February 28, 1999
UK vs. UT Audio
· Scott Padgett on the Volunteers’ defensive efforts
· Wayne Turner was asked if the Wildcats were discouraged by their fourth-straight road loss.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tony Harris paced Tennessee with 18 points Sunday asthe Volunteers upset No. 13 Kentucky 68-61 to sweep the Wildcats for the firsttime in two decades and capture the Southeastern Conference East Divisioncrown.
A sellout crowd of some 24,000 fans stormed the Thompson-Boling Arena flooras the clock ticked down on the final game of the regular season for bothteams.
Tennessee (20-7, 12-4) finished with a six-game winning streak, whiledefending national champion Kentucky (22-8, 11-5) closed with a fourthconsecutive road loss.
The Volunteers, who beat the Wildcats at Lexington 47-46 on Jan. 12, scoredtheir first season sweep of their cross-border rivals since 1979. Tennesseewill enter the SEC tournament in Atlanta next week as the No. 1 East seed andKentucky will be No. 2.
Holding a slim 30-29 lead at halftime, Tennessee fell behind early in thesecond period as Kentucky flexed its strength in the paint led by Scott Padgettand Michael Bradley, who finished with 10 points apiece.
For the game, Kentucky outscored Tennessee 44-20 under the basket andoutrebounded the Vols 40-30. But the Vols connected on 9-of-18 shooting from3-point range.
A 15-4 Kentucky run had Tennessee down by nine points, 44-35, with 13:15left.
But two 3-pointers by Tennessee’s Brandon Wharton, who finished with 17points, stopped the run and launched a turnaround. A putback jam by VincentYarbrough tied the game at 51-51 with 7:34 remaining.
Tennessee pushed the lead as Kentucky self-destructed with a series ofturnovers – the Vols scored 30 points off Wildcat turnovers for the game.
The Volunteers hung on with repeated trips to the foul line in the closingminutes and built their largest lead as time ran out.
Tennessee shot 43 percent from the field to Kentucky’s 48 percent.
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
Associated Press Writer
