Sunday, January 17, 1999
KENTUCKY 63, MISSISSIPPI 57
Louisville Courier-Journal
OXFORD, Miss. — Tubby Smith stomped his feet and waved his arms. Sweat drained off his forehead so profusely that a towel became his second-half companion. Up and down the sidelines he went, screaming at players and chewing on referees as if this was March in St. Petersburg, instead of January in Mississippi.
The players have seen this side of him in private, but seldom has Kentucky's second-year coach been so animated in public, so determined to strike the chord that would awaken the Wildcats from their mid-season slumber.
When the final buzzer sounded, and sixth-ranked Kentucky had escaped with a 63-57 Southeastern Conference victory over Mississippi, Smith shot both hands above his head, then pumped his fists.
The Cats had ended a two-year regular-season losing streak to a team they once dominated. They rebounded from Tuesday's embarrassing 47-46 home loss to Tennessee, and they did it by giving the kind of effort in the second half that Smith expects every game but hasn't always received from this team.
Smith's son, sophomore guard Saul Smith, scored a career-high 17 points to lead the Cats (15-4 overall, 4-1 in the SEC) offensively, but it was the spiritual leadership they received from their coach that many of the players will remember most about this game.
Smith dismantled a dressing room chalkboard during his halftime talk, then the Cats took the Rebels apart in the final 20 minutes, overcoming a 34-31 deficit with a rare zone defense, offensive patience and dead-eye free-throw shooting (11-for-12 in the final eight minutes).
“He was more intense everywhere,” Kentucky forward Michael Bradley said of his coach. “On the floor, in the huddles. We had to be intense, and he was trying to be the leader in showing us how intense we had to be. That's what made us want to play hard for him. He was giving it his all. In the first half, we were trying, but we weren't giving it 100 percent. In the second half, we did.”
“I think the more emotion we play with, the better we play,” said Kentucky forward Scott Padgett. “He got us going emotionally and we sort of fed off it today.”
At half, Padgett, the team's leading scorer, had taken one shot and not scored.
He sat out nearly 11 minutes of the half, taking a seat on the bench shortly after he allowed Mississippi scoring leader Keith Carter (18 points) to break free for a back-door dunk.
But at halftime, Smith convinced the Cats that they needed to get the ball inside to Bradley and Padgett on offense.
Bradley responded with eight of his 13 points and Padgett scored all 13 of his points in the second half.
KENTUCKY (63)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Bradley 32 6-12 1-4 2-4 2 2 13
Padgett 30 3-10 6-9 1-6 3 1 13
Magloire 10 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 4 2
Evans 22 2-5 5-7 2-3 1 5 9
Turner 21 0-3 0-0 1-2 2 4 0
Smith 22 5-10 5-5 0-2 2 5 17
Prince 23 1-3 2-2 2-4 2 1 4
Hogan 10 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Allison 17 0-1 2-2 1-4 0 2 2
Camara 13 1-4 1-2 3-4 0 0 3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-50 22-31 12-31 13 24 63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.380, FT-.710. 3-Point Goals:
3-13, .231 (Padgett 1-2, Evans 0-1, Smith 2-7,
Prince 0-2, Allison 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 1 (Bradley). Turnovers: 15 (Smith
3, Bradley 2, Hogan 2, Padgett 2, Prince 2,
Turner 2, Evans, Magloire). Steals: 10 (Turner 4,
Padgett 3, Bradley, Magloire, Prince).
MISSISSIPPI (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Smith 29 2-6 2-3 1-2 4 4 6
Rogers 20 0-1 4-4 0-5 0 3 4
Hicks 28 5-8 1-4 3-8 0 3 11
Flanigan 31 3-6 2-2 0-2 2 2 9
Carter 38 5-13 7-10 2-3 2 1 18
Carpenter 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Harrison 26 1-5 3-4 0-2 2 2 5
Williams 13 0-1 2-4 1-2 0 2 2
Lockhart 14 1-2 0-2 0-1 1 3 2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 17-42 21-33 7-25 11 20 57
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.405, FT-.636. 3-Point Goals:
2-12, .167 (Flanigan 1-2, Carter 1-7, Harrison
0-3). Team rebounds: 8. Blocked shots: 5 (Rogers
4, Hicks). Turnovers: 21 (Flanigan 4, Harrison 4,
Smith 4, Carter 3, Hicks 2, Lockhart 2, Rogers
2). Steals: 6 (Flanigan 2, Lockhart 2, Carter,
Smith).
__________________________________
Kentucky 31 32 - 63
Mississippi 34 23 - 57
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Kentucky 1 (Magloire). A:
8,304. Officials: Andre Pattillo, Mike
Thibodeaux, Willie Guardiola.
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