BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[evans]](/editions/1998/12/13/evans_120x185.jpg)
Heshimu Evans jumps into the arms of Jamaal Magloire. Evans scored 31 points.
(AP photo)
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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky's Wildcat mascot was wearing a Santa Claus hat. But this was no gift.
The fifth-ranked Wildcats earned every ounce of their 103-91 victory over No. 2 Maryland on Saturday night at Rupp Arena. Revved up from the opening tip off and fueled by an ear-splitting crowd, UK (9-1) assembled its finest effort since the national championship victory nine months ago.
"If we play with the intensity level we did tonight, I don't know if anyone in college basketball can beat us," UK senior Scott Padgett said.
UK's senior tri-captains were up to the occasion, totaling 73 points, 22 rebounds and 14 assists. Heshimu Evans' 31 points and Padgett's 25 were career highs, and Wayne Turner's 17 was a season high - three shy of his career best.
"All the seniors in the past showed great leadership and a lot of heart, and now it's our turn," Turner said. "We put that pressure on ourselves."
Said Padgett: "How well we play is indicative of our senior captains. When we turn up the intensity level, those younger guys follow."
UK shot 54.2 percent against a team ranked first in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (25.4 percent). It held a Maryland team that entered shooting 52.2 percent to 42.3 percent. Maryland applied full-court pressure 38 times UK brought the ball upcourt; UK turned it over just once against the press.
The Wildcats had reached fever pitch before tipoff, slam-dancing and shouting in a final huddle under the stands. When they left the court for halftime, up 54-41 thanks to Padgett's three-pointer at the buzzer, they screamed and sprinted all the way to their locker room.
Emotion was the difference.
"When it's national TV, No. 2 vs. No. 5, it's in Rupp, and it's a chance to beat a great team, you can't help but be psyched up," Evans said.
Evans said he had never scored this many points, even in grade school. "I'm a late bloomer," he joked.
Evans kept UK in it early, scoring 11 of his team's first 22 points. But his biggest shot came when Maryland (10-1) cut a 17-point UK lead to seven points at 79-72.
There was 5:33 left. UK brought the ball downcourt, passed five times without a dribble, and Evans sank a three-pointer from the right wing. Padgett followed with a three-point play.
Maryland wouldn't threaten again until the lead dropped to six with 1:07 left, but then UK's three seniors combined to go 8-of-8 from the line to ice it.
"Wayne did a great job controlling the tempo of the game," UK coach Tubby Smith said. "That's why I said I wouldn't trade him for any point guard in the country."
Padgett, who began to shake a season-long slump last Tuesday with a 17-point night against Indiana, was near-perfect Saturday. He made 8-of-11 shots and added 13 rebounds and five assists.
"I've always felt like I'm a good shooter," he said. "It just took awhile for my shot to come back."
Maryland came in with plenty of motivation. With No. 1 Connecticut having to rally for five points in the last 10 seconds Saturday to beat Pittsburgh 70-69, a Maryland victory could have propelled it to a first-ever No. 1 ranking.
But UK, a 1ï-point underdog, had its home turf to defend.
"We feel it's not often at our place we should be underdogs," Padgett said. "We felt we had been a little overlooked this year. We had a lot to prove tonight."
This is Maryland's loftiest ranking since January 1976 and the 18th week in its history it has roosted at No. 2 in the polls.
A Maryland victory would have matched its best start in regular-season history, set previously by the 1975-76 and 1996-97 teams.
The Terps are the highest-ranked team to play UK in Lexington since Dec. 15, 1979, when top-ranked Indiana lost 69-58 to Joe B. Hall's Wildcats. Maryland is the first No. 2-ranked team to play in Rupp Arena since second-ranked North Carolina beat UK 87-77 in 1968.
Saturday's game was three days shy of 40 years since Maryland last played in Lexington, a 59-57 UK overtime victory.
No Maryland team has ever gone to a Final Four, and the Terps haven't even reached a regional final since 1975.
UK NOTEBOOK
MARYLAND (91)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Profit 31 4-10 0-0 1-6 2 5 8
Stokes 32 2-5 0-0 0-2 3 4 6
Francis 31 9-20 5-8 5-6 5 5 25
Morris 34 10-18 5-5 2-6 0 3 26
Ekezie 37 7-16 5-7 5-9 2 3 19
Dixon 14 1-5 5-5 2-2 2 3 7
Mardesich 7 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Miller 12 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 5 0
Baxter 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Fields 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 33-78 20-25 16-34 14 28 91
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.423, FT-.800. 3-Point Goals:
5-14, .357 (Profit 0-1, Stokes 2-3, Francis 2-4,
Morris 1-3, Dixon 0-2, Miller 0-1). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 3 (Morris, Ekezie,
Mardesich). Turnovers: 8 (Morris 2, Stokes 2,
Dixon, Ekezie, Francis, Miller). Steals: 9
(Morris 3, Dixon 2, Stokes 2, Francis, Profit).
KENTUCKY (103)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Evans 35 8-17 11-14 4-6 2 2 31
Padgett 35 8-11 5-5 5-13 5 2 25
Bradley 18 1-2 3-6 0-4 0 2 5
Turner 35 4-9 9-12 1-3 7 1 17
Prince 33 6-13 0-1 1-6 3 3 13
Magloire 22 3-5 0-0 2-6 0 3 6
Smith 12 0-0 2-3 0-1 1 3 2
Camara 5 2-2 0-0 0-1 0 2 4
Hogan 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Allison 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 32-59 30-41 13-40 20 19 103
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.542, FT-.732. 3-Point Goals:
9-18, .500 (Evans 4-8, Padgett 4-4, Turner 0-1,
Prince 1-5). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 9
(Magloire 6, Bradley 2, Evans). Turnovers: 16
(Evans 3, Bradley 2, Magloire 2, Padgett 2,
Prince 2, Turner 2, Allison, Camara). Steals: 6
(Camara 2, Magloire 2, Hogan, Turner).
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Maryland 41 50 - 91
Kentucky 54 49 - 103
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 24,321. Officials:
John Clougherty, Mike Wood, Carl Hess.
![[evans]](/editions/1998/12/13/evans_390x600.jpg)