Thursday, March 01, 2001
UK wins share of SEC title
Wildcats earn SEC's top seed with romp over Auburn
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON — This was a long way from 3-5. The Kentucky Wildcats, who got off to that un-Kentucky-like start, won a piece of their 41st Southeastern Conference title and the top seed in the SEC tournament with a 90-78 victory over Auburn Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
UK, ranked 15th in the Associated Press poll, had five players score in double figures, led by freshman Ja son Parker with 19.
Kentucky entered the game holding a one-game lead over No.6 Florida and No.14 Mississippi in the race for the SEC regular-season title.
The Wildcats can claim the championship outright with a victory at Florida on Sunday thanks to Mississippi's 78-77 overtime loss to LSU on Wednesday night. The Gators beat Vanderbilt 72-62 Wednesday night.
“It's certainly a good feeling that we at least tied for the SEC championship,” said Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, whose team has won 16 of 19 since the 3-5 start.
“At the beginning of the year, that seemed like an unattainable goal. I'm proud of this team. I think we've shown a lot of heart throughout the season to recover from a tough start.”
Parker came into the game against Auburn with a tightly wound knot in his stomach.
Coming off the worst game of his young career — a one-point, four-rebound performance at Arkansas — the 6-foot-8, 255-pounder wanted badly to punish someone for his subpar performance.
Parker owned the paint, shooting 9-of-12 from the field and grabbing six rebounds.
“I wanted to come out and dominate, and I did,” Parker said. “Coming off the Arkansas game, I was already mad.”
Tayshaun Prince added 12 points, freshmen Gerald Fitch and Erik Daniels had 11 each, and Keith Bogans added 10 as the Wildcats won for the ninth time in their last 10 games.
Kentucky shot 51 percent to Auburn's 38 percent, and its bench outscored the Tigers' reserves 36-10. Big men Marvin Stone and Marquis Estill added further inside punch, combining for another 13 points — on 5-of-8 shooting — and six rebounds.
“The inside presence of Parker and company was the major difference in the game,” Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. “Parker and their post players had their way with us, and we had no answer.”
Down by three early, Estill scored six points during a 10-2 run to put Kentucky on top 21-16 midway through the first half. The score tied at 21, Parker and Cliff Hawkins each scored four points in a 13-1 run to put the Wildcats up 34-22 with 4:20 to play.
Auburn pulled to 40-31 in the final minute, but Fitch's 3-pointer in the closing seconds gave Kentucky a 43-31 halftime lead.
Kentucky put the game away quickly after that. Consecutive inside baskets by Parker, who scored eight of Kentucky's first 12 points, and a dunk by Prince gave the Wildcats a 58-41 lead with 15:52 remaining.
“I told him he played awful after the Arkansas game,” Bogans said. “But he had it all going tonight. He was feeling good.”
Saul Smith, the team's only senior, was honored before the game, which was his 136th as a Wildcat.
Smith received a long standing ovation when he was introduced before the game. He said his goal was to keep his emotions in check, but he couldn't hold back the tears as he met his parents at midcourt and received a hug from his mother, Donna Smith.
“I couldn't keep from crying and I haven't cried in a couple of years,” Saul Smith said. “So that was an extremely emotional moment ... Hugging my mom and hearing the crowd roar, I lost it right there. I was trying to hide it, but it didn't work.”
“It was just a tremendous ceremony,” Fitch said. “I saw Saul's eyes get a little watery, and it made my eyes get a little watery.”
AUBURN (78)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Diame 15 3-3 1-2 0-2 0 2 7
Daniels 31 5-15 1-2 6-10 3 3 11
Brewer 37 4-6 4-5 10-17 4 1 12
Pohlman 33 4-16 3-4 1-3 2 2 11
Harrington 34 9-21 6-6 5-7 1 3 27
Sharp 14 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Bota 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 3 0
Davis 15 1-3 0-0 3-7 0 4 2
Glass 18 2-7 4-4 0-1 0 4 8
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 28-73 19-23 25-49 10 22 78
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.384, FT-.826. 3-Point Goals:
3-23, .130 (Daniels 0-1, Brewer 0-1, Pohlman 0-6,
Harrington 3-10, Sharp 0-2, Glass 0-3). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 2 (Bota, Davis).
Turnovers: 18 (Harrington 4, Brewer 3, Daniels 3,
Glass 2, Pohlman 2, Sharp 2, Bota, Davis).
Steals: 2 (Brewer 2).
KENTUCKY (90)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 32 3-8 4-4 3-7 4 2 12
Parker 18 9-12 1-6 3-6 0 2 19
Fitch 19 4-6 2-3 4-6 2 1 11
Bogans 28 3-11 4-6 1-2 1 3 10
Smith 23 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 2 2
Hawkins 17 4-7 0-0 0-2 2 4 9
Blevins 21 1-4 0-0 0-2 1 0 3
Daniels 15 4-7 3-6 2-6 1 2 11
Heissenbuttel 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Stone 12 2-3 3-5 1-2 0 1 7
Sears 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Estill 12 3-5 0-0 2-4 2 1 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 34-67 17-30 16-37 16 19 90
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.507, FT-.567. 3-Point Goals:
5-22, .227 (Prince 2-4, Fitch 1-3, Bogans 0-7,
Smith 0-2, Hawkins 1-1, Blevins 1-3, Daniels 0-1,
Heissenbuttel 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 3 (Stone 2, Prince). Turnovers: 12 (Parker
3, Blevins 2, Hawkins 2, Smith 2, Daniels,
Estill, Sears). Steals: 4 (Blevins, Daniels,
Sears, Smith).
__________________________________
Auburn 31 47 - 78
Kentucky 43 47 - 90
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 22,488. Officials:
Doug Shows, J.b. Caldwell, Ed Corbett.
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