Sunday, December 03, 2000
Kentucky 93, North Carolina 76
Wildcats starting to look like old selves again
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A young Kentucky team practiced hard this week. They also sat around and talked about what it meant to be basketball players for the Wildcats.
“We had some meetings. I stepped up and said this 1-3 record is not the way we play here at UK,” senior Saul Smith said following a 93-76 victory over No.6 North Carolina on Saturday.
“We looked at this as a pivotal game in our season, because we want to go into games knowing we can compete in opponents' gyms.”
Mission accomplished. Kentucky (2-3) ended its worst start in 16 years.
“I know they've got a very good team, but we were on our game today,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said.
The Wildcats used runs of 18-4 in the middle of each half and outscored North Carolina's reserves 38-12 to snap their six-game losing streak against the Tar Heels (3-2) in a matchup of college basketball's two winningest programs.
“I've watched North Carolina through the years, and they're extremely talented seven deep, but then they don't really go to a lot more talent below that,” Smith said. “We tried to wear them down a little bit, and I think we did.”
Marquis Estill led the way with 19 points and 11 re bounds off the bench; Keith Bogans added 18 and Tayshaun Prince 15.
Another key reserve was Cliff Hawkins, who scored 11 points and had five assists in 18 minutes.
“He was the key,” Smith said. “He broke them down with his penetration and energy.”
The Wildcats turned a 48-47 deficit into a 13-point lead in a span of 51/2 minutes as they broke out of their 3-point shooting slump. Kentucky was 26 percent in four games behind the arc coming in, but was 7-for-12 in the second half to win going away.
Bogans made two 3-pointers and Saul Smith one during Kentucky's clinching run.
“We moved the ball with really crisp passes in the second half,” Saul Smith said. “We shot a lot of contested 3s in the first half, which are difficult to knock down. Their quickness was a little suspect, so we had to make them run in the second half.”
The Tar Heels, who lost to No.3 Michigan State by 13 points on Wednesday night, were 72-4 all-time in the Smith Center against nonconference opponents. But Matt Doherty lost his first game at home since taking over for Bill Guthridge, matching the second-worst loss in 192 games.
“I just want to apologize to the fans and the students,” Doherty said. “I thought the atmosphere was great. The fans did their part; we didn't do ours.”
Preseason All-American Joseph Forte had his second straight poor shooting game, going 8-for-22 for 19 points. He made his last three shots when the game was out of reach.
“Coach Doherty has a lot of pride, and he puts a lot into the team emotionally and physically, and for us to go out there and lose like that is embarrassing to him and the team,” Forte said. “We feel it with him.”
Brendan Haywood added 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Tar Heels turned it over 17 times and were 7-for-16 from the foul line.
Both teams were plagued with foul problems in the opening 20 minutes.
Former North Carolina recruit Jason Parker picked up his second 12:28 before halftime and didn't return the rest of the period as the Tar Heels built a 21-11 lead. He finished with six points in just 12 minutes.
But the Wildcats did most of their damage during an 18-4 run without Parker and starting center Marvin Stone, who picked up his second foul 36 seconds after Parker was called for his shove underneath on Brian Bersticker.
The Tar Heels lost Haywood earlier than Parker. Haywood was joined on the bench four minutes later by backup point guard Brian Morrison, who had the North Carolina offense humming.
The Tar Heels fell apart with Haywood and Morrison on the bench as North Carolina made just one basket in seven minutes. Kentucky negated its 2-for-14 3-point shooting by capitalizing on six turnovers during its run.
The Wildcats had five layups and a follow shot during their 18-4 surge as UK's bench outscored North Carolina's 27-4 in the opening 20 minutes.
KENTUCKY (93)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf t5
Parker 12 3-5 0-1 1-3 1 4 6
Prince 30 4-11 5-7 1-5 3 1 15
Stone 8 2-3 0-1 0-3 0 3 4
Bogans 30 6-15 3-4 4-5 2 0 18
Smith 31 3-7 4-4 0-1 4 2 12
Estill 31 8-10 2-4 7-11 2 4 19
Blevins 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Daniels 27 3-5 2-4 2-5 4 2 8
Hawkins 18 5-9 0-0 1-3 5 3 11
Fitch 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Heissenbuttel 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Sears 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 34-67 16-25 16-37 24 19 93
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.507, FT-.640. 3-Point Goals:
9-26, .346 (Prince 2-8, Bogans 3-7, Smith 2-5,
Estill 1-1, Blevins 0-1, Daniels 0-1, Hawkins
1-2, Fitch 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
6 (Estill 4, Prince 2). Turnovers: 12 (Daniels 3,
Smith 3, Bogans 2, Blevins, Estill, Hawkins,
Parker). Steals: 9 (Daniels 2, Prince 2, Smith 2,
Estill, Fitch, Hawkins).
NORTH CAROLINA (76)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Capel 29 4-6 2-2 3-6 2 5 12
Lang 37 7-12 1-5 3-5 1 3 15
Haywood 29 7-10 4-9 7-11 1 3 18
Forte 38 8-22 0-0 2-7 4 2 19
Boone 17 0-3 0-0 0-1 3 1 0
Morrison 23 2-9 0-0 0-2 5 4 5
Bersticker 12 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 2 2
Booker 12 2-4 0-0 1-1 0 2 5
Owens 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Johnson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 31-68 7-16 17-36 17 22 76
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.456, FT-.438. 3-Point Goals:
7-22, .318 (Capel 2-4, Forte 3-7, Boone 0-2,
Morrison 1-6, Booker 1-3). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 4 (Haywood 2, Bersticker 2).
Turnovers: 17 (Boone 3, Haywood 3, Morrison 3,
Booker 2, Capel 2, Lang 2, Bersticker, Forte).
Steals: 5 (Forte 3, Boone, Haywood).
__________________________________
Kentucky 38 55 - 93
North Carolina 35 41 - 76
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 21,750. Officials:
Mike Wood, Carl Hess, Curtis Shaw.
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