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Cats Come Up Short Against No. 24 LSU, 71-67

Wildcats | 28 February, 2006 14:37

Darrel Mitchell and Glen Davis each made two free throws in the final seconds to help No. 24 LSU beat Kentucky 71-67 on Saturday basketball game.

Wildcats guard Patrick Sparks made a 3-pointer to tie it at 67 with 27 seconds to play. On the next possession, Ravi Moss fouled Mitchell as he started to drive into the lane. He made two foul shots to put the Tigers ahead 69-67 spread with 13 seconds left.

On the next possession, Kentucky's Sheray Thomas missed a short shot along the baseline with 2 seconds to go. Davis rebounded the ball, drew a foul from Thomas and made two free throws for the final margin.

The victory moved LSU (20-7, 12-2) into sole possession of first place in the overall Southeastern Conference standings ahead of Tennessee, which lost to Arkansas on Saturday.

Davis equaled a career high with 28 points and also had 15 rebounds. Mitchell had 13 points and eight assists, while Tasmin Mitchell had nine of his 10 points in the second half.

Randolph Morris led Kentucky (18-10, 8-6) with 17 points. Sparks added 13 points.

The Wildcats came back from two four-point deficits in the last 3 minutes to tie the score. Rajon Rondo made a 3 to get Kentucky within 60-59 with 2:58 remaining.

After Tasmin Mitchell made one of two free throws, a basket by Morris tied it at 61 with 2:12 left.

The Tigers ncaa team then built another four-point advantage as Mitchell and Davis each hit two foul shots. Sparks hit a 3-pointer to cut it to one but Davis scored with 53 seconds left to give LSU a 67-64 lead.

Sparks Ignites Second Half Surge as Cats Stop South Carolina

Wildcats | 21 February, 2006 16:29

Patrick Sparks had six second-half 3-pointers and a season-high 26 points to rally Kentucky to a 79-66 college basketball spread victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Sparks, the Wildcats long-range specialist, had gone just 1 of 6 in a win against Georgia this past Wednesday and missed both shots he took from behind the arc in the first half of this one. But Sparks found his range and the Wildcats (17-9, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) went on to sweep the regular-season series from South Carolina (14-11, 5-7) for the 12th time in the school's 15 league years.

Sparks first three put ncaa Kentucky team ahead to stay, 33-30, with 17:53 left. He and his teammates were far from finished, however.

Sparks followed with a bucket - his lone 2-pointer of the half - and another three to put Kentucky up 40-32. A minute later Sparks was at it again, swishing a three to extend the lead to 12 points.

When Sheray Thomas scored to make it 53-39, it finished a 25-9 run where the Wildcats hit 10 of 12 field goals.

The closest South Carolina came after that was 53-45 on two baskets by Tarence Kinsey. Sparks, though, ended any hopes of a comeback with his final two 3-pointers.

South Carolina had entered on a bit of a hot streak with victories in four of its past six games, including a sweep of nationally ranked Florida. The game also was a reunion of about 80 former Gamecock standouts honored at halftime and hopeful this would end differently than so many others against Kentucky.

Instead, Sparks' outside shooting helped the Wildcats improve to 37-6 all-time against South Carolina. He finished 8 of 11 from the field, 6 of 8 from three-point range and made his four foul shots. Sparks also added four assists and two steals.

Randolph Morris had 13 points and 11 rebounds, his second straight game with double-digit points and rebounds.

Kinsey led South Carolina with 21 points. Just eight of those, however, came in the second half.

South Carolina's Renaldo Balkman followed a career performance of 28 points and 16 rebounds in an Alabama win this week with only six points and two rebounds against the Wildcats.

Kentucky moved in front quickly, leading 14-6 when Morris - who again did not start for the Wildcats - took control on the inside with several easy baskets.

Then Kentucky went cold and sloppy, going 0-of-4 from the field with three turnovers as South Carolina used a 16-2 run to move in front.

The Wildcats had an awful half from the outside. They missed all eight of their 3-pointers and, minus Morris' 4-of-4 performance, were only 5 of 17 from the field.

Wildcats Downed by No. 11 Volunteers

Wildcats | 20 February, 2006 15:48

A native of the Bluegrass State, Tennessee guard Chris Lofton returned on Tuesday night to carry his 11th-ranked Volunteers to a 75-67 victory over Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

The loss dropped Kentucky to 15-8 overall and 5-4 in the Southeastern Conference. It was the fourth setback for the Wildcats at home, which is the most since the 1988-89 season. Tennessee snapped an eight-game losing streak to UK and improved to 17-3 overall. The Vols also took over sole possession of the SEC with an 8-1 record.

After jumping out to an early lead, Kentucky spread found itself playing from behind most of the way. The deficit never surpassed seven, but the Vols seemingly had an answer for every potential UK run. More times than not, the answer came from Lofton.

