Nov 24, 2001
Box Score?|?Quotes?|?Notes?|?Photo Gallery
By STEVE BAILEY
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky greeted former All-American Kyle Macy with a hearty cheer and a lesson in teamwork.
Tayshaun Prince scored 23 points, and Keith Bogans had 20 as the 10th-ranked Wildcats (2-1) overwhelmed Morehead State 94-75 on Saturday night.
“One of the reasons we play games like this is so that if we win our conference tournament and make the NCAA tournament, we’ll have the experience of playing a high-caliber team,” said Macy, the Morehead State coach who ranks seventh on the Wildcats’ career scoring list. “I think this will make us a better team.”
Marquis Estill added 10 points as the Wildcats played their best all-around game of the young season, tallying 25 assists and outrebounding the Eagles 48-30.
“It was good to play better tonight and get a win,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. “We still didn’t shoot the ball as well as I had hoped, but I still saw a lot of positive things.”
Macy, who played at Kentucky from 1978-80 and had a seven-year NBA career with Phoenix, Chicago and Indiana, received a standing ovation as the starting lineups were introduced. His team then went out and played the Wildcats tough for most of the first half.
Ricky Minard’s one-handed dunk capped an 8-0 run that gave Morehead State (2-1) a 24-20 lead with 9:50 remaining. An inside basket by Ike Lopez kept the Eagles on top 36-34 at the 4:00 mark.
But from that point, freshman Chuck Hayes scored six points and had two assists as Kentucky outscored the Eagles 13-4 the rest of the way to take a 47-40 halftime lead.
“We came out in the first half and played with a lot of energy,” Morehead State forward Kyle Umberger said. “Toward the end of the half, we lost some of our edge and they took advantage.”
The Wildcats blew the game open with a 19-4 run to open the second half. Bogans scored five points, and Prince and Erik Daniels each had four during the run, which put the Wildcats up 66-44 with 12:01 to play.
The lead grew to as many as 25 on Prince’s long 3-pointer at the 10-minute mark. Morehead State cut the margin to 19 on Minard’s jumper with 6:15 to play, but would get no closer.
“We didn’t show up in the second half, and you can’t do that against one of the best teams in the country,” said Lopez, who finished with nine points and five rebounds. “You have to stay focused the entire game.”
Kentucky shot 51 percent, but hit only 27 percent (8-of-30) from 3-point range. The Wildcats also committed 18 turnovers against the Eagles’ swarming defense.
“We played all right, but there were a lot of things we could have done better,” Estill said. “We were unselfish, but we needed to attack the ball and communicate better.”
Minard, the Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year last season, finished with 23 points and Chez Marks added 21 on 7-of-11 shooting for the Eagles, who made 42 percent of their 3-point shots (9-of-21) but shot only 39 percent overall.
“We don’t have the size that Kentucky has, so we tried to utilize our speed by opening up the spacing on the floor and making them play defense,” Macy said. “Take away the last 3:47 of the first half and the start of the second half, and I was pleased with our effort.”
