March 10, 2000
By JENNA FRYER
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA (AP) – It wasn’t Arkansas’ traditional “40 minutes of hell,” butit sure felt like it to Kentucky. Joe Johnson scored 21 points and Arkansas pulled off the third major upsetof the Southeastern Conference tournament with a wire-to-wire 86-72 victoryover No. 16 Kentucky on Friday night.
The Razorbacks (17-14) had moved away from the suffocating style of playthat had won them the 1994 national championship and earned them a return tripto the final the next year.
But coach Nolan Richardson turned his young team loose at the start ofFriday’s quarterfinal and it responded with 33 points off of 27 Kentuckyturnovers – nearly doubling the Wildcats’ average of 14.7 – while committingonly six of their own.
The Razorbacks had 13 steals.
“Maybe it’s time to get back to `40 minutes of hell,”‘ Richardson said.”Tonight seemed like a night to run the horses and they did a great job ofrunning it. When you really get after folks and they turn it over, that’s thedifference in the game.”
For Kentucky, it seemed like Arkansas of old.
“We got beat by a team that came at us right from the beginning, a teamthat was much quicker than we were the whole game,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smithsaid. “Their press was very effective and forced us into a lot of turnovers.They ran a lot of people at us and that takes something out of you.”
The Razorbacks, the third seed in the West, eliminated one of the four teamsthat shared the regular season title. Two others, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 11Florida, also lost in Friday’s quarterfinals. Only No. 10 LSU is still alive.
“That tells you this league is strong from top to bottom,” Richardsonsaid. “If you threw the ball up tomorrow to start the season, we might havenine teams tie for the title. It’s gotten that close.”
Arkansas reached the semifinals – where its opponent will be LSU – for theeighth time in nine years.
Kentucky (22-9) had won three consecutive tournament titles and seven of thelast eight, but won’t be around for the semifinals for the first time sinceprobation kept it out in 1991.
The Wildcats entered the game 11-0 at the Georgia Dome in postseason play.
“It was an unfamiliar situation being down here in Atlanta,” Smith said.”But I knew from the beginning we weren’t ready to play. We looked rusty and astep slower.”
The Wildcats’ fans, the loudest and most loyal of the league, annually turnthe Georgia Dome into Rupp Arena South. But Friday they headed for the exitswith four minutes to play.
Johnson, the league’s freshman of the year, hit shots from all over thecourt against Kentucky and forced the Wildcats to double- and triple-team him.That left Teddy Gipson open to nail 3 of 4 attempts from behind the 3-point arcfor 16 points.
Brandon Dean and Chris Walker each added 12, and Blake Eddins scored 10.
Keith Bogans, another talented freshman, led Kentucky with 25 points. JamaalMagloire had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Tayshaun Prince finished with 15points despite missing all five of his first-half shots.
The game was a rematch of last year’s final, which Kentucky won 76-63. The Wildcats never had a chance in this one.
Kentucky had a horrible first half – making just six field goals, committing16 of their turnovers and allowing Arkansas to grab 11 of its steals – andtrailed by 20 with 3:00 to play.
“We missed some early shots, we turned it over on the first possession andafter that it just snowballed,” Smith said. “We started pressing and thatcaused us to force things.”
But the Wildcats closed the half with a 6-0 run to cut it to 36-22 at thebreak. They were more composed at the start of the second half, using a 15-10 runto pull within single digits at 46-37 with 16:43 left. But Arkansas answered, getting four points from Dean and a 3-pointer fromEddins in a 10-0 burst that created a cushion. The Razorbacks continued pushing the ball up the court and took theirlargest lead of the game on a Gipson jumper that made it 60-39 with 11:54 toplay.
Kentucky’s Saul Smith, who averages almost 29 minutes a game, picked up twoearly fouls and sat for all but three minutes in the first half. He scored hisfirst points on a layup with 9:40 to play and fouled out with 3:16 left,finishing with five points.