With Tennessee clinging to a one-point lead, 66-65, and two minutes left, he stepped up to score seven unanswered and put the game away with his old-fashioned three-point play with only 21 seconds remaining.

Three times earlier in the half Kentucky had trimmed the UT lead to three points or less only to watch Lofton come up with big shot to regain the momentum.

In the first half, Lofton buried three-pointers on three of four possessions as the Vols turned a four-point deficit into a four-point lead, 25-21, with 8:33 to go in the half.

The lone run UK made gave them a brief lead with just under six minutes remaining. Trailing 60-53, Joe Crawford sparked a 10-2 run with a three-point play. Randolph Morris scored a second-chance basket to bring UK within two before Ravi Moss tied it, 60-60 spread, with a dunk on a great pass from Rajon Rondo.

Tennessee ncaa team halted the momentum with a pair of free throws, but Moss brought the sold-out crowd of 24,184 to a frenzy with a three that made it 63-62 with 5:56 to play. The shot was Kentucky’s lone three-pointer of the second half as the Wildcats went 1-for-11 from behind the arc in the frame and 4-of-16 for the game.

The lead changed hands two more times before a Major Wingate layup gave Tennessee the lead for good with 2:32 left. Wingate finished with 12 points.

But the story was Lofton. The Maysville, Ky., native, who scored 39 points for Mason County High School in the 2003 Kentucky state championship game at Rupp, had a career night with 31 points. Of his 11 field goals, seven were three pointers with two others resulting in a three-point play.

Morris scored a season-best 20 points and grabbed seven boards. Moss poured in 14 off the bench while Crawford and Rondo added 12 and 11, respectively.

The game was No. 300 on the sidelines at Kentucky coach Orlando “Tubby” Smith. His record dropped to 234-66 as the Wildcats’ skipper.

Kentucky ncaa college basketball team returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Nashville to face SEC East foe Vanderbilt. The Wildcats fell to the Commodores earlier in the year, 57-52, at Rupp Arena.

Vandy Deals UK Third Straight Loss, 84-81

Wildcats | 13 February, 2006 15:18

DeMarre Carroll scored a career-high 22 points, and Vanderbilt held on for an 84-81 college basketball spreads victory over Kentucky Saturday to sweep the season series from the Wildcats for the first time since the 1973-74 season.

The Commodores (13-8, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) won the league title the last time they swept Kentucky. This time, the victory merely snapped a four-game losing skid for a team that had lost six of its last seven since beating the Wildcats in Rupp Arena on Jan. 10.

Kentucky (15-9, 5-5) nearly rallied from 10 points down in the final 90 seconds. But Rajon Rondo missed the second free throw on an intentional foul after being tackled by Vandy guard Alex Gordon with 24.7 seconds left, and Rondo missed a 3-point attempt with 5 seconds to go.

The Wildcats ncaa got the rebound with 2.1 seconds left after a timeout. Ramel Bradley's hurried 3-pointer never came close to the basket at the buzzer.

Derrick Byars added 17 for Vanderbilt, Shan Foster had 16 and Julian Terrell 11 as the Commodores shot a season-high 58 percent (30-of-51).

Patrick Sparks led Kentucky with 17 points, Bradley finished with 14 and Ravi Moss had 12. Randolph Morris, coming off a season-high 20 points, finished with eight points after playing only five minutes in the second half because of foul trouble.

Kentucky led for the last time when Sparks hit a 3-pointer with 9 minutes left. Byars came back with a 3 that put Vanderbilt up to stay at 63-61.

The Commodores took control when Terrell scored underneath, Bradley missed for Kentucky and Byars grabbed the rebound before tossing the ball downcourt to Gordon who scored on the easy layup to make it 74-67 with 5:25 left.

The game started with a sizzling first half in which neither Vanderbilt nor Kentucky seemingly could miss. Vanderbilt hit 18-of-28 for 64.3 percent in the half and used a 17-7 run for its biggest lead of the half at 41-34 in a spurt keyed by a pair of 3s from Foster.

But the Commodores, scoring the most points in a half this season, took a 47-44 edge into halftime when Sparks bounced a shot off the front rim at the buzzer.

Kentucky Had No Answers For Taurean Green

Wildcats | 06 February, 2006 15:08

Long before Joakim Noah won the opening tip of Saturday night's Florida-Kentucky basketball game, the O'Connell Center was charged with the kind of electricity that normally is reserved for March and that time we call Madness.

The College Game Day Crew of Reece, Digger and Jay were there along with Dickie V for this nationally televised Southeastern Conference shootout, a game that many experts thought would be Florida's ultimate comeuppance.

