Sunday, January 09, 2000
Kentucky 72, Vanderbilt 52
Not pretty, but pretty good
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The image seems an oxymoron: Kentucky, college basketball royalty, blue-collar? That's the image Tubby Smith is cultivating. Games like Saturday's 72-52 beating of Vanderbilt back him up.
“We're not a pretty team,” the UK coach said. “We've got good athletes who give good effort. Blue collar is the mentality I want our players to have, where we have to hunker down and stop teams from making the easy play.”
Check the numbers:
Vandy had a season-high 29 turnovers. It went scoreless for an 8:17 stretch in the second half. Dan Langhi, who leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring (23.5 ppg), scored just 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
UK's defense fed its offense, scoring 36 points off turnovers. And the Wildcats
gladly bypassed highlight plays in favor of drawing fouls and making 20 free throws.
Boring basketball.
But winning basketball.
“That's the only way I know teams win championships: getting down and dirty, doing the dirty work,” junior point guard Saul Smith said.
As the Wildcats get dirtier, their season starts to sparkle. They are now 10-4 (1-0 SEC) with a six-game winning streak and a No.25 ranking which soon should soar.
Tubby Smith has emphasized the fundamentals, defense and rebounding, all three of his seasons here. Though the style sits in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, Rick Pitino, it works.
Smith gave this team that “blue-collar” tag. What it means to him:
“A team that comes every day to practice, works hard, doing those things that don't show up in the box score. Like today, I liked our effort diving on the floor, taking charges. Giving consistent effort.”
The defense is getting better. After allowing 61.7 points per game the first six games, UK has lowered its season average to 57.5 points allowed, second-best in the SEC. Smith has increasingly tightened those screws: UK allowed 67 points per game two years ago and 62.7 last year.
UK's defensive field-goal
percentages of .384 two years ago and .381 last year led the SEC both times, and were the two best defensive seasons at UK in the past 37 years. That figure is at .386 this winter.
“Tubby is what makes their defense so good, because his teams work hard on defense every year,” Vandy coach Kevin Stallings said. “Their guys are athletic and long. It's very difficult to get a good look at the basket because of their range and athleticism.”
Vandy (10-2, 1-1 SEC) couldn't free Langhi often, as ball hawk Desmond Allison guarded him and Tayshaun Prince helped out. The Commodores were forced into a faster pace than they prefer; their previous high for turnovers had been 18. Vandy normally shoots .502; Saturday, it was at .375.
“Vanderbilt is a great shooting team, and we're a great defensive team,” Prince said. “We had to stay in (Langhi's) jersey and play good defense.”
Prince led four double-figure scorers with 17 points. Senior center Jamaal Magloire recorded another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Commodores are 0-for-23 against UK in Rupp Arena and haven't won in Lexington since Jan. 28, 1974, a streak of 25 consecutive losses. Vandy hasn't beaten UK anywhere since Jan. 13, 1993, a streak of 14 straight defeats.
A tough stretch is ahead for UK, as five of its next six games are on the road. (UK has played just once on the road thus far, at Maryland.) The first of those games is the biggest: Tuesday at No.4 Auburn.
Yet UK no longer lacks for confidence.
“We're really on a roll now,” freshman Keith Bogans said. “We know what type of team we are and what type of team we can be.”
Magloire doubles pleasure
VANDERBILT (52)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Williams 28 1-3 3-4 3-7 0 4 5
Langhi 32 6-15 0-0 0-10 1 2 14
Lapointe 13 1-3 0-2 0-1 0 2 2
Prater 33 2-5 0-0 0-6 1 4 6
Strong 28 2-8 2-4 2-3 4 2 6
Coulibaly 10 1-1 0-0 0-2 2 3 2
Howard 16 4-9 1-2 0-0 2 1 13
Jones 16 1-2 0-0 1-1 2 3 3
Lekwauwa 24 0-2 1-2 0-0 0 3 1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 18-48 7-14 6-30 12 24 52
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
9-24, .375 (Langhi 2-7, Lapointe 0-1, Prater 2-4,
Strong 0-2, Howard 4-9, Jones 1-1). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 29
(Prater 7, Strong 6, Jones 3, Langhi 3, Williams
3, Lekwauwa 2, Coulibaly, Howard, Lapointe).
Steals: 3 (Langhi, Strong, Williams).
KENTUCKY (72)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 32 6-11 0-0 0-5 2 1 17
Allison 22 2-5 1-4 0-1 0 2 5
Magloire 29 5-9 5-6 2-10 2 3 15
Bogans 20 1-7 8-8 0-0 2 2 10
Smith 26 0-3 0-0 0-3 5 1 0
Blevins 20 3-4 3-4 1-3 0 0 10
Masiello 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Tackett 11 1-2 2-2 0-0 2 2 4
Stone 13 1-4 0-0 2-3 1 5 2
Camara 23 4-8 1-4 1-5 1 1 9
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 23-54 20-28 6-30 15 18 72
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.426, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Prince 5-7, Allison 0-1, Bogans 0-4,
Smith 0-2, Blevins 1-1, Tackett 0-1, Camara 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 5 (Magloire 2,
Camara 2, Prince). Turnovers: 16 (Camara 4,
Magloire 4, Bogans 3, Blevins 2, Prince, Smith,
Tackett). Steals: 9 (Allison 3, Bogans 2,
Magloire, Prince, Smith, Stone).
__________________________________
Vanderbilt 27 25 - 52
Kentucky 35 37 - 72
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 23,274. Officials: Don
Rutledge, Tom Eades, David Day.
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