December 8, 1998
By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Bob Knight took his frustrations out on the scorer’stable during his 1,000th game as a college coach.
Heshimu Evans had 22 points and nine rebounds as fifth-ranked Kentucky beatNo. 11 Indiana 70-61 Tuesday night, the Wildcats’ fifth straight win in theannual neutral-site series.
But the game will probably be remembered for Knight’s kicking fit inovertime, which Indiana forced by making three 3-pointers in the final 65seconds of regulation.
With 3:45 remaining in overtime and Indiana down 56-51, Knight kicked asheet of red plastic on the face of the scorer’s table in frustration after atraveling call against Indiana’s Kirk Haston. After referee Gerald Boudreauxwhistled an immediate technical, Knight kicked the plastic again, leaving adark mark.
“I thought it was a bad call,” said the Indiana coach. “I thought Hastongot smacked.”
Scott Padgett made one of two free throws on the technical. Evans was fouledon Kentucky’s ensuing possession and made two free throws to give the Wildcatsan eight-point lead.
“We knew it was important to take a quick lead in the overtime,”Kentucky’s Michael Bradley said. “Indiana had the momentum going intoovertime, so we wanted to try to take that away from them by scoring early andgetting on top by five or 10.”
One day after being challenged to improve his defense by Kentucky coachTubby Smith, Evans had his best game of the season. He scored 18 points in thesecond half and overtime, including three 3-pointers, one of which broke a40-40 tie with 5:50 left and spurred an 11-2 Kentucky run.
“Down the stretch he made some key 3s, some clutch plays. His contributionwas outstanding,” Smith said. “I thought he had an excellent defensiveeffort.”
“You have to play tough defense against Indiana,” Evans said. “If youdon’t, they’re going to come back and win the game.”
Luke Recker scored 18 points for Indiana (8-2), including a 3-pointer thattied the game at 51 with 1.7 seconds remaining in regulation. A.J. Guyton added15 points for the Hoosiers.
Scott Padgett scored 17 points for Kentucky (8-1), which opened the overtimewith a 3-pointer by Padgett and a layup by Wayne Turner for a 56-51 lead.
Down 51-42 after a dunk by Evans with 1:28 remaining, Indiana rallied to tieon two 3-pointers by Recker and Dane Fife’s tying shot in the final seconds.
Recker’s long-range shots came off screens that pulled Evans away ondefense.
“We got the ball to the people who were open,” Knight said. “We didn’tthink we could get back into the game shooting 2s.”
Smith said his team didn’t panic after blowing the late lead. “I just told them to stay aggressive and attack,” he said. “We just hadto do a better job of guarding their 3s.”
After Turner’s score gave Kentucky a five-point lead in overtime, Haston wascalled for traveling, triggering the outburst by Knight, who became the 16thman to coach 1,000 college games. In 33-plus seasons with Army and Indiana,Knight is 728-272.
“I didn’t know it was the 1,000th game until Friday,” Knight said. “Thatshows you how much of a distraction it was.”
The game featured aggressive, physical play throughout and strong defense byboth teams. Kentucky shot 26 percent from the field in the first half and justunder 40 percent for the game, while Indiana finished at 38 percent.
All the misses translated into a lot of rebounds – 43 for Kentucky and 31for Indiana. Michael Bradley had nine for the Wildcats to tie Evans for theteam lead.
