March 5, 2003

With Florida’s loss at Georgia on Tuesday, Kentucky won its league-leading 42nd Southeastern Conference Championship and ninth Eastern Division crown outright with two games left in the regular season. UK, which is unbeaten in league play at 14-0, has won more SEC titles than all the other league teams combined (41). UK had clinched at least a share of the two league titles after a 74-66 victory over host Georgia on Sunday, but with the Gators trailing in the East standings by two games, their loss to the Dogs locked up the Cats’ No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament and assured Tubby Smith of his fourth SEC Championship in six seasons at Kentucky.

Smith’s team will complete its regular-season slate against Vanderbilt tonight before battling No. 3 Florida in a nationally televised broadcast on Saturday. UK has won as many SEC games this season (14), as they did in 1998 en route to the SEC crown that season. A win against Vanderbilt would give UK its most SEC victories since 1996 when the Cats swept conference play with a 16-0 record.