March 15, 2002
ST. LOUIS, Mo. –
2002 NCAA Tournament * Second Round
No. 12 Tulsa Golden Hurricane (27-6, 15-3 WAC)
vs.
No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats (21-9, 10-6 SEC)
March 16, 2002 * St. Louis, Mo. * 5:38 p.m. ET
Edward Jones Dome (39,063)
RADIO
UK Radio Network (90+ stations): Tom Leach, Mike Pratt, Dave Baker.
NCAA Radio Network: Bob Kessling, Dave Gavitt
TELEVISION
CBS Sports (Live): Dick Enberg, Matt Guokas, Armen Keteyian.
Coaching Comparison
Tubby Smith (High Point '73) Overall (11th) 255-104 (71.0%) at UK (5th) 131-42 (75.7%) SEC Tourney (7) 13-4 (76.5%) NCAA Tourney (9) 19-7 (73.1%)
John Phillips (Oklahoma St. ’73) Overall (1st) 27-6 (81.8%) at TU (1st) same vs. Kentucky 0-0
Probable Starters
WILDCATS No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Ppg Rpg Hometown Last Game 21 Tayshaun Prince F 6-9 215 Sr. 16.7 6.3 Compton, Calif. 13 pts, 5 rebs, 0-6 3FG 44 Chuck Hayes F 6-7 237 Fr. 5.8 4.4 Modesto, Calif. 5 pts, 2 rebs 40 Jules Camara F-C 6-11 225 Jr. 5.9 3.8 Dakar, Senegal 11 pts, 4 rebs, 4-7 FG 10 Keith Bogans G 6-5 205 Jr. 11.2 4.4 Alexandria, Va. 21 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assts, 4-5 3FG 1 Cliff Hawkins G 6-1 185 So. 7.1 *4.2 Dumfries, Va. 7 pts, 5 rebs, 4 assts
Key Reserves 4 Gerald Fitch G 6-3 188 So. 9.4 5.7 Macon, Ga. 6 pts, 3 rebs, 4 stls 50 Marquis Estill F 6-9 240 Jr. 9.1 4.3 Richmond, Ky. 12 pts, 4 rebs, 3 blks, 5-6 FG 2 Rashaad Carruth G 6-3 195 Fr. 5.8 1.0 College Park, Ga. 0 pts, 1 reb 14 Erik Daniels F 6-7 205 So. 4.0 2.9 Cincinnati, Ohio 6 pts, 5 rebs, 3-4 FG 3 J.P. Blevins G 6-2 180 Sr. 2.3 1.1 Edmonton, Ky. 0 pts, 0 rebs, 5 mins*Assists
Wildcats Advance to Face Tulsa In 2nd Round
No. 4 Kentucky earned an 83-68 victory over No. 13 Valparaiso on Thursday to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s second round for the 11th consecutive season. The Wildcats will face Tulsa, which beat Marquette, 71-69.
This is UK’s national-record 43rd NCAA Tournament appearance and its 11th straight. The Wildcats are now 88-37 in tournament play, which includes a 34-9 record in tourney openers. Kentucky’s 88 NCAA Tournament wins are the most by any school in the nation.
Since 1992, Kentucky is 61-11 (84.7%) in postseason play, which includes NCAA and SEC Tournament games.
Since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the Cats are 10-2 in second-round action. UK’s last second-round defeat occurred in 2000 when Syracuse captured a 52-50 victory in Cleveland.
Sweet Domes
The Wildcats are now 2-1 all-time in the Edward Jones Dome, formerly known as the TWA Dome. UK beat Wally Szczerbiak’s Miami team in the 1999 NCAA Sweet 16. Michigan State ended the Cats’ streak of three straight Final Four appearances with a come-from-behind 73-66 win in the Midwest Region final.
Kentucky set a Jones Dome record with 83 points against Valpo. The Dome has played host to seven college basketball games prior to this tournament, including NCAA Tournament and neutral-site games.
