's playing. He's definitely playing like an all-league player,” Kentucky assistant coach John Robic said.

When Georgia coach Mark Fox looks at Kentucky, he doesn't see the team that many feel is on the verge of missing the NCAA tournament one year after winning the national championship. Instead, he sees a team having “a postseason kind of year” for coach John Calipari despite Kentucky's recent losses at Tennessee and Arkansas since the season-ending injury suffered by center Nerlens Noel. “First of all, they're the defending national champions. I think John's done a terrific job in rebuilding a team after all that they lost, and obviously they've had a terrible injury in the middle of the season (to Noel)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Throughout its 34-game home win streak, No. 8 Kentucky has made its living turning defense into offense with turnovers and transition baskets. Georgia stopped the Wildcats from doing just that Sunday, and the No. 13 Lady Bulldogs won at Memorial Coliseum 75-71. The Wildcats (19-3, 7-2) had not lost a home game since dropping a 73-67 decision to Tennessee on Feb. 7, 2011. The streak also included 15 straight SEC wins at home. "When you draw back and look at it over the total period of the win streak, it was a lot of good play by a lot of good players," Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell said.

Jennifer O'Neill dribbled at the top of the key with less than 20 seconds remaining in the Cats' game against Georgia Sunday, looking for the open door to shoot what would have been a game-tying three-pointer.  But in a change of pace for the UK team known for its pressure defense, the Bulldogs forced a turnover by O'Neill and managed to pull out a 75-71 victory in front of 7,016 at Memorial Coliseum.  The Cats had won 34 games in a row on their home turf, dating back to last season.