Notes from UK’s win over Georgia

- In UK’s 76-68 win over Georgia on Saturday at Rupp Arena, the Cats and Bulldogs exchanged leads a dozen times with the Cats not taking the lead for good until 7:27 left in the game. The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to two with one minute to play, but couldn’t get any closer.

- Two key stats that determined the outcome of the game: UK outscored Georgia 46-28 in the paint and Georgia turned the ball over 26 times to UK’s 14.

- Attendance for the game was 24,342.

- Darius Miller only took two shots in 15 minutes of play. The sophomore guard scored five points.

- After playing seven minutes in the first half, DeMarcus Cousins played all but two minutes in the second half. Cousins scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half.

- After the game Calipari and Patterson spoke very highly on the play of sophomore guard DeAndre Liggins:

“Who fought? You tell me who went in and fought? DeAndre Liggins,” Calipari said. “It is not brain surgery. We all saw how he can play. Now the question is, do I start him? Should he be a starter? The tentativeness, the softness, the ‘I got screened I’m sorry’, it is too late now. We are in the middle of the season and you have to ball … DeAndre was probably the difference in the game. If I had to play other people we probably wouldn’t have enough to win. One guy was breaking down and they were coming up with balls. He tied up a ball for a jump ball and made that layup when we were dying. He did some really good things. I was proud of him too, really proud of him.”

Calipari continued, “DeAndre, he is building more confidence because he is performing. We have to get that from everybody. For us to be one of those teams, our bench is going to have to be deep.”

“DeAndre just played tremendous,” said junior forward Patrick Patterson. “Him being able to just put pressure on the ball handler, his active hands and also his energy he brought out there. His hustle plays, diving on the floor, being able to disrupt the passing. He had tremendous play and tremendous energy.”

- Liggins finished the game 2-for-3 from the field for six points, one rebound and three steals.

- UK is 60-17 in Southeastern Conference openers, and 111-24 against Georgia. Calipari hasn’t lost a regular season game since Dec. 20, 2008 against Syracuse. UK’s 16-0 start is their best since the 1965-66 season. That team started with 23 straight wins.

- For the second consecutive game, UK went 2-14 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Darnell Dodson is 0-8 in his last two games, and 0-7 from beyond the arc.

- Rupp Arena is beginning to resemble the Staples Center where celebrities always come to watch the Los Angeles Lakers. Against Louisville on Jan. 2, rapper Drake was in attendance to watch the Cats. On Saturday afternoon, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Hollywood actress and UK alumnus Ashley Judd were in attendance.

- Patrick Patterson has moved into 30th place on the UK career scoring list with 1,284 points. Patterson has scored in double figures in 11 straight games and all but one this season.