February 20, 1999
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) – Disappointed with the leadership of seniors KareemReid and Pat Bradley, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson yanked them from thestarting lineup two weeks ago.
With much at stake Saturday, they started – and produced – against No. 6Kentucky.
Reid and Bradley played 34 minutes apiece and scored 17 each as theRazorbacks held off the Wildcats 74-70 and improved their chances of gettinginto the NCAA tournament.
“Our seniors talked about this game all week,” Richardson said. “I toldthem, This is your team,’ and they came out fighting. This is one of the greatwins for our program.”
Derek Hood made a free throw with 44 seconds to play and Reid hit one 17seconds later as the Wildcats (21-7, 10-4 SEC) failed to score in the final twominutes.
The victory was the first over Kentucky for Arkansas’ seniors and ended asix-game losing streak to the Wildcats.
“We’re at a crossroads,” Richardson said. “We could go down one road wedon’t want to go down or we could down the one we want. The road led throughKentucky. Now we’re on the right road.”
Arkansas (19-8, 8-6 SEC) led the entire second half – by as many as 13 with7:06 to play and by one twice in the second half. Wayne Turner’s drive throughthe lane narrowed the lead to 69-68, but Chris Walker’s only 3-pointer of thegame made it 72-68.
The Wildcats got within two on Jamaal Magloire’s rebound basket and had achance to tie it, but Scott Padgett missed from in the lane. Hood rebounded andmade the front end of a one-and-one, and after Saul Smith misfired on a 3-pointattempt, Reid made one of two.
Desmond Allison’s tip settled on the small metal plate between the goal andthe backboard while the clock ticked down to 8.5 seconds.
Magloire and Padgett led Kentucky with 14 each.
The 5-foot-10 Reid had seven rebounds and also played 34 minutes without aturnover. “He needed a game like that,” Richardson said.
“They were so much quicker than we were,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said.”It seemed we would get one hand on the ball and they would get two.”
The Wildcats, the worst shooting 3-point team in the SEC at 30 percent, madehalf of their 18 attempts. But they also had 18 turnovers – six more thanArkansas.
“There were times we didn’t handle their aggressiveness,” Smith said.
After Brandon Dean scored from the baseline and Bradley made a 3-pointer,Arkansas led 67-54 with 7:06 to play. Kentucky scored the next 11 points.
Bradley stopped the run with a fallaway from the corner.
Allison scored seven during a 12-0 spurt that gave Kentucky a 19-13 lead.
Jefferies put back a teammate’s miss and Hood hit two free throws to tie itat 23. It was tied twice more before Smith’s 3 put Kentucky up 30-29. Deantipped one in and Bradley made a runner in the lane.
Reid’s 3 gave Arkansas a six-point lead, but Padgett responded with a 3 andthe Razorbacks led 38-35 at the half.
By HARRY KING
AP Sports Writer
