Friday, March 16, 2001
Kentucky dodges a bullet
Prince helps put away Holy Cross in opener
By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — When a game is on the line for UK, everybody knows Tayshaun Prince will get the ball. Stopping him is a different matter.
Prince took over an unexpectedly tight game for Kentucky, knocking down two second-half 3s, hitting a pair of late free throws and scoring 12 of the Wildcats' final 14 points in a 72-68 win Thursday over Holy Cross in the NCAA Tournament East Regional's first round.
The scenario was familiar for Prince, who this season has made five game-winning shots while emerging as the Wildcats' go-to player.
“What hurts for me is that we focused on shutting down Tayshaun Prince,” said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard, a former UK assistant coach. “We didn't want him to beat us. Great players rise to the occasion.”
Prince, a 6-foot-9 junior forward who is the Southeastern Conference's player of the year and a second-team All-American, scored a game-high 27 points, and sophomore guard Keith Bogans added 17. The only other Wildcat in double figures was freshman center Jason Parker, who finished with 10 points.
“In certain situations, guys look to me and Keith Bogans to get the game going,” said Prince, who hit three of his four 3-point shots. “Our guys did a great job of getting us open to get good looks. We just had to hit the shots.”
Holy Cross entered the game leading the nation in field-goal defense (37.9 percent). A 20-point favorite, Kentucky hit almost 50 percent of its shots against the 22-8 Crusaders, the Patriot League champs.
“It took awhile to get the outside game going,” Prince said. “We had a hard time on the inside defensively against excellent shot-blocking. We got the 3s falling; things fell into place.”
Holy Cross, however, exploited some uninspired defensive play by the Cats in the early stages of the second half to keep the game tight.
Kentucky coach Tubby Smith praised Holy Cross' defense and effort. He and Willard were UK assistant coaches together in 1989-90, Rick Pitino's first season as head coach.
“Ralph Willard's team plays a lot like we do,” Smith said. “They are very quick. They deserve to be the No.1 defensive team in the country.”
With 8:29 left in the second half, Holy Cross forward Jared Curry, a 6-5 senior, made the first of two quick 3-point shots. The Crusaders tied the score at 58 when 7-foot senior center Josh Sankes made a pair of one-handed free throws with 6:28 left.
During a timeout, Smith set up plays to get the ball in Prince's hands. Even though Holy Cross had rallied from a 36-27 halftime deficit, Bogans said, the Wildcats remained focused and confident.
“You always have to have the mind-set that the game isn't over until the buzzer goes off,” Bogans said. “You have to play hard the entire 20 minutes of each half.”
After that timeout, Prince went on his tear.
Prince made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, including an arching bomb from well behind the arc and just in front of the Kentucky bench.
He added a one-handed runner, a baseline jumper and a pair of free throws with 7.2 seconds left to seal the victory and put Kentucky into a second-round game Saturday against seventh-seeded Iowa.
During second-half timeouts, Prince repeatedly asked for the ball, senior point guard Saul Smith said.
“I know how to listen and keep my people happy,” Saul Smith said.
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HOLY CROSS (68)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Curry 39 6-10 0-0 0-2 7 2 16
Szatko 33 4-9 1-1 0-2 3 2 11
J Sankes 39 4-7 5-5 1-10 0 2 13
Serravalle 29 4-10 0-0 0-4 4 1 10
Pegues 15 1-3 2-3 2-3 1 4 4
Wilson 16 2-4 2-2 0-2 0 1 6
Meade 27 3-8 0-0 1-3 4 1 8
Whearty 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-51 10-11 4-27 19 14 68
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.471, FT-.909. 3-Point Goals:
10-18, .556 (Curry 4-6, Szatko 2-4, Serravalle
2-4, Pegues 0-1, Meade 2-3). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 3 (Pegues 2, J Sankes). Turnovers:
19 (Curry 3, J Sankes 3, Serravalle 3, Szatko 3,
Meade 2, Whearty 2, Wilson 2, Pegues). Steals: 6
(Meade 2, Pegues 2, Serravalle, Wilson).
KENTUCKY (72)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Bogans 31 7-15 1-2 2-4 6 2 17
Prince 38 10-17 4-4 1-5 3 0 27
Parker 18 5-10 0-2 3-4 0 3 10
Fitch 29 2-5 0-0 1-4 1 2 5
Smith 32 2-4 0-0 0-2 4 2 4
Hawkins 9 0-2 2-2 0-0 0 1 2
Blevins 13 1-3 2-2 1-1 0 0 5
Daniels 7 1-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
Stone 13 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 3 0
Estill 10 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 3 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 28-59 9-12 9-24 15 16 72
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.475, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
7-15, .467 (Bogans 2-4, Prince 3-4, Fitch 1-2,
Smith 0-2, Blevins 1-3). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 4 (Parker 2, Prince, Fitch).
Turnovers: 9 (Bogans 3, Blevins, Fitch, Hawkins,
Prince, Smith, Stone). Steals: 9 (Bogans 2,
Prince 2, Blevins, Daniels, Fitch, Parker, Smith).
__________________________________
Holy Cross 27 41 - 68
Kentucky 36 36 - 72
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Tom Rucker,
Eddie Jackson, Jerry Sauder.
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Kentucky dodges a bullet
