'Folk hero' nevertheless: Eddins' hike to stardom interrupted as UA falls to Kentucky

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Blake Eddins has come a long way in the past week, from playing the fewest minutes for Arkansas to playing some of the biggest.
A week ago, who could have imagined Eddins leading the Razorbacks in scoring and attempting the potential game-winning shots against Kentucky before 22,308 fans in Rupp Arena and a CBS national audience?
But there was Eddins -- a 6-6 freshman guard who had planned to walk on at Auburn until Arkansas made a scholarship offer last July -- with the chance to stick a three-point dagger into the Wildcats twice in the last 51 seconds Saturday.
"It is mind-boggling," Eddins said. "But that's a shot that I've been shooting in the back yard since I can remember, that last-second-to-win-the-game kind of shot."
In his back yard at home in Montgomery, Ala., Eddins probably hits that shot consistently, but the Rupp Arena rim wasn't so kind.
With time running out and Arkansas trailing by two points, Eddins' two three-point attempts both bounced off the rim, and No. 18 Kentucky held on to win 60-55.
"Blake was so disappointed, he was crying in the dressing room," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said. "But I told him, 'If you have 10 of those shots, I want you to take them every single time.'
"A lot of freshmen won't even step up and take a shot like that, they're too afraid. ... Blake had the guts to take them, and the players obviously thought he needed to take them because they got him the ball.
"That's what we talked about, get the ball to the guy that shoots the best. And they did, twice."
Managing a smile after the tough loss, Richardson added, "In a few days, Blake has become a folk hero. I'm so proud of him. He's come so far from the beginning of the season."
Senior guard Chris Walker and sophomore guard Brandon Dean penetrated the lane, drawing the defense, and passed to an open Eddins in three-point range.
"They penetrated and got me two great looks. I couldn't ask for better ones than I got," said Eddins, who led the Razorbacks with 12 points Saturday and is averaging 12.5 in the past three games. "I just couldn't convert. That's all there is to it."
After Eddins' second miss -- with 21.5 seconds left and Kentucky (20-8, 10-4 SEC) clinging to a 55-53 lead -- Wildcats senior center Jamaal Magloire hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 19.7 seconds and blocked a shot by Walker with six seconds left to seal the victory.
"Magloire hit some big free throws, I'll give him that," said Arkansas freshman forward Carl Baker, who had six points and six rebounds. "That was heartbreaking to see him go up there and knock them down like that.
"It's really tough because I feel like we should have won this game, but we couldn't get that big shot or big play that we needed so bad at the end."
The game went down the wire despite Kentucky having 32 free-throw attempts to seven for Arkansas (14-13, 6-8). The Wildcats also outrebounded the Razorbacks 45-28.
Arkansas stayed in the game by hitting 9 of 23 three-pointers, including 3 of 7 by Eddins, and because the Wildcats shot 35.2 percent from the field. It was the worst field-goal shooting this season for Kentucky, which came into the game last in the SEC at 42 percent.
"If we can get hot here in the last few weeks, we can do a lot of damage because we play outstanding defense and rebound the ball and play unselfishly," Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith said. "We do all the things a good team does except make shots for a high percentage."
The Wildcats also struggled from the free-throw line Saturday, hitting only 18 of 32.
"Well, we got enough of them," Smith said.
Too many, as far as Richardson was concerned. The Razorbacks hit 4 of 7 free throws, with freshman guard Joe Johnson hitting 1 of 2 after Smith was whistled for a technical foul in the first half.
"You're never going to beat anyone when a team shoots 32 free throws and makes 18 and you shoot seven, and two of them were on a technical foul," Richardson said. "If you look at that discrepancy, there's the game right there.
"We played matchup zone almost the entire game. We weren't scrambling, we weren't pressing. But there it is -- 32 free throws."
The Wildcats, who were led by 22 points from freshman guard Keith Bogans, kept getting to the line mainly because of their 21 offensive rebounds. Magloire led the Wildcats with 12 rebounds and had 15 points. Bogans, 6-5, had nine rebounds.
"Bogans came up big in my estimation," Richardson said. "I didn't have any idea he was so strong. It looked like every time they needed something, he came away with a basket."
Bogans stole the ball from Johnson and dunked to give Kentucky the lead for good at 52-50 with 5:31 left. Before that, the game had been tied nine times, with eight lead changes.
"We knew we could play with them," said Johnson, who had 10 points and six rebounds. "We weren't going to come in here and just let them run over us. We gave them a dogfight, they just came out with the win."
Arkansas got 34 points and 16 rebounds from its freshmen.
"They can do a lot of damage to a lot of people," Smith said of the Razorbacks. "They're very young, obviously, and what happens in close games when you're young is you don't have those veteran players to make those tough decisions and tough shots."
Eddins almost hit two of those tough shots that could have won Saturday's game.
"We were right there," Eddins said. "Not to be able to sink either one of those shots just really hurts."
That Eddins would be in position to feel that kind of hurt is proof of his remarkable emergence. In the past week, he scored 10 points against LSU and 16 against Vanderbilt after collecting just 25 points in the first 24 games.
"I remember when Blake couldn't get a shot off with some of the quickness in his face," Richardson said. "But now he's come into his own, and his confidence is beginning to grow, and he thinks he's a player -- and he is a player."

This article was published on Sunday, February 27, 2000

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