March 23, 2003
By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The preliminaries are over. Now, Kentucky can get down to business.
The top-seeded Wildcats cruised into the round of 16 for the ninth time in 11 years, routing Utah 74-54 Sunday at the Midwest Regional.
The way Kentucky is playing, there wasn’t much need to spend the weekend in Nashville. The Wildcats (31-3) cruised through the first two rounds by a combined 52 points, stretching the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games.
And they don’t plan on stopping at Minneapolis, where they’ll meet Wisconsin in the regional semifinals Thursday night.
“Reaching the Sweet 16 doesn’t do it for me,” Cliff Hawkins said, knowing that’s the point where his team was knocked out the last two years. “I want more.”
Teammate Gerald Fitch agreed.
“We still have four games to go,” he said. “We don’t have any reason to be happy yet.”
Keith Bogans and Marquis Estill scored 18 points apiece in a convincing display of Kentucky’s myriad options. And No. 9 seed Utah (25-8) couldn’t do much against the Wildcats’ in-your-face defense, which held the Utes to 39.6 percent from the field.
“They’ve got the look of a Final Four, if not a national championship, team,” Utah coach Rick Majerus said. “They took it to us.”
Join the club. The Wildcats haven’t lost since an 18-point setback to rival Louisville on Dec. 28, winning all but seven by at least 10 points.
“We played the way a team that’s ranked is supposed to play,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. “We came in and took care of business as far as staying focused.”
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We still have four games to go. We don’t have any reason to be happy yet.
Kentucky guard Gerald Fitch
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Making the day complete for Wildcat fans, Louisville was knocked out of the tournament earlier Sunday, upset by Butler at the East Regional.
It wasn’t a shock at all that Utah’s season ended at the hands of Kentucky. The teams were meeting in the tournament for the fifth time in 11 years – the Wildcats have won each time, including a victory in the 1998 national championship game.
That year, the Utes squandered a 10-point halftime lead and lost 78-69. They haven’t been close in the other meetings, going down by an average of 21 points.
The Wildcats are totally focused on a return trip to New Orleans, where they won the Southeastern Conference tournament a week ago. They’re two victories away from going back to the Big Easy for the Final Four.
“Everyone wants to make it the Sweet 16,” Estill said. “We want to take it one step further and go all the way.”
Kentucky’s winning streak is now the fourth-longest in school history, and the Wildcats have rarely been tested while putting it together.
They didn’t waste any time taking control in this one, pounding the ball inside for their first five baskets, three of them by Estill. The Utes cooperated by deciding not to double-team the 6-foot-9 center when he got the ball.
“I like to play one-on-one,” said Estill, who made 9 of 13 shots. “My eyes lit up. I’m glad they didn’t trap down low. It’s been a long time since I could catch the ball and do my thing.”
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They’ve got the look of a Final Four, if not a national championship, team. They took it to us.
Utah coach Rick Majerus
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Bogans sank a 3-pointer on Kentucky’s first jumper of the night. Hawkins followed with a 15-footer to complete a 9-0 spurt that gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead, 17-7.
The game, barely seven minutes old, was essentially over.
Without Britton Johnsen, Utah couldn’t match up with Kentucky on the inside. The 6-foot-10 senior watched from the bench, sidelined by infectious mononucleosis.
“Every team has some weakness,” Majerus said. “We didn’t have enough of an opportunity to see if we could exploit some of those. … We didn’t have a lineup we could do some things with.”
The Wildcats dominated the boards, 35-22, and outscored the Utes 38-24 in the paint. Marc Jackson led Utah with 19 points. Nick Jacobson, with 14, was the only teammate in double figures.
Kentucky stretched the lead to as much as 18 points before settling for a 37-23 advantage at halftime.
The Utes had a glimmer of hope when Tim Frost swished a 3-pointer with 10:46 remaining, cutting Kentucky’s lead to 51-42.
Ho hum. The Wildcats scored the next 11 points while the Gaylord Entertainment Center rocked with cheers of, “Go Big Blue!”
The crowd, nearly all of them wearing blue, included actress and Kentucky graduate Ashley Judd. Her husband, Dario Franchitti, was racing in Phoenix and the Academy Awards were being held in Hollywood, but her beloved Cats came first.
After sitting next to Smith’s wife, Donna, most of the game, Judd had no reason to stay till the end. She left with about three minutes remaining, waving her blue-and-white shaker on the way out the door.
Too bad. Majerus could have used a consolation hug like the one he got from Judd after the ’98 title game.
