Sunday, January 10, 1999
UK 73, VANDERBILT 57
Wildcats finally finds range
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sixth-ranked Kentucky finally looked like the Wildcats of old in routing Vanderbilt 73-57 Saturday night.
The Wildcats (14-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) came in as the SEC's worst three-pointshooters, averaging 29 percent. But Kentucky had its best game this season from three-point range, hitting 58 percent (14-of-24).
The shooting performance was a pleasant sight for Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, who had been criticized recently for the lack of threes at a program that had become accustomed to the long ball.
“Oh yeah, we're the best, man,” Smith said with a laugh. “We're going to be firing away from now on. Look out.”
Kentucky had topped 50 percent for three-point shooting only twice this season, against Maryland on Dec. 12 and Florida last week.
Vanderbilt (10-5, 1-2) looked at how poorly the Wildcats had been shooting from outside and decided to try and keep them there. Kentucky responded with season highs in both makes and attempts.
“Their Achilles' heel in their losses was three-point shooting,” said Vanderbilt coach Jan van Breda Kolff, who now is winless in 11 games against Kentucky. “Tonight it was their strength. If you cover them too tight, that would've opened up down low for all their big men.”
The Wildcats didn't start smoothly as they turned the ball over on their first possession and missed their first three shots. They didn't get on the board until a dunk by Jamaal Magloire with 16:23 to go.
Then Kentucky shook off its sluggish beginning by turning to long-range bombs. Five of the Wildcats' first six buckets came from three-point range, and they took the lead for good with 13:06 left on a three by Saul Smith.
They wound up hitting 8-of-14 in the half in building a 31-21 lead. Kentucky padded its lead in the second half by scoring the first seven points. Van dy managed to pull within 43-32 on a three by Atiba Prater, but that was as close as the Commodores would get.
Kentucky also hit a season-best 93.8 percent from the free throw line.
“We have our legs back now and the guys are understanding where their shots are coming from. Hopefully, we can stay on this roll,” Smith said.
Vanderbilt tried to match the three-point barrage. The Commodores shot better from beyond the arc (40 percent) than inside (36 percent), but it just wasn't enough.
Scott Padgett scored 12 points, on four threes, to lead the Wildcats, and Ryan Hogan came off the bench and added 10.
Padgett was pulled with 1:37 left and missed becoming the 45th Wildcat to score 1,000 points in a career by two points. He should top that mark Tuesday night when Kentucky hosts Tennessee at 9:30 p.m.
“I'm probably glad about it now that I think about it,” Padgett said. “When you're in the game, you don't ever want to come out.”
Kentucky also held Vandy's leading scorer, Dan Langhi, to just five points. He had been averaging 16.9 points a game. Michael LeBlanc and Sam Howard each had 11 to lead Vandy.
KENTUCKY (73)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Padgett 28 4-5 0-0 1-7 3 2 12
Bradley 19 3-8 3-4 1-4 1 2 9
Magloire 17 2-4 2-2 0-3 1 2 6
Turner 27 1-3 2-2 0-1 5 1 4
Evans 22 1-4 0-0 3-5 4 2 2
Blevins 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Masiello 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Smith 13 3-3 0-0 0-1 2 2 9
Tackett 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Prince 22 2-6 2-2 0-1 1 1 8
Hogan 19 3-6 2-2 0-2 1 1 10
Allison 13 2-3 2-2 0-2 0 0 8
Camara 17 1-2 2-2 0-1 1 0 5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 22-44 15-16 5-27 19 14 73
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.938. 3-Point Goals:
14-24, .583 (Padgett 4-5, Magloire 0-1, Evans
0-1, Smith 3-3, Prince 2-5, Hogan 2-5, Allison
2-3, Camara 1-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked
shots: 3 (Prince, Allison, Camara). Turnovers: 13
(Evans 4, Magloire 3, Allison, Blevins, Camara,
Padgett, Turner). Steals: 3 (Hogan 3).
VANDERBILT (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Langhi 28 2-13 0-0 0-3 2 1 5
Strong 21 2-5 0-0 0-2 2 0 5
Lapointe 31 3-6 0-0 2-3 2 5 8
Leblanc 22 4-11 0-0 1-2 2 2 11
Prater 28 3-7 0-0 0-1 4 1 8
Howard 16 3-6 2-2 0-1 1 2 11
Ford 18 2-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 5
Moore 15 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Williams 21 1-3 2-2 4-5 2 4 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-55 4-4 8-19 15 16 57
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.364, FT-1.000. 3-Point Goals:
13-32, .406 (Langhi 1-6, Strong 1-3, Lapointe
2-4, Leblanc 3-7, Prater 2-5, Howard 3-5, Ford
1-1, Moore 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
1 (Ford). Turnovers: 9 (Williams 4, Strong 2,
Howard, Langhi, Prater). Steals: 7 (Strong 2,
Howard, Lapointe, Moore, Prater, Williams).
__________________________________
Kentucky 31 42 - 73
Vanderbilt 21 36 - 57
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 15,311. Officials:
Phil Robinson, Kerry Sitton, Michael Kitts.
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