Sunday, February 06, 2000
Kentucky 76, South Carolina 63
Slim rotation not a problem in 7th straight win
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEXINGTON, Ky. — As Kentucky's ranking rises, its size shrivels. After the injury to Jules Camara, UK has no more bodies than the Brady Bunch. Title this, Tubby, I Shrunk the 'Cats.
Tubby Smith simply shelves conventional coaching to play master motivator: Less is more. Addition by subtraction.
Another man down? Another win up.
“They say a cat has nine lives,” UK sophomore guard J.P. Blevins said Saturday, after UK's 76-63 victory over South Carolina at Rupp Arena. “We're getting pretty slim here. We have to go out and give it all we've got.”
All they have is plenty. The 14th-ranked Wildcats, now essentially in a seven-man rotation, have won seven consecutive games and 13 of their last 14. They are 17-5 and own the best Southeastern Conference mark, 7-1.
“Everybody's got to play a lot harder, a lot better,” senior center Jamaal Magloire said. “Losing Jules is definitely going to hurt, but we rise when adversity strikes.”
He would know. The last time UK suffered such roster depletion was three years ago, his freshman year. Those Wildcats overcame injuries to Derek Anderson and Allen Edwards and had only eight healthy scholarship players in their run to the NCAA finals.
Where have all the Wildcats gone this time? Michael Bradley and Ryan Hogan transfered. Nate Knight came and left. Freshman Marquis Estill didn't make grades. And now Camara is out 2-to-4
weeks with a “stress reaction” in his right foot.
That leaves nine players. Omit senior walk-on Steve Masiello, who hasn't scored a basket this season, and there are eight. Omit sophomore Todd Tackett, who has scored just 16 points all year and played only 4:39 Saturday, and it's a seven-man rotation.
One senior, one junior, three sophomores and two freshmen.
“They're growing up,” Smith said. “They've played 22 games now. You can see the transformation carrying over from practices to games.
“Our poise is what has really stuck out to me. We've been making the right choice in big situations, and that's good to see out of a young team.”
It's nothing new.
“Tubby's teams get better as the years go on,” South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler said. “They overscheduled early this year, but now they're getting better and better and better.”
The Gamecocks (9-13, 1-8) were game Saturday, despite suffering their eighth consecutive loss. They held a 39-37 lead early in the second half, but UK used one of its patented quicksilver runs — three scores in 30 seconds, part of an 8-0 run — to restore its lead.
UK's lead was just 65-60 with five minutes left, but Magloire and freshman Keith Bogans scored four points apiece in UK's closing flurry.
Those two were big again. Magloire tied his career high of 23 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 11-of-11 foul shooting, adding 11 rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Bogans added 21 points, three assists and three steals.
“Jamaal Magloire was the difference,” Fogler said. “He gives them a presence inside that nobody else in the SEC has.”
Said Magloire: “Now that we're starting to hit our outside shots, defenses have to play us more honest. That's making it easier for us to get it inside.”
Desmond Allison scored 11 points for UK, with Tayshaun Prince adding 10. The willowy, 6-foot-9 Prince, who began as a shooting guard, now must stick at power forward. Freshman Marvin Stone is the only reserve inside.
“It's tough having only three big guys,” Prince said. “That will definitely be a problem if we get in foul trouble.”
A dangerous stretch awaits this week: trips Tuesday to No.12 Florida and Sunday to No.22 Louisiana State. Don't expect Smith to dream up new rotations or game plans.
“We miss Jules' scoring, defense and athleticism,” he said. “But it doesn't change how we do things as much as you might think.”
Camara beginning rehab for foot
SOUTH CAROLINA (63)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Ross 22 2-9 0-0 2-4 4 3 6
Kinloch 17 0-3 1-2 2-3 1 4 1
Petravicius 25 6-10 1-1 3-4 0 4 13
Davis 26 1-4 0-0 0-2 3 1 2
Eidson 36 5-11 0-0 0-3 7 1 13
Bradley 21 4-11 2-2 0-2 1 1 14
Kraft 11 1-4 0-0 1-1 1 0 3
Grant 24 3-7 0-2 1-4 0 0 7
Kitchings 18 2-4 0-0 4-4 1 2 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-63 4-7 13-27 18 16 63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.381, FT-.571. 3-Point Goals:
11-32, .344 (Ross 2-6, Davis 0-2, Eidson 3-6,
Bradley 4-11, Kraft 1-4, Grant 1-3). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 1 (Grant). Turnovers:
14 (Eidson 4, Grant 3, Davis 2, Kitchings 2,
Bradley, Petravicius, Ross). Steals: 9 (Eidson 3,
Grant 3, Davis, Kinloch, Kitchings).
KENTUCKY (76)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 36 4-10 0-0 1-4 2 1 10
Allison 32 3-9 4-4 0-3 3 2 11
Magloire 28 6-7 11-11 5-11 0 3 23
Bogans 37 9-15 0-1 0-4 3 1 21
Smith 31 0-5 1-2 0-3 5 2 1
Blevins 13 2-3 0-0 0-0 3 0 6
Masiello 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Tackett 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Stone 17 2-4 0-0 0-3 0 0 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 26-54 16-18 6-28 17 10 76
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.481, FT-.889. 3-Point Goals:
8-25, .320 (Prince 2-6, Allison 1-5, Bogans 3-8,
Smith 0-3, Blevins 2-3). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 4 (Magloire 4). Turnovers: 14
(Bogans 3, Prince 3, Stone 3, Allison 2, Smith 2,
Magloire). Steals: 7 (Bogans 3, Magloire 2, Smith
2).
__________________________________
South Carolina 35 28 - 63
Kentucky 35 41 - 76
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 23,109. Officials:
Andre Patillo, Doug Shows, Tony Green.
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