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Wildcats Face Razorbacks in Final Western-Division Battle
Feb. 22, 2002 LEXINGTON, Ky. - vs. No. 12/12 Kentucky Wildcats (18-7, 8-5)
Feb. 23, 2002
RADIO
TELEVISION
UKathletics.com
Cats Close Western-Division Slate with Arkansas While Arkansas is currently fourth in the SEC West, the Wildcats are still in the hunt for an SEC East Division crown. The Cats are tied for second in the division with Georgia and both teams trail Florida by one game. The battle will be televised nationally by CBS, Kentucky's 12th national TV appearance this season, its sixth of seven CBS broadcasts.
Madness Is Closing In
Who's Hot
Series History * Since Arkansas joined the league in 1992, Kentucky owns an 11-7 advantage in the series. In regular-season games during that period, Arkansas has won six of 10 games. Meanwhile, Kentucky holds a 7-1 advantage over the Hogs in the SEC Tournament. * The Cats own a 5-2 edge in Lexington, including a narrow 3-2 margin in Rupp Arena. Kentucky took the last Bluegrass meeting, 60-55, on Feb. 26, 2000. * Nolan Richardson, a mentor to Tubby Smith, is 7-11 against UK, while Smith is 7-9 against Arkansas. Richardson coached at Tulsa from 1981-85, his first Division I head coaching job, and Smith began his head coaching career at Tulsa, serving there from 1992-95. Smith was 0-5 against the Hogs while coaching the Golden Hurricane, 2-1 at Georgia and 5-3 at Kentucky. Richardson, Smith and Tennessee's Buzz Peterson are all Tulsa coaching products.
Memorable Games * Jan. 25, 1992 -- In Arkansas' first visit to Rupp Arena, the No. 9 Hogs were victorious, defeating the eighth-ranked "Unforgettables," 105-88. * Feb. 9, 1994 -- No. 3 Arkansas was quickly becoming a thorn in UK's side, rolling to a 90-82 win over fourth-ranked Kentucky in Rupp Arena. It was the Razorbacks' third win in four tries against the Cats since UA joined the league. UK's lone victory during the stretch came in the 1993 SEC Tournament. * Jan. 29, 1995 -- On Super Bowl Sunday, UK battled defending champ Arkansas in the Cats' first trip to Bud Walton Arena. With UK leading 92-91, Scotty Thurman drove into the paint and pulled up for the game-winner with eight seconds left. A late free throw set the final margin at 94-92. * March 12, 1995 -- In the SEC Tournament Championship, UK repeatedly clawed back after trailing by 19 in the first half, 12 points with nine minutes remaining in regulation and nine points with 1:33 left in overtime before pulling out a 95-93 win. * Jan. 26, 1997 -- Again, Super Bowl Sunday saw the shorthanded Cats at Arkansas. Playing without injured star Derek Anderson, seldom-used walk-on Cameron Mills scored 12 points as UK won for the first time in Fayetteville, 83-73. * Jan. 17, 1998 -- After Kareem Reid's runner in the lane rolled out, sending the game to overtime, Heshimu Evans scored the Cats' first seven points of overtime as UK rallied for the home win, 80-77. * March 10, 2001 -- UK fell behind 40-25 in the SEC Tournament semis, but rallied to cut the deficit to 10 points at half before rolling to an 87-78 win in Nashville. The Cats were the second team to shoot better than 50% vs. the Hogs that season.
Vs. SEC West The Wildcats are 3-2 against the West this season.
Common Opponents
Opponent UK UA Mississippi St. L, 69-74* W, 75-64 Georgia L, 84-88 L, 67-81 L, 69-78 South Carolina W, 51-50 L, 60-62 W, 91-74 Ole Miss W, 87-64 L, 64-70 L, 67-79 Auburn W, 69-62 W, 83-77 W, 62-60 Alabama L, 61-64 L, 94-109 W, 67-59 Florida W, 70-68 W, 94-92* Tennessee L, 74-76* L, 53-64 W, 64-61 LSU W, 68-56 L, 69-75 L, 63-67 *overtimeHogwired Keith Bogans has enjoyed tremendous success against the Razorbacks during his career. In the four previous games the last two seasons, the 6-5 guard has averaged 21.8 ppg and 6.5 rpg, including a 23-point, 10-rebound effort in the Cats' win over Arkansas in the 2001 SEC tourney. Teammate Tayshaun Prince also has had good games against the Razorbacks. He's averaged 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game in six contests over the past three years, including double-doubles in both outings last season -- 14-10 on Feb. 25 and 19-10 on March 10.
