Sunday, March 07, 1999
KENTUCKY 69, AUBURN 57
Wildcats face Arkansas in SEC final
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ATLANTA — Just seven minutes had elapsed Saturday when an Auburn cheerleader, incredulous his fourth-ranked Tigers were losing, spoke up.
“C'mon, it's just Kentucky,” he yelled.
Just Kentucky?
The Wildcats are Southeastern Conference royalty. And as this cheerleader will learn, the SEC Tournament is annually a Kentucky coronation. The 14th-ranked Wildcats never trailed Saturday in racing to a 69-57 victory at the Georgia Dome.
“We felt we had a lot to prove,” UK senior forward Scott Padgett said. “Reading the papers, I see a lot of people have written this team off, saying we're not the Kentucky team of the last few seasons.
“Our goal is still to win the national championship, which it is every year. If we keep getting better like we have, we'll have a chance at it again.”
UK (24-8), now 22-1 in this event in the 1990s, will face Arkansas (22-9) for the tourney title at 12:30 p.m. Six hours later, they will learn their NCAA Tournament seed ing, one which should have dramatically improved after Saturday's showing.
“I've always said we've been a good team,” junior center Jamaal Magloire said. “Now we're showing signs of being a great team.”
Just a week ago, the Wildcats were bleeding. They finished the regular season with as many losses as the last two seasons combined, and Padgett's post-mortem on a loss to Tennessee was, “God, we're horrible.”
Tennessee players gleefully applied the salt, saying UK didn't have top-flight talent anymore.
Critics eyeing the SEC tourney draw penciled in Auburn to avenge its earlier loss to UK. UK had only 15 hours between the end of its Friday night quarterfinal and Saturday's tipoff, while Auburn had a full day.
All of which meant little Saturday. UK took a 17-6 lead in the first six minutes, then held Auburn (27-3) to a season-low 30-percent shooting.
“I feel like we're still a dominant team in this league,” UK senior point guard Wayne Turner said. “We still have good players. And this (tourney) is where we always come together.”
That Auburn cheerleader, highly ranked though his team is, had no room to talk. The Tigers have now lost 14 straight to the Wildcats, and their last victory came nine years ago against a probation-strapped team UK team.
Auburn had no excuses. It didn't have three players felled by the flu as it had earlier this season against UK. This one wasn't in Rupp Arena.
“We got beat by a heck of a team,” Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. “They're a team that can go a long way.”
UK's opening volley proved critical. Auburn, which ranked second nationally with a plus-21.4 average scoring margin, wasn't used to playing catch-up. Its tournament inexperience — it hadn't reached the SEC tourney semifinals since 1991 — hurt further.
“When you're behind in tournament games, the pressure begins to build,” UK coach Tubby Smith said.
These Wildcats are willing to admit they're not the Comeback Cats of last season. They're more comfortable with a lead to protect. With four minutes left Saturday, their free-throw percentage was a woeful .333 (5-of-15), but they made nine of their last 10 foul shots to cement matters.
“Winning in March is different from the regular season,” Padgett said. “Every game, you've got to play your best — three games in a row in this tournament, six games in a row in the NCAAs. I think that's something we've proved we can do throughout my career.”
“I don't listen to those things people say about us,” Turner said. “Last year, people said the same things, and we won the national championship.
“I'm not saying we're going to win it all again, but we're confident in what we can do. We're playing well now.”
UK NOTEBOOK
KENTUCKY (69)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Padgett 35 4-7 2-5 5-7 3 1 13
Evans 27 3-10 5-10 0-3 4 2 11
Bradley 23 4-7 1-4 2-7 0 3 9
Turner 34 3-11 6-6 0-4 7 2 13
Allison 26 4-7 0-2 1-4 1 2 10
Magloire 26 5-8 0-0 4-9 0 1 10
Prince 15 1-5 0-0 0-3 0 0 3
Smith 12 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 2 0
Camara 1 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Hogan 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-59 14-27 13-40 15 13 69
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.407, FT-.519. 3-Point Goals:
7-20, .350 (Padgett 3-5, Evans 0-1, Turner 1-4,
Allison 2-3, Prince 1-4, Smith 0-3). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6 (Magloire 2,
Padgett, Evans, Prince, Camara). Turnovers: 11
(Evans 4, Turner 3, Bradley 2, Magloire 2).
Steals: 4 (Turner 3, Padgett).
AUBURN (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Porter 30 4-11 4-6 2-9 0 2 12
B Smith 23 2-8 0-0 3-5 0 4 4
Ndiaye 27 0-3 1-2 2-9 2 3 1
Pohlman 13 2-5 0-0 1-2 0 2 4
Robinson 32 5-12 1-2 2-2 2 3 14
Fishback 24 2-7 0-0 0-5 1 0 6
Chilliest 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Mcgadney 10 1-6 0-0 5-6 0 1 2
Heard 20 5-10 1-3 2-3 1 3 14
Person 9 0-4 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Sharp 8 0-3 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Hamilton 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
A Smith 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-70 7-13 19-44 6 21 57
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.300, FT-.538. 3-Point Goals:
8-30, .267 (Porter 0-1, B Smith 0-2, Pohlman 0-1,
Robinson 3-6, Fishback 2-7, Mcgadney 0-1, Heard
3-7, Person 0-3, Sharp 0-2). Team rebounds: 1.
Blocked shots: 2 (Ndiaye 2). Turnovers: 14
(Porter 4, Robinson 3, Pohlman 2, Sharp 2,
Chilliest, Mcgadney, Ndiaye). Steals: 5 (Porter
2, B Smith, Mcgadney, Ndiaye).
__________________________________
Kentucky 33 36 - 69
Auburn 22 35 - 57
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: John
Clougherty, David Day, Tony Greene.
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