March 16, 2002
ST. LOUIS –
Kentucky wins the game 87-82. UK improves to 22-9 with the win, while Tulsa ends the season at 27-7. UK advances to the regional semifinal for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. It’s UK’s 11th Sweet 16 appearance since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
The Wildcats are 89-37 in NCAA Tournament play all-time, making their national-record 43rd appearance this season. UK is now 11-2 in second-round games since the tournament field expanded.
In his five years at Kentucky, Coach Tubby Smith has taken four teams to the Sweet 16. As a head coach, he’s taken seven of his 11 squads to the regional semifinals, including twice at Tulsa and once at Georgia.
Tayshaun Prince led the way for Kentucky with a career-high 41 points. He also set a career high with 14 made field goals. His 41 points were the most scored by a UK player in the Tubby Smith Era and an Edward Jones Dome record. It marked the first time since 1990 that a UK player had scored 40 points in a game. Derrick Miller had 40 against Vanderbilt on Feb. 7, 1990. It was the seventh-highest point total by a Wildcat in school history.
Prince completed the stellar day with 14-of-21 field-goal shooting, 6-for-8 from beyond the arc, nine rebounds, four assists, three blocks and no turnovers. He now has 1,758 career points, moving him past the legendary Alex Groza (1945-49) and into eighth place on UK’s all-time scoring list.
Keith Bogans finished with 19 points in the game, bringing his weekend total to 40 points. He now has 1,344 points in his three-year career, tying him for 23rd on UK’s all-time scoring list with Frank Ramsey (1951-52, 54).
UK was shot an impressive 10-of-19 from three-point range for a season-high 52.6%. The Cats went to the charity stripe 29 times in the game, hitting 21 shots for a 72.4% mark. Tulsa was 11-for-15 from the free-throw line.
Tulsa shot 50.1% from the field, becoming the fourth team this season to do shoot better than 50.0% against the Cats. The Golden Hurricane is only the 15th squad in Tubby Smith’s five seasons at UK to accomplish the feat.
Since 1992, UK is 62-11(84.9%) in postseason play, including NCAA and SEC Tournament action.
UK improves its record in the Edward Jones Dome to 3-1, all NCAA Tournament games.
UK entered the locker room with a 43-42 lead at the half on a three-pointer by Prince in the waning seconds. The basket gave Prince 16 first-half points, his most since scoring 23 in the opening half against North Carolina on Dec. 8. Bogans added 11 first-half points, marking the first time since Nov. 24 that both players scored in double figures to start the game.
Another famous Wildcat had 41 points in St. Louis in the 1978 National Championship game at the Checker Dome – Jack Givens.
Kentucky advances to the East Region semifinal to take on the winner of Sunday’s second-round game between top-seed Maryland and No. 8 Wisconsin. The East Regional will be played on a Friday-Sunday schedule.