Toughest Schedules Strength of schedule ratings are listed in parenthesis: CollegeRPI.com Sagarin Kentucky 7th (1st) 9th (4th) Arkansas 34th (2nd) 51st (6th) The Southeastern Conference is rated as the nation's toughest conference by CollegeRPI.com and Sagarin. All but one team (Auburn) has a .500 record or better. 1. SEC 2. ACC 3. Big 12Starting Spark Chuck Hayes is enjoying a stellar freshman campaign, averaging 5.2 ppg and 4.0 rpg in just 13.8 mpg so far this year. However, in his two games as a starter -- at Florida and against Tennessee on Tuesday -- Hayes has shined, averaging 10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per outing. Against Tennessee on Tuesday, the 6-7 forward was 4-for-5 from the field, recording 10 points and six rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes. Earlier this month in Knoxville, he had a career game against the Vols with 15 points and seven rebounds.
Bowie's Jersey Bowie played 11 seasons in the NBA and worked from 1998-'01 as the analyst on the UK Radio Network. He currently resides in Lexington and is involved in the standardbred horse industry. In 2000, he became the first African-American to be named to the Kentucky Racing Commission.
Cheer Champs on espn2
Fitch's Production Fitch was solid at Georgia, matching his career high for the second time this season with 17 points. He was 3-for-6 from 3FG range and grabbed five rebounds and three steals in a team-high 36 minutes.
Wild, Wild World It's one of two shows by Nigel with ties to March Madness. Billy Donovan and some real Florida gators will be featured March 2.
National Exposure
Pride in Defense * Limiting host Florida to a then-season-low 68 points and a season-low 31 rebounds. * In 12 of the 25 games this season, UK opponents have shot less than 40% from the field. The Cats are 11-1 in those outings. Overall, UK opponents have combined to shoot 40.0% from the field. Indiana and South Carolina both shot 32.1% from the field, the best defensive efforts by the '02 Wildcats. * Georgia (54.1%) and Tennessee (53.4% - 2/19) are the only teams to shoot better than 50% against the Cats this season. * In SEC play only, UK leads the league in FG percentage defense (40.6%) and blocks (5.2 bpg) and ranks third in scoring defense (67.2 ppg). * Entering the final stretch of regular-season play, the Wildcats' defense is averaging 8.0 steals per game. That's up from last year's 6.7 spg and the best at UK since the '98 champs averaged 8.7 spg.
UK's Offense Due
Changing Lineups In the first eight games of the season, Smith used four different lineups. Only Tayshaun Prince has started every game. Hawkins has started 22 times while running mate J.P. Blevins has three starts. Estill has 12 starts, while Jules Camara made 11 starts before the Florida game. Erik Daniels also has a start to his credit.
Last 10
Top-10 Assault His 15 points against UT pushed him past Ed Davender and into ninth on the list with 1,639 points in his career. Prince sits 105 points behind the legendary Alex Groza (1945-49) in eighth. Prince is the first Wildcat to crack the top 10 since Tony Delk in 1996. The '96 Final Four MVP finished fourth with 1,890 points.
Milestones * Tayshaun Prince has made 188 three-pointers in his career, just two shy of third place held by Travis Ford and three behind Derrick Miller in second place. While he will not catch school-record holder Tony Delk (283), he can become the highest ranking three-point shooter in UK history in the post-Pitino Era. Meanwhile, Bogans moved past John Pelphrey and into fifth place. He has 165 made 3FGs. * Prince and Jules Camara have each cracked UK's top-10 list for career blocks this season. Prince needs three to move past Nazr Mohammed and into fifth place, while Jules Camara needs six to catch Reggie Hanson in eighth place.
Rupp Arena Now in its 26th season in the building, UK has posted a 338-39 (89.7%) record in Rupp. The Wildcats have won 15 national attendance titles in the building, including the last six.
Big Draw I Game (Site) Attendance 1. UK-Indiana (N) 29,379 2. UK-Louisville (H) 24,330 3. UK-Alabama 23,544 4. Syracuse-Virginia Tech (H) 23,226 5. UK-North Carolina (H) 23,153 6. Missouri-Illinois (N) 22,153 7. Syracuse-Pittsburgh (H) 21,935 8. North Carolina-Duke (H) 21,750 8. North Carolina-NC State (H) 21,750 10. UK-South Carolina (H) 21,731Big Draw II Kentucky routinely draws an opponent's top home crowd each season. In fact, in the eight road games the Cats have played this year, UK matched or exceeded the team's average crowd. Opponent Attendance Opp. Avg. Miss. State 9,347 4,607 S. Carolina 12,097 7,975 Notre Dame 11,418 10,984 Auburn 10,500 9,500 Florida 12,212 10,346 Tennessee 17,260 13,661 LSU 8,549 8,305 Georgia 10,523 8,799
Cats in the NCAA
Cats in the SEC The Wildcats are second in scoring (78.0 ppg), third in scoring margin (+11.1) and second in rebounding margin (+5.8 rpg). UK is first in rebounding (40.7 rpg) and offensive boards (15.7 orpg). The Cats rank second in blocks (4.8 pg). In SEC games only, Prince is second in the league in blocked shots with 1.9 bpg. Camara is fourth with 1.6 pg and Estill ranks sixth with 1.1 bpg. Hawkins is fourth in assists (4.3 apg). Gerald Fitch is 10th in rebounding in league games with 6.4 rpg, while Prince ranks 10th in FG% (43.5%) and 10th in scoring (16.2 ppg).
