Conquering Kentucky: Wildcats'hold finally broken by Razorbacks

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

ATLANTA -- For Arkansas, the seventh time was the charm against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.
The Razorbacks finally broke through the Big Blue wall and beat No. 16 Kentucky 86-72 Friday night in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at the Georgia Dome before 24,447 fans.
Arkansas (17-14) advanced to play No. 10 LSU (26-4) in today's semifinals. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. Central.
The Razorbacks had been 0-6 against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament the previous eight years before pulling the upset Friday night.
Arkansas became the first team to beat Kentucky (22-9) in the Georgia Dome -- where the Wildcats had been 13-0, including 9-0 in SEC Tournament games.
The Razorbacks -- who have extended their winning streak to three -- never trailed Kentucky, took command early and wouldn't let the Wildcats get back in the game, leading by as many as 20 points in the first half and never leading by fewer than nine points in the second half.
Freshman guard Joe Johnson led Arkansas with 21 points. Sophomore guard Teddy Gipson added 16 points, sophomore guard Brandon Dean and senior guard Chris Walker had 12 each, and freshman Blake Eddins had 10.
Walker, 6-5, punctuated the Razorbacks' victory by dunking over 6-11 Jules Camara in the final seconds despite being fouled. He hit the free throw to complete the three-point play.
Arkansas scored 33 points off Kentucky's season-high 27 turnovers. The Razorback shot 45.6 percent from the field (31 of 68), had 13 steals and just 6 turnovers. Of their 31 rebounds, 14 came on the offensive end.
The Wildcats, who lost their first game in the SEC Tournament since 1989, shot 38.9 percent from the field (21 of 54).
"I thought I saw the first half of the best basketball I've seen in my years," said Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson, whose Razorbacks led 36-22 at halftime. "As I told our coaches, that looked like the teams we used to coach.
"Our defense was just unbelievable. We smothered folks."
Richardson said he didn't considering the game an upset.
"We know we played good enough basketball in the last month that we possibly could have won two or three of those games [against nationally-ranked teams]," Richardson said.
Freshman guard Keith Bogans led Kentucky with 25 points. Senior center Jamaal Magloire had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and sophomore forward Tayshaun Prince had 15 points.
Kentucky outscored Arkansas 15-10 the first 3:17 of the second half to pull within 46-37 on Prince's three-point play with 16:43 left.
Arkansas then outscored Kentucky 14-2 over a 4:32 span, including seven points by Dean, to push its lead to 60-39 with 11:56 left.
"They were on top of their game, and we weren't on top of ours," Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith. "Arkansas had an excellent game plan that they executed to perfection."
The Wildcats didn't draw closer than 12 points the rest of the game as the Razorbacks moved to within two victories of winning their first SEC Tournament championship and gaining an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
"I think we came out a little bit pumped for this," Walker said. "We wanted to be aggressive the whole game. Usually we're aggressive in the first half and slack off in the second half. But we didn't do that tonight."
LSU, which shared the SEC regular-season championship with Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida, is the only nationally-ranked team left in the SEC Tournament after the No. 8 Vols, No. 11 Gators and Wildcats were beaten on Friday.
South Carolina, which beat Tennessee, will play Auburn, which beat Florida, in today's first semifinal game.
The Razorbacks jumped to a 17-9 lead over Kentucky in hitting six of their first eight field-goal attempts. The Wildcats started 1 of 8.
Kentucky pulled within 17-11 on a jump hook by Jamaal Magloire.
The Razorbacks then outscored the Wildcats 13-1 over a 3:53 span to move ahead 30-12 at 9:51. Gipson hit two three-pointers within a nine-second span -- with the help of a steal -- to start the run, and Dean finished with a three-pointer.
Kentucky went 8:14 without a field goal -- getting just one free throw from Bogans -- before freshman forward Marvin Stone's layup at the 5:14 mark of the half.
Magloire's tip-in pulled the wildcats within 32-16.
Arkansas then pushed its lead to 20 points, its largest of the half, as Johnson scored on a drive and Gipson hit an 18-foot jumper that just beat the shot clock to make it 36-16 at the 3:13 mark.
Kentucky cut its halftime deficit to 36-22 on Bogans' three-point play with 1:42 left in the half.
The Wildcats shot 25 percent from the field (6 of 24) in the first half, when they also had 16 turnovers.
Arkansas is 15-3 against LSU since joining the SEC, but will be trying to beat the Tigers for the first time this season. LSU swept Arkansas home-and-home during the regular season, and the Tigers' 10-game winning streak includes a 78-67 victory at Walton Arena on Feb. 19.

This article was published on Saturday, March 11, 2000

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