Sunday, December 19, 1999
Kentucky 76, Louisville 46
'Cats bomb away to get revenge
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEXINGTON, Ky. — In the wake of its recent free-fall, Kentucky had quieted its normal spoken goal of a national championship.
Saturday, “state champs” wore well enough.
Flashing fire not yet seen and talent previously untapped, the Wildcats blasted archrival Louisville 76-46 at Rupp Arena. Leading by just a point at halftime, UK held the Cardinals to just one basket the next 18 minutes and easily avenged back-to-back losses in this series.
“We knew we were going to take our lumps early (this season),” UK junior point guard Saul Smith said. “But we turned things up a notch defensively.
“I know when we play like we did today, not too many teams can beat us.”
This was a win the Wildcats wanted badly, and not because they entered at 4-4.
Because of two long years of listening to Louisville fans, such as the ones who wrote letters to UK senior center Jamaal Magloire.
“They (read), "We're going to kick your butt,' and so forth,” UK guard Keith Bogans said. “We hung them on
our locker room door, so we had to see them every time we came in or left.”
UK coach Tubby Smith, who had been 0-2 against the Cardinals, downplayed the revenge factor — “It's a win,” he said — but the players didn't borrow his poker face.
“You could see how pumped up we were for them,” UK sophomore Tayshaun Prince said.
It was the largest margin of victory in the series since 1986, when UK won by 34 points. For UK (5-4), which fell out of the Top 25 last week for the first time in nine years, any margin would have worked.
The past week was harsher than any since the days of NCAA probation last decade. Talk-show callers bashed the Smiths — Tubby and Saul — and both appeared weary when meeting the media Saturday.
“It's just basketball,” Tubby said. “It's a game, not life and death.
“I never saw it as there being a dark cloud (over the season). It's a young team. I've had to be patient with it. We've always gotten great effort; we're just more mature after eight or nine games.”
UK's coach preaches defense, and it was that aspect that spelled Saturday's blowout.
The Wildcats used a new lineup, sitting 6-foot-11 Jules Camara, inserting Bogans at shooting guard, and moving Prince from small forward to power forward and Desmond Allison from shooting guard to Prince's old spot.
The result was a smaller, quicker group. Louisville (5-3), which entered on a five-game winning streak, closed the first half with a 6-0 run to cut UK's lead to 35-34, but the Wildcats' fleet feet won the race to every loose ball thereafter.
Louisville missed its first 11 shots of the second half, made one, then missed 10 more in a row. Only after Tubby Smith pulled his starters and Louisville reinserted its first five did UK allow two late baskets.
“We ran into a brick wall the second half,” Louisville's Nate Johnson said.
UK outscored Louisville 41-12 in the half. The Cardinals shot 3-for-27 (.111) in the half and were outrebounded 26-9 in that span. UK made 16 of 24 second-half shots (.667).
“Kentucky played really well, smart, and took advantage of every mistake,” Louisville coach Denny Crum said.
The biggest beneficiary of the lineup change was Prince, who had game-high totals of 20 points and five blocked shots, adding seven rebounds, two assists and a steal with no turnovers.
Prince was markedly aggressive, sinking a 3-pointer eight seconds into the game and repeatedly driving inside for pull-up jumpers.
“Playing the "4' (spot), they'll usually have a slower man on me than when I play the "3,'” Prince said. “And once I hit my first shot, I kind of had the urgency to keep shooting.”
Magloire sets UK block record
UK finally finds its 3-point touch
LOUISVILLE (46)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Williams 33 4-12 1-1 2-7 2 2 12
Johnson 32 4-11 2-2 2-5 0 1 11
Edward 26 2-4 0-0 2-4 0 5 4
Gaines 31 3-8 1-1 1-2 0 1 7
Maybin 31 3-13 2-2 1-1 2 0 9
Brooks 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Turner 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Bailey 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Gervin 11 0-1 1-2 0-1 0 1 1
Smiley 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hopper 12 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 17-57 7-8 9-21 4 14 46
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.298, FT-.875. 3-Point Goals:
5-21, .238 (Williams 3-7, Johnson 1-2, Gaines
0-3, Maybin 1-6, Bailey 0-1, Gervin 0-1, Smiley
0-1). Team rebounds: 27. Blocked shots: 1
(Hopper). Turnovers: 16 (Gaines 4, Johnson 3,
Maybin 2, Williams 2, Edward, Gervin, Hopper).
Steals: 4 (Gaines 2, Bailey, Maybin).
KENTUCKY (76)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 35 8-13 1-2 2-7 2 2 20
Allison 32 6-9 2-4 1-3 4 2 16
Magloire 30 5-8 2-2 4-10 1 1 12
Smith 29 2-5 0-0 0-6 1 3 4
Bogans 30 5-6 0-2 0-2 4 2 12
Blevins 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Masiello 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Knight 3 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 0 2
Tackett 7 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Stone 12 2-4 0-0 1-5 1 3 4
Camara 11 2-3 2-2 0-1 0 1 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 31-52 7-12 10-37 14 14 76
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.596, FT-.583. 3-Point Goals:
7-14, .500 (Prince 3-5, Allison 2-3, Smith 0-2,
Bogans 2-2, Tackett 0-1, Camara 0-1). Team
rebounds: 45. Blocked shots: 9 (Prince 5,
Magloire 3, Stone). Turnovers: 16 (Bogans 4,
Magloire 3, Stone 3, Allison 2, Smith 2, Camara,
Masiello). Steals: 9 (Allison 2, Bogans 2, Smith
2, Prince, Stone, Tackett).
__________________________________
Louisville 34 12 - 46
Kentucky 35 41 - 76
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 23,491. Officials:
Patrick Adams, Don Rutledge, Frankie Bourdeaux.
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