Double-Doubles Gerald Fitch had his second double-double of the year with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Ole Miss after a 16-10 performance against Tulane in early January. He has recorded three double-doubles in his career. Jules Camara had his best effort of the season against Duke, scoring 10 points while grabbing 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and the fourth of his career. Current Wildcats who have recorded double-doubles in their career include: Cat Career Doubles Keith Bogans 2 Jules Camara 4 Marquis Estill 1 Gerald Fitch 3 Jason Parker 2 Tayshaun Prince 11
Three Mania 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.
UK in February
Next Game
Last Time Out
National Polls After losing its season opener, UK dropped to a season-low 13th in the AP poll and 14th in the Coaches poll.
Vs. Ranked Opponents
SEC Domination * The Wildcats have won 41 SEC titles and 23 SEC Tournament Championships, more titles than the other teams combined. * Kentucky has won eight of the last 10 SEC Tournament titles.
TUB-BEE, TUB-BEE! * Smith is 57-20 (74.0%) in SEC regular season play since taking over at Kentucky. * Smith has an amazing 13-3 (81.3%) record in the SEC Tournament which includes his two seasons at Georgia. * Last season, Smith's Cats captured a share of the SEC Eastern Division crown, his third in the last four years and the second straight.
Road Cats
Overtime Trials Kentucky has now played 81 overtime games in 99 seasons, and owns a 44-37 record in those contests. In the Tubby Smith era, the Cats won their first seven overtime games but have lost their last four over the past two seasons. The most OT games UK has played in one season was five -- 1978-79.
SEASON NOTES
Prince Named Naismith Finalist Prince was the only SEC player among the finalists. The preseason list was narrowed by the Naismith Board of Selectors, which includes basketball coaches, journalists and administrators. Former winners include Larry Byrd, Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan. Last year's award went to Duke's Shane Battier.
CLASS Act The CLASS award, an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, will be presented during the Final Four. Joining Prince as finalists were Maurice Baker (Okla. St.), Lonny Baxter and Juan Dixon (Maryland), Sam Clancy (USC), Dan Dickau (Gonzaga), Lynn Greer (Temple), Udonis Haslem (Florida), Steve Logan (Cincinnati) and Preston Shumpert (Syracuse).
Healthy at Last Blevins, who suffered a broken right wrist on Dec. 22 vs. Indiana, underwent surgery to have a screw inserted into the break on Dec. 27. He missed 10 games due to the injury. It was not his first injury of the season. He missed the Cats' first two games of the year with a sprained ankle. He's played in eight games with three starts, averaging 2.9 ppg and 1.4 rpg while playing 17.5 mpg. Chiles suffered bruised ribs prior to the Notre Dame game. He missed four games before reappearing against South Carolina on Feb. 2. Jason Parker suffered two torn ACLs in the same knee prior to the season. After undergoing his second surgery Nov. 1, he'll miss the entire year. Marquis Estill pulled a back muscle late in the preseason and missed both exhibition games but did return in time to play in the Cats' first game vs. Western Kentucky. Rashaad Carruth suffered a high ankle sprain/bone bruise and missed both exhibition games and the Cats' first four regular-season contests. Gerald Fitch also broke his nose in UK's first exhibition game against Nike Elite but failed to miss any action. In all, five Wildcats have missed a total of 51 games, both regular season and exhibition.
True Glue "When Keith Bogans was mired in a shooting slump, Fitch helped Kentucky by tossing in points. When Bogans had it going against Florida, Fitch was content to score just two points and contribute six boards, two assists and two steals. That's called stickin' it to 'em." Also making the team were Duke's Dahntay Jones, UCLA's Billy Knight, Maryland's Byron Mouton, Indiana's Jarrad Odle and Alabama's Antoine Pettway.
Ahhhh, Maui
UK in January
Mr. Clutch Strikes Again Other clutch performances by Prince include a game-winner against Florida last season, scoring 16