Saturday, December 18, 1999
UK-UL lacking luster
Neither team is in top 25
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's not the kind of history Kentucky and Louisville are used to making on the basketball court.
When the intrastate rivals meet today at Rupp Arena, it will be the first time since they began their regular-season “Dream Game” series in 1983 that neither team is ranked in a national poll.
Kentucky (4-4) is struggling. The Wildcats have lost four of their last five games and dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in nine years after last Saturday's loss at Maryland.
The Cardinals (5-2), meanwhile, are on the rise, having won five straight since dropping their first two games. They bring a two-game winning streak over Kentucky into today's game and will be trying to win three straight over the Wildcats for the first time in school history.
“It goes without saying, we've lost two in a row to the Cardinals and that's hard to live with with a lot of people,” UK coach Tubby Smith said Friday. “We've got to live, so we move on to the next one, you've got another game to play, but we know how important this is. Our players understand the rivalry.”
“To me, this game means more than any other, regular season, even Indiana,” said Wildcats guard J.P. Blevins, one of eight Kentucky natives on the two teams.
Kentucky has not played since losing at Maryland.
“Nobody wants to get beat by someone three in a row, I don't care who it is,” Louisville coach Denny Crum said. “Obviously, they've worked out their schedule to have a free week to prepare for whatever it is that we're going to do.”
On paper, the Cardinals figure to be a tough match for the Wildcats, who have struggled offensively much of the season and whose ballhandling has been suspect of late. The Wildcats have committed at least 18 turnovers in each of their four losses, to Arizona, Dayton, Indiana and Maryland.
Louisville, on the other hand, is forcing an average of 24.6 turnovers a game, giveaways which have contributed 35 percent of the Cardinals' 84.3 points per game. In their last three games, wins over Louisiana Tech, Alabama and Central Florida, the Cards ran up a combined turnover margin of 87-51.
“They're quick and athletic and they're really getting after people defensively,” Smith said. “I think they're pressing more, they look like they're really pressing and trapping a lot and creating a lot of opportunities for themselves.”
Smith raised the possibility that he would tinker with Kentucky's lineups.
“We could go ... with a quicker lineup, a better ball-handling lineup, maybe,” he said. “We want to get the ball up and down the court. I think we're a more effective team when we're running.”
Crum feels the Wildcats' real problem is not offensive execution.
“The biggest problem is you can run any kind of play you want, if you get the ball to an open man and he doesn't make the open shot, it doesn't look like you're doing much,” he said.
Louisville is coming off a sluggish effort against Central Florida, which led 32-22 at halftime before the Cardinals turned up the intensity in the second half and won 78-58.
“It was negative that (the players) weren't ready to begin with, but it was not unexpected” with the Kentucky game looming, Crum said.
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