Saturday, February 19, 2000
Georgia's plan: Make UK hit 3s
'Dawgs hope to force 'Cats outside
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Georgia coach Jim Harrick's strategy to slow down No.19 Kentucky is simple: shut down the Wildcats' interior game and force them to win the game from the perimeter.
Simple? Maybe. Easy to accomplish? No way.
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GEORGIA at UK
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• When: 1p.m. today
• Where: Rupp Arena (23,000), Lexington
• Records: UK 18-7 (8-3 SEC), Georgia 10-14 (3-8)
• TV: Ch.9
• Radio: WSAI-AM (1530); WNKR-FM (106.5)
BY THE NUMBERS
• Nos.2, 146: Respective ratings for UK and Georgia by collegeRPI.com
• 13: Consecutive UK victories over Georgia; UK has won 20 of the last 21 in the series
• 15: Years since Georgia beat UK in Lexington; it is 1-21 against UK in Rupp Arena
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“I'm going to challenge them to step up and beat us from the outside,” Harrick said. “That's what we were going to do last time we played them. But then they stepped up against Vanderbilt and made nine or 12 threes. So they're going to make them sometime.”
Kentucky (18-7, 8-3 Southeastern Conference) hasn't proven the ability to consistently make its outside shots, even wide-open looks at the basket. For the season, the Wildcats are shooting 42 percent (604-of-1,422) and only 28 percent (131-of-458) from 3-point range.
Although they beat Alabama 66-54 on Wednesday, the Wildcats shot 41 percent and missed 21 of 23 3-pointers.
Entering that game, which snapped a two-game losing skid to SEC opponents, Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said his team needed to push the ball up the court and keep shooting from the outside to keep teams from collapsing on Jamaal Magloire and Tayshaun Prince in the paint.
Despite Wednesday's more uptempo style of play, which resulted in a season-high 71 shots, Magloire and Prince dominated the interior. They combined for 30 points and 14 rebounds while forwards Jules Camara and Marvin Stone also played well inside off the bench, adding 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Harrick said Georgia (10-14, 3-8) can't afford to let Kentucky's post players establish themselves in scoring position as they did in beating the Bulldogs 75-69 in Athens on Jan.26. Magloire had 19 and Prince 14 in that game.
“We had an opportunity to win, but Magloire and Prince made some big plays down the stretch and they won the game,” Harrick said.
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