The Cats are 2-1 in domes this season. UK beat Indiana in the RCA Dome on Dec. 22 before falling to South Carolina in the Georgia Dome last weekend. Kentucky’s shooting against Valpo was its best in a dome this season (49.1%). The Cats had previously shot 45.8% vs. IU and a season-low 31.1% against USC last Friday.
With the victory over Valpo, UK is now 4-2 at neutral sites this season.
Hurricane Skinny
Tulsa finished the season as co-champion of the Western Athletic Conference with a 15-3 record, sharing the title with Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors beat TU in the league tournament championship game. The 15 wins in conference play tied the Golden Hurricane record which had been set twice by Tubby Smith-coached Tulsa teams in 1994 and ’95.
This marks Tulsa’s 13th NCAA Tournament appearance, including its seventh in the last nine seasons. In the Hurricane’s last appearance, it advanced to the 2000 NCAA Tournament’s Final Eight.
Senior Greg Harrington, a 6-2 guard, earned first-team All-WAC honors this season. He’s the school record-holder in assists and games played.
Tulsa Series
This will be the fifth meeting between Kentucky and Tulsa. The two teams met three times during the “Fabulous Five” era of Kentucky basketball, then matched up again during the 1997-98 season:
Date Result Site12/5/47 UK 72, TU 18 H12/6/47 UK 71, TU 22 H12/10/48 UK 81, TU 27 H12/20/97 UK 74, TU 53 H
Tubby Smith coached at Tulsa for four seasons, from 1992-95, earning a 79-43 (64.8%) mark. Assistant coach Mike Sutton served as an assistant on his ’95 staff before following Smith to both Georgia and Kentucky where he continues to serve on the staff.
Smith is 1-0 against Tulsa while John Phillips is in his first year as a head coach.
Kentucky and Tulsa have one common opponent this season — Arkansas. The Wildcats beat the Razorbacks, 71-58, in Lexington while TU fell to the Hogs, 79-75, in Tulsa.
Tulsa is UK’s first Western Athletic Conference opponent this season. UK is 10-3 all-time against the WAC.
Last Meeting
In the teams’ last meeting, Kentucky grabbed a 74-53 victory. The game was scheduled during Tubby Smith’s first season at Kentucky, three years after he coached the Golden Hurricane.
Tulsa, who was coached by Bill Self in his first season, led 29-28 at halftime. With TU leading 33-32 early in the second period, UK went on a 17-0 run to gain control. The Cats shot 52.0% from the field and were led in scoring by Nazr Mohammed with 17 points while Jeff Sheppard added 11 and Wayne Turner chipped in 10. The Cats went on to win the national championship that season.
Tubby at Tulsa
Tubby Smith began his coaching career at Tulsa after serving as an assistant coach at Kentucky under Rick Pitino for two seasons (1989-91). He led the Golden Hurricane to four consecutive winning seasons, including back-to-back Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994-95 while winning consecutive Missouri Valley Conference titles.
In NCAA Tournament play, his ’94 squad upset No. 5-seed UCLA, 112-102, and then upset No. 4-seed Oklahoma State, 82-80, before losing to eventual national champ Arkansas, 103-84, in the Sweet 16. The next season, Tulsa blew away Illinois in the first round and Old Dominion in the second round before losing to UMass in the regional semifinals.
Cat Scratches
Kentucky continues to shoot well from the foul line, converting over 70% of its charity tosses in nine of its last 13 games. In addition, UK has gone to the line at least 18 times in each of the past eight games. In the past 13 games, the Cats have hit 70.5% from the line. The season-low occurred 14 games ago — 48.5% at Auburn.
The Cats continue to reduce their season turnover average. In the last nine games, the squad has averaged just 11.4 tpg. For the season, UK is averaging 14.6 tpg and prior to the last nine games, UK had averaged 15.9 tpg.
With the Cats slated to play Tulsa on Saturday, UK is 11-3 in weekend games this season, 11-2 with afternoon starts.
