Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Kentucky needs to regain toughness
Wildcats hope to ease road woes at Alabama
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky coach Tubby Smith saw a lack of focus and toughness in his squad's first Southeastern Conference road game — a 65-55 loss at No.19 Mississippi.
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UK at ALABAMA
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• When: 9 p.m. today
• Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
• Records: Kentucky 10-6, 3-1 SEC; No.18 Alabama 14-3, 3-2.
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: WSAI-AM (1530)
KENTUCKY
Player-Ht-Yr-Avg
Tayshaun Prince-6-9-Jr.-13.6
Jason Parker-6-8-Fr.-8.6
Gerald Fitch-6-3-Fr.-5.4
Saul Smith-6-2-Sr.-6.8
Keith Bogans-6-5-So.-16.1
Coach: Tubby Smith (96-29, fourth year; 220-91 overall)
ALABAMA
Erwin Dudley-6-8-So.-15.1
Kenny Walker-6-9-So.-4.8
Rod Grizzard-6-8-So.-18.6
Terrance Meade-6-2-So.-11.9
Tarik London-6-1-Sr.-4.5
Coach: Mark Gottfried (44-34, third year; 112-58 overall)
BY THE NUMBERS
• 91-31: Kentucky lead in the series.
• 66-54: The score the last time the two played. UK won Feb. 16, 2000, at Lexington, Ky.
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The Wildcats (10-6, 3-1 SEC) don't have much time to regain their intensity with a nationally televised showdown at No.18 Alabama (14-3, 3-2) today.
“Playing on the road is something this team has to learn how to do, and that takes a real tough mentality,” Smith said Monday. “We have to go down to Alabama and be tough and try to execute our stuff without allowing them to take us out of our offense.”
Kentucky entered Saturday's game at Ole Miss riding a seven-game winning streak, including an impressive 84-74 victory over then-No. 4 Tennessee in its previous outing. But the Rebels pushed the Wildcats around from the outset, feeding off the exuberant home crowd to snap their own two-game losing streak.
The loss continued a disappointing trend for this year's young Wildcats, who have won only one game on an opponent's home floor. All seven of the games during their recent winning streak were played at home or at their home away from home — Freedom Hall in Louisville.
“Playing at Louisville isn't really playing on the road,” Smith said. “For a lot of these guys, this was their first time really experiencing the hostility you're going to find on the road.
“It's one thing to be tough when you're at home and you've got the crowd behind you and the adrenaline pumping. I think we learned a very valuable lesson at Ole Miss. If we don't play hard and we don't play more physical and more aggressive, we're going to lose.”
Alabama coach Mark Gottfried could have the same lesson plan in store for his players this week.
Alabama has won three of its first five conference games, but only one of the victories — an 82-73 victory at LSU — has come on the road. The two losses were blowouts at Tennessee and Arkansas.
Against the Razorbacks on Saturday, the Crimson Tide trailed by seven with just under five minutes to play but went scoreless over the final 4:42 to fall 87-58.
“We need to bounce back,” Gottfried said. “I think we got stung the way we finished the game at Arkansas. Arkansas played extremely well, but our players are very disappointed in the way we finished that game.”
Rod Grizzard, a 6-foot-8 sophomore guard, leads four Alabama players in double figures with 18.6 points per game. Starters Erwin Dudley and Terrance Meade have averaged 15.1 and 11.9 points, respectively, while freshman Gerald Wallace has added another 12.2 points off the bench.
“They're an athletic, talented bunch,” said point guard Saul Smith, Kentucky's only senior. “I don't know why they would get beat like they did at Tennessee and then come back and throttle Ole Miss. It's kind of weird. It just goes to show you that on any given night you don't know what team is going to show up for them, so we've got to play a typical Kentucky ballgame with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”
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Kentucky needs to regain toughness