Sunday, March 19, 2000
Syracuse ends Kentucky's season
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CLEVELAND — The Wildcats shook hands with the winners, trudged to their locker room and closed the door. Closure followed quickly.
College basketball's premier program couldn't survive the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend, but this time it wasn't news. Kentucky's season on the brink ended on schedule.
“We knew it would be a transition year,” coach Tubby Smith said. “Really, it was outstanding.”
A deep, veteran Syracuse team needed a last-minute shot and two subsequent UK misses to win 52-50 Saturday at Cleveland State's Convocation Center. That the young, short-handed, battle-weary Wildcats were even in contention cemented the reputation of their unsung season.
“I'm proud of the way we fought to the end,” UK sophomore guard J.P. Blevins said. “We gave it all we had.”
There were few tears reported. A half-hour after the game, most of the Wildcats were talking excitedly about next year. All but one player who played Saturday, senior Jamaal Magloire, are expected back.
For a year, UK (23-9) had been The Little Engine That Could, tying for the title in arguably the nation's toughest conference while its wheels all but fell off. It lost 10 players in the last 15 months. Starter Desmond Allison became a postseason casualty. There were only seven Wildcats who played Saturday — just one senior and one junior.
It was easy to forget UK had reached the Elite Eight the last five years, the nation's longest such streak, winning two titles in that time. This season, UK got a rare dose of mortality.
“This was probably the year when you look back at our classes that we'd have a little lull there,” Smith said. “We only had one senior, Jamaal. And with some of the adversity, some of the things that have happened in the last year — kids transferring, the death of (recruit) John Stewart — that kind of changed the roles, the responsibilities of certain players. They had to take on bigger challenges.”
It was UK's youngest team in 11 years, and predictable problems developed. The Wildcats shot .423, their worst-shooting season since 1963. Their 3-point percentage (.292) was by far the worst in school history.
Ballhandling was a problem, as they averaged 2.2 more turnovers than assists; they hadn't totaled more turnovers than assists in 13 years. They committed more turnovers than they forced for the first time in 11 seasons.
Scoring suffered: UK averaged 69.1 points, its lowest in 13 years.
Those travails tripped them up again Saturday. UK had its lowest scoring output of the season, its 47 field-goal attempts tied a season low, and it committed 19 turnovers.
Syracuse (26-5) shot just .317, but its 21 offensive rebounds led to 22 second-chance points.
“It was one of those games where no one could make a shot,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “It was just a matter of will and determination, seeing who could make the one big play.”
This time, it wasn't UK.
The lead see-sawed into the final minute. Tied 50-50 with 51 seconds left and the shot clock winding down, UK junior point guard Saul Smith got tied up by Syracuse's Jason Hart, and the Orangemen got the ball on the alternating possession.
Then Hart drove past Smith and fed Preston Shumpert for a 19-foot jumper in the corner with 37 seconds left.
UK called time out with 10.7 seconds left to set up a play but had to start over with 5.9 seconds left after a non-shooting foul. Smith passed to freshman guard Keith Bogans, who dribbled and got bumped by Ryan Blackwell as he put up a 10-foot bank shot.
“I was trying to draw contact and get a shot off,” Bogans said. “I knew it'd be short, because I got bumped, but I thought I'd hear a whistle (for a foul).”
He didn't. The ball bounced to the right, and UK sophomore forward Tayshaun Prince caught it and shot all in one motion.
“I was off-balance,” Prince said. “I couldn't tell if it was going in.”
The ball hit the left side of the rim and bounced away. The 'Cats' nine lives were up.
“That's the worst type of loss, because you have hope until the final buzzer,” Bogans said. “It just didn't fall for us.”
A day before the game, Tubby Smith had called this group an overachiever in the “Rupp's Runts” mold, and he made sure to remind his players after the loss of all that lay in their rear-view mirror.
“We have a lot to be proud of,” Saul Smith said. “We've been through a whole lot, and the way we persevered was incredible. We'll be looking forward to bigger and better things next year.”
Tubby's son in over his head
Prince says NBA can wait another year
Is Tubby headed for Hawks?
Tournament game coverage at Cincinnati.com/madness
Join the discussion in our College Sports forum
KENTUCKY (50)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 33 4-7 0-0 3-7 0 2 10
Camara 32 4-9 2-2 2-4 6 2 10
Magloire 38 5-11 2-3 3-9 0 2 12
Bogans 35 4-10 2-5 0-5 4 0 12
Smith 38 1-6 0-0 0-2 2 3 3
Blevins 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0 3
Stone 12 0-1 0-0 2-3 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-47 6-10 10-30 14 9 50
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.404, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
6-15, .400 (Prince 2-3, Bogans 2-5, Smith 1-4,
Blevins 1-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 6
(Camara 3, Magloire 3). Turnovers: 19 (Magloire
7, Smith 6, Bogans 3, Prince 2, Camara). Steals:
6 (Magloire 2, Bogans, Camara, Prince, Smith).
SYRACUSE (52)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Brown 26 4-10 0-0 5-7 0 2 8
Blackwell 38 3-11 3-4 3-7 0 1 9
Thomas 30 4-6 1-2 5-10 0 5 9
Bland 13 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Hart 36 2-10 2-2 1-5 5 1 6
Shumpert 26 4-14 2-2 3-4 0 0 12
Griffin 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 0
Williams 26 2-8 0-0 1-3 0 1 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-63 8-10 18-36 6 14 52
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.317, FT-.800. 3-Point Goals:
4-21, .190 (Blackwell 0-2, Hart 0-4, Shumpert
2-8, Griffin 0-1, Williams 2-6). Team rebounds:
4. Blocked shots: 4 (Thomas 3, Brown). Turnovers:
12 (Hart 4, Blackwell 2, Bland 2, Williams 2,
Brown, Thomas). Steals: 8 (Shumpert 4, Blackwell
2, Brown, Hart).
__________________________________
Kentucky 23 27 - 50
Syracuse 23 29 - 52
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Rick Hartzell,
Curtis Shaw, Susan Hunter.
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