Smith Loves March
Tubby Smith owns an impressive 24-6 record in March (80.0%) since taking over at UK. He’s 9-2 in the SEC Tournament, 13-3 in the NCAA tourney and owns a 2-1 advantage over Florida in regular-season closers while at Kentucky.
Overall, Smith is now 19-7 (73.1%) in NCAA Tournament action which, prior to the 2002 tourney, ranked sixth among active coaches. His nine consecutive tournament appearances is tied for the fourth most among active coaches. In addition, he is one of a select few who have coached three different teams to the NCAAs.
Smith has coached six of his last eight teams to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Smith’s Averages
Tubby Smith has averaged 26.2 wins and 8.4 losses per season since taking over the UK program five years ago. The averages include this season’s 21-9 record.
Smith vs. Tulsa Coaches
This year alone, Tubby Smith has coached against Arkansas’ Nolan Richardson and Tennessee’s Buzz Peterson, both former Tulsa coaches. Smith was 2-1 in those games.
In addition, he led the Cats to a 101-67 victory over Tulane, which was coached by former assistant Shawn Finney. Finney served as an assistant at Tulsa for both J.D. Barnett and Smith.
Milestones
Keith Bogans scored 21 points vs. Valpo to give him 1,325 career points, moving the junior past Jim Andrews (1971-73) and into 24th place on the all-time list. He needs 19 more to catch Hall of Famer Frank Ramsey (1951-52, ’54) for 23rd place.
Marquis Estill had 12 points vs. Valpo to top 500 career points in two seasons. He now has 506.
Gerald Fitch needs three rebounds to top 300 in his two-year career.
Tayshaun Prince needs 27 points to catch Alex Groza in eighth place on the UK career scoring list. Prince currently has 1,717 points.
Tournament Averages
Keith Bogans’ 21 points against the Crusaders increased his career NCAA Tournament scoring average to 17.3 ppg. Through six tourney games, the junior also has added 5.2 boards and 3.5 assists per game. Bogans’ tournament high scoring mark was 23 against Southern Cal last March.
Tayshaun Prince scored 13 against VU, which is inline with his average of 13.6 ppg in 10 NCAA Tournament games. He also has averaged 4.5 rpg and 2.3 apg during his career.
The Rejector
Marquis Estill tallied three blocked shots against Valpo Thursday. The effort gave him the team lead in blocked shots this season with 41.
“Quis” has totaled more than three blocks in three of the last five outings and topped the three-block mark six times this year.
Three Mania
Kentucky has hit a three-pointer in 471 consecutive games. UK trails UNLV, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, which all have similar streaks. UNLV, Vanderbilt and Princeton have hit a three-pointer in every game since the rule was adopted in 1987, but Princeton hasn’t played as many games.
The Wildcats’ last game without a three-pointer came 13 years ago against Seton Hall on Nov. 26, 1988, a “three-point” loss in the Great Alaska Shootout.
Vs. Valpo
Kentucky captured an 83-68 win over the Crusaders in NCAA Tournament action. The Wildcats used stifling first-half defense to grab a 41-23 halftime lead and then converted 52.0% of their shots after the break to grab the 15-point win.
Keith Bogans led the Cats’ charge, scoring 21 points thanks to a 4-for-5 effort from three-point range. It was the most points he had scored in a game since totaling 23 vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 19.
Valpo snapped its five-game win streak. The Crusaders were down 18 at the half, their largest halftime deficit of the season, and shot just 39.7% for the game, their worst shooting effort since Feb. 9 against Southern Utah.
Should the Cats Advance…
Should the Cats beat Tulsa to advance to the Sweet 16, Kentucky would play in the East Region semifinals in Syracuse. At the time of this writing, the UK-TU winner could play top-seeded Maryland, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 9 St. John’s or No. 16 Siena.
The East Regional will be played on a Friday-Sunday schedule.
-Go Cats-
