Saturday, February 13, 1999
Wildcats looking to get wild again
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Having had a week to think things over since their first back-to-back conference losses in seven years, Kentucky players say they need to find a way to put the fun back into Wildcat basketball.
SOUTH CAROLINA at UK
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• When: 4 p.m. today
• Where: Rupp Arena (23,000), Lexington
• Records: UK 19-6 (8-3 SEC), South Carolina 7-16 (2-9)
• TV: Ch. 64
• Radio: WSAI-AM (1530); WNKR-FM (106.5)
BY THE NUMBERS
• .474: UK's field-goal percentage, tops in the SEC
• .308: UK's three-point percentage, last in the SEC
• .635: UK's single-season field-goal percentage record, set by Rick Robey in 1975-76
• .677: Michael Bradley's field-goal percentage this season, which ranks second in the nation
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“We really need to go out and play with a little more enthusiasm,” forward Scott Padgett said Friday, the day before No.8 Kentucky was to face South Carolina at Rupp Arena. “We haven't been slapping the high fives and bumping the chests like we normally do, and we need to get back out and do that. ... You need to have fun when you're out there playing, and you're going to play better when you're having fun.”
“We need to get back out there ... playing Kentucky basketball, getting up and down the floor,” he added.
Fellow senior Wayne Turner agreed, saying: “It's about being a team that's into the game.”
In consecutive losses last week at Florida and Alabama, Kentucky (19-6, 8-3 Southeastern Conference) was emphatically not into the game.
Padgett said the seven days since had been “a week to put it behind us,” and dismissed the notion that the defending national champions might be suf fering a crisis of confidence.
“Any time you lose two games in a row at Kentucky, everybody's going to talk to you about your confidence level: "Is there something wrong? Something this, something that?'” Padgett said. “We've had two bad games, but if we go back out and get this win, then that'll be behind us.”
Coach Tubby Smith said he spent the week working with the team to improve the Wildcats' play in end-of-game situations. In recent losses to Alabama and Tennessee, Kentucky has failed to convert last-second chances to tie or win.
“We didn't capitalize on opportunities late in those games,” Smith said. “We've got to learn how to win close games.”
Another point of emphasis, Smith said, was reducing turnovers. Against Florida's press, the Wildcats committed 16 turnovers, followed by 20 giveaways against Alabama's half-court defense.
The latter performance, in which Kentucky's starters committed 16 of the turnovers, particularly riled Smith, who said his players “were trying to make something happen that wasn't there.”
Smith said he spent the week emphasizing recognition of developing fast-break situa tions and “putting the ball in the right playmaker's hands, in Wayne's hands, allowing him to be more creative.”
Smith is disappointed that with the SEC and NCAA tournaments looming, his team is still struggling with basics like where to put the ball in transition.
MUSEUM OPENS: Saturday is also opening day for the new $5.3 million UK Basketball Museum, next to Rupp Arena in the Civic Center shops. ... Kentucky announced it will retire the jerseys of former players Bob Burrow and Rick Robey in a ceremony prior to the game.
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