Nov. 26, 1999
By HAL BOCK
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – No. 8 Arizona shook off some erratic shooting to go on a11-0 run midway through the second half Friday night and defeated No. 11Kentucky 63-51 to win its third Preseason NIT championship.
No. 24 Maryland hung on for a 72-67 victory over Notre Dame in theconsolation game. Lonny Baxter topped the Terps with 17 points and 14 rebounds.Troy Murphy led all scorers with 25 and had 11 rebounds for the Irish.
Both Arizona (4-0) and Kentucky (3-1) were struggling with their shootinguntil midway through the second half. Leading 35-33, Arizona suddenly beganfinding the range.
Consecutive three-point plays by Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenasstarted the run. Then, after another basket by Jefferson, Jason Gardner addedan exclamation point to the run with a 3-pointer and just like that, Arizonahad a 46-33 lead.
In this rematch of the 1997 NCAA tournament championship game won inovertime by Arizona 83-79, neither team looked much like a Final Fourcandidate. Arizona shot 39.7 for the game but that was better than Kentucky’s35.6.
Jefferson and Arenas avoided the shooting woes. Jefferson missed just threeof 10 shots and finished with 15 points and Arenas hit six of 10 and led allscorers with 20 points.
Tayshaun Prince led Kentucky with 18 points but shot just 7-of-18. DesmondAllison added 12 for the losers, who made just 21 of 59 shots from the floor.
Over and over, shots banged harmlessly off the backboards or the rims asneither team could find any consistency on offense. Arizona led 29-25 athalftime, shooting just 32.3 from the field.
Typical of the shooting frustration was a sequence in the second half whenArizona’s Luke Walton, son of basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton, made abasket on his third attempt after grabbing rebounds of his first two missedshots. His next basket, however, came on his next shot.
Arenas and Gardner, Arizona’s flashy all-freshman backcourt, kept pluggingaway and kept Kentucky at bay. Arenas was picked as the tournament’s MVP.
The championship gave Arizona another Preseason NIT sweep. Coach LuteOlson’s Wildcats won the title in 1990, beating Arkansas in the final, andagain in 1995 when they beat Georgetown for the championship.
Arizona has won 12 straight games in this tournament after being eliminatedin the first round of their first appearance by Nevada-Las Vegas in 1986.
