Feb 15, 2003
Box Score |Quotes |Notes |Photo Gallery
By CHRIS DUNCAN
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky proved it can rely on defense when its shots aren’t falling.
Keith Bogans scored 20 points and Gerald Fitch added 15 as the No. 3 Wildcats extended their winning streak to 14 games with a 68-57 win over LSU on Saturday.
Kentucky (20-3, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) shot 39 percent (22-of-56), its worst shooting performance of the season at Rupp Arena, but outrebounded LSU 46-30 and forced 17 turnovers.
“We had a lot of open shots we missed,” said Fitch, who shot 4-for-10 from the field. “That shows maturity that we’re able to find another way to win.”
The winning streak, the longest active streak in the nation, is Kentucky’s longest in a season under coach Tubby Smith. Kentucky won its final 13 games in 1997-98 and its first four games in 1998-99.
The Wildcats are off to their best start in the conference since the 1995-96 team won all 16 of its regular-season SEC games in Rick Pitino’s next-to-last season.
“To this point, it’s going well,” Bogans said of the season. “But we’ve still got a lot more games to go.”
Chuck Hayes had six points, 10 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots, and Erik Daniels added nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Hayes bruised his back in practice Thursday and went straight to the trainers’ room to receive treatment after the game.
“Chuck really set the tone,” Smith said. “He’s got that bad back and was having spasms during the game. But he’s courageous and very tough.”
Jaime Lloreda had 18 points and nine rebounds for LSU (14-9, 3-8), which lost for the seventh time in nine games.
LSU finished 20-of-54 from the field (37 percent). Kentucky has limited six of its last nine opponents to less than 40-percent shooting.
“We played good defense when we had to,” Smith said.
Kentucky’s shooting wasn’t much better. The Wildcats, second in the SEC in field goal percentage, missed 14 of their first 17 shots, many from close range.
But the Wildcats were the more active team from the start, grabbing 14 of the first 18 rebounds and limiting LSU to six shots in the first eight minutes.
“We got a little frustrated, but we just brushed it off and played defense,” Daniels said.
The Wildcats eventually built an eight-point lead. But Darrel Mitchell converted a four-point play with 1:10 left in the first half, sinking a 3-pointer from the corner and then a free throw after a foul by Bogans.
Kentucky, which had won its first nine SEC games by an average of 15 points, struggled to pull away from the Tigers, who slowed down the tempo at every opportunity.
“We came up here to be patient, play a half-court game and not let Kentucky get out in transition,” LSU coach John Brady said.
“They didn’t try to get into a ‘run and gun’ kind of a game,” Bogans said.
The Wildcats maintained a lead despite foul trouble early in the second half.
Hayes picked up his third foul with 14:44 left, and Jules Camara got his fourth a minute later. Marquis Estill, who had three fouls, replaced Camara. Estill got his fourth foul with 11:43 remaining.
The Wildcats’ offense then began to click.
Bogans swished a 3-pointer from the corner with 11:31 left to give Kentucky a 41-31 lead, its first double-digit advantage of the game.
The Wildcats’ defense, as it has throughout their winning streak, controlled the game from that point.
The Tigers missed 15 of their first 20 shots in the second half, including five of six from 3-point range.
“The second half, we played well,” Brady said. “We missed some shots we normally make.”
Ronald Dupree, the SEC’s seventh-leading scorer, had only four points on 2-of-7 shooting with six minutes left. He finished with 10, his lowest in an SEC game this season.
Kentucky extended its lead to 20 points before LSU rallied, cutting the lead to five by the final minute. But Daniels made two free throws with 36.1 seconds left and Bogans hit two more six seconds later to put the game away.
Fitch said the Wildcats were disappointed with how they finished.
“We kind of let the lead slip away,” he said. “We could have made a 20-point lead a 30-point lead. We need to work on that.”
