ATHENS -- Conference play does not get easier for a Georgia basketball team stumbling through the meanest month of its schedule.

The Bulldogs (14-10, 4-7 SEC) will face an opponent ranked in the SEC’s top five for the fourth time in six games when they host Kentucky at noon on Saturday.

“We’re in the heart of the SEC season, of course,” UGA coach Mike White said. “It’s a much, much improved league, as we all know. We’ve got probably six going into the NCAA Tournament, and probably eight or nine that have a chance to go dance.”

The Bulldogs, who have dropped six of their last seven games, are looking to halt a three-game losing skid.

White stays focused on the future, but a win over the Wildcats (16-8, 7-4) would serve as a slice of vengeance.

After all, it was Kentucky that rallied a comeback win against UGA over three weeks ago that started the team’s first losing streak of the season.

The Bulldogs entered Lexington that day seemingly poised to shock the SEC, boasting a 3-1 conference record that included impressive upsets of Auburn and Mississippi State with a road win at Ole Miss.

Georgia continued to roll through the first half against Kentucky, taking a 42-34 lead into halftime. That was when reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe exploded for 23 points and 15 rebounds in the game’s final 20 minutes, leading to an 85-71 Wildcat win.

Limiting Tshiebwe, who leads the Wildcats in points (15.5), rebounds (13.3), and blocks (0.9) is paramount for Georgia. Bulldog bigs Braelen Bridges, Frank Anselem and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe will need all their physicality to defend the 6-foot-9, 260-pound rim-rattler.

“It is the simple stuff, boxing out, getting good physical hits and having attention to detail to limit his touches,” Moncrieffe said. “It is going to be hard.”

The Bulldogs will look to build on the first half of the loss at Kentucky that, according to both White and guard Kario Oquendo, was their best half of the season. White’s team shot 15 of 27 from the field and held all Wildcats beside Tshiebwe to 20 combined points.

Georgia could be without the player who led it at the half, though, as leading scorer Terry Roberts’ playing status remains day-to-day. The star point guard sustained a concussion against Auburn on February 1.

UGA could turn to Oquendo, who got back to his dominant ways on Tuesday night. The preseason All-SEC selection scored 19 points after shooting just 7 of 29 from the floor in his last four games.

Bridges, coming off a revival game of his own, could also be crucial to Georgia’s offensive success. The Atlanta product scored a career-high 26 points with 11 rebounds after scoring 11 total points in his previous four contests.

“He’s demanding the ball more,” White said of Bridges. “He played at a high level offensively, which led to defending at a higher level too.

“As coaches, you want that to be your constant. You want that to be something that’s easier to control, so let’s control it.”