It's the kind of atmosphere that Kentucky expects. When you've won as much as the Wildcats have over the years, every road game is another close encounter with a frenzied crowd in a jam-packed arena and decibel levels of sonic proportions. The Wildcats ncca college basketball team are used to it because they have all the tradition and more wins than any school in the history of the college game. Because of the tradition and the fact the Wildcats came into the game on a five-game winning streak, many of the nation's experts thought the Gators would wilt under the pressure, especially since Florida was playing short handed due to injuries.

Florida wasn't intimidated by the Kentucky tradition or hampered by the injuries. The Gators (20-2, 6-2 SEC) may have a long way to go to match the Kentucky hype and mystique but seventh-ranked Florida played Saturday night like a team that's very comfortable in this new, rarified air near the top. Florida's 95-80 blowout win over the Wildcats, played before an O'Connell Center record crowd of 12,609, wasn't a quantum leap, just another in a long line of steps in the right direction for the Florida program since Donovan took over 10 years ago.

"They [Kentucky] have all the tradition," said Donovan, who now has won 20 games for eight straight years, the third best string of 20-win seasons in the history of the Southeastern Conference. "We're striving to get to that point and I think you always have to start somewhere. I feel like we can build something. We've got good kids in the program. We're aspiring to be what Kentucky is in college basketball."

Before Billy Donovan arrived on the Florida basketball scene, the Gators had won 20 games and appeared in the NCAA Tournament just five times in school history. The Gators will make it eight straight years in the NCAA Tournament this year and the way they played Saturday night, you can almost pencil them in for a high seeding.

Florida didn't just beat Kentucky Saturday night. The Gators took the Wildcats to school, dismantling them with surgical precision without resorting to any gimmicks or fancy plays. This win was accomplished with hard nosed man-to-man defense and a simple pick and roll play that the Wildcats still can't figure out how to defend.

Offensively, the game plan was to use Florida's big guys to set a high screen for point guard Taurean Green to get him free in the lane where he could force the issue with the Kentucky defense. If Kentucky's big guys didn't challenge him, he would simply take the ball all the way to the rack. If they tried to help their guards, he simply dished the ball off to Joakim Noah , Al Horford or Chris Richard for either a dunk or an easy layup.

That was the strategy and it worked to near perfection. Green finished the night with a career-high 29 points and nine assists while the threesome of Noah, Horford and Richard went 18-21 from the field.

"You get too close to him and he's a dart," said Donovan. "He just goes by you and all of a sudden he's good enough going to the basket to finish. Do you step up and try to help on him or do you step up and let him kick it off and drop it down to Joakim Noah and the other guys? His speed and ability to score and shoot the basketball enabled him to do what he did today."

It was the threat of the jump shot that opened up the game for Green. He nailed a three-pointer early in the first half on Florida's fourth possession and he hit another one in the second half that sparked a 13-0 run that gave the Gators control of the game. Kentucky had to try to play him tight to defend the jumper but when the Wildcats tried to get in his face, he ran them off one jarring pick after another which gave him room to maneuver in the lane.

"When Taurean drives to the basket, their bigs have to either help or he's going to get a layup," said Noah, who had a career-high 26 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and a steal. "When he drives to the basket and doesn't settle for his jump shot all the time, it just opens up so much."

Florida spent most of the first half playing catch-up to the Wildcats. Nine Florida turnovers gave Kentucky 13 points and the Wildcats got eight second chance points to zero for the Gators, who had to play much of the half with Horford on the bench with two fouls. Kentucky held a 41-39 lead at the half.

The Wildcats scored the first four points of the second half but that's when Donovan's defensive adjustments kicked in. The strategy in the second half was to limit the number of touches in the low block area for Kentucky's 6-10 center Randolph Morris , who had 10 points and five assists at the half. In the second half, the Gators got backside help with the guards sneaking in to slap at the ball whenever Morris tried to pivot away from the Gator big men. Florida got a couple of steals that triggered fast breaks but most of the time, the maneuver was simply disruptive.

With Kentucky leading 45-39, the Gators began to swarm defensively and that got the offense into a running mode. Florida scored 13 straight points during an 18-1 run that blew the game wide open. Green had a pair of threes and a layup along with three assists including a spectacular in-bounds alley-oop lob to Noah who soared high above the rim and dunked it back through, sending the crowd into an ear-shattering frenzy.

Donovan challenged his team at the half to step it up defensively and let the defense trigger the offense. After Kentucky got those two quick baskets to start the second half, the Gators came on strong on the defensive end.

"We were mad at halftime," said Brewer. "We were getting outrebounded and we weren't stopping anyone. Coach said we were playing like sissies so we went out there and we played aggressive. We were playing Florida defense. We got things going and when we get things going, it's hard to stop us."

Once the Gators had command of the game, they just ran the high pick and roll nearly every time down the floor. Green either got a layup, got fouled or dished off for an easy basket. The Gators went to the foul line 24 times in the final 11:30 of the game, converting 19 times. For the game, Florida was 30-37 from the line with Green leading the way at 10-12 and Brewer knocking down 9-10.

Brewer scored 16 points, his best game since spraining his ankle a couple of weeks ago against Tennessee .

"I'm about 90-95 percent now," said the 6-9 sophomore, who had four rebounds, four assists and a couple of steals. "I think I'll be 100 percent in the next couple of games."

Humphrey, who sat out Tuesday night's win over Ole Miss because of a dislocated shoulder suffered last Sunday when a car hit his bicycle, played 11 minutes. He only attempted one shot (missed) but contributed a couple of assists and a steal while giving Green and freshman Walter Hodge some rest time on the bench.

"We haven't played with a full complement of players since the Georgia game in the SEC," said Donovan. "Al Horford had strep throat, (David) Huertas had strep throat, Corey sprained his ankle against Tennessee and Humphrey dislocates his shoulder. If we can get Humphrey back with the way he shoots the basketball, I think we can be pretty good."

The Gators were better than pretty good Saturday night. They didn't play like the team that's still elbowing its way through the crowd when it comes to basketball tradition. They played in the limelight like they belonged there. They played like a team that's unafraid and very, very capable.

For Green, it was just taking care of business.

"We came in with the right mindset and the right focus and we just played our ball game," said Green. "We followed the scouting report good. We executed what we worked on in practice."

Florida shot 57.7 percent from the field (30-52) for the game while limiting Kentucky to 40.3 percent (27-67). Kentucky hit only 12-37 from the field in the second half and the Wildcats were only 10-28 from the three-point line.

Second Half Surge Lifts Cats Past Hogs

Wildcats | 01 February, 2006 13:28

Kentucky used a 22-6 run over a seven-and-a-half minute period in the second half to rally for a 78-76 basketball spread victory over Arkansas on Sunday at Rupp Arena.

Trailing 55-48 with 9:15 remaining, the Wildcats scored on 10 of their next 12 possessions to take control of the game, 70-61 with less than two minutes left. Kentucky missed four shots during the stretch, but grabbed their own offensive rebound each time.

While the offense was clicking, the defense was dominant down the stretch. After Ronnie Brewer’s jumper with 8:20 remaining, the Razorbacks went without a field goal and pulled down just one rebound over the next six-and-a-half minutes.

By then, UK had a commanding lead and it held off a late surge to secure the victory. The win was the fourth in a row for Kentucky (14-6, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) overall and their sixth straight over the Hogs. Arkansas (14-6, 3-4) failed in their bid to win three straight.

The game started woefully for UK, which made just four of its first 17 field goal attempts and coughed up six turnovers in the first 14 minutes. Meanwhile, Arkansas started on fire, hitting 11-of-21 to start the game in building a 28-10 lead with six minutes to go in the first half.

Down 18, the Wildcat offense awoke to score 13 points the rest of the half to cut the deficit to 35-23 at intermission. Randolph Morris and Ramel Bradley, who hit two big threes to jumpstart the offense, carried UK in the half as they combined for 16 of the team’s 23 points. The rest of the team was just 3-of-14 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The second half was offense-by-committee as five different Wildcats knocked down three pointers and the team scored 55 points – by far its highest single-half total of the season – on 60 percent shooting.

Arkansas tried to stay with the red-hot Cats, and hit 50 percent of their shots, but struggled with nine turnovers and watched as Kentucky hauled down 22 rebounds to the Hogs 11. The Wildcats won the overall rebounding battle 37-31.

The turnovers were particularly harmful as UK scored 18 points off them in the second half, including 11 straight at one point during a 13-3 run that chipped into a 16-point deficit and got Kentucky back into the game, 42-36, just five minutes into the second half.

Morris led Kentucky with a season-high-tying 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds while Rajon Rondo stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, five assists, five steals and four boards. Ravi Moss finished with 11 points and Patrick Sparks had nine to go with his eight assists, which tied his UK career high.

Sheray Thomas provided a big spark off the bench in the second half, scoring seven straight points at one point en route to nine for the game.

Brewer carried the Razorbacks in the second half, scoring 17 of his game-high 23. After scoring eight of Arkansas’ first nine points, Jonathan Modica finished with 13. Eric Ferguson added 19 off the bench.

The 12-point halftime deficit marked the fourth-largest Kentucky has overcome to win a game in its history. The 16-point second-half deficit matched last season’s come-from-behind win over Louisville as one of the biggest in school annals.

Kentucky college basketball team returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Mississippi State. The game, slated for an 8 p.m. ET tip, will be televised by Jefferson Pilot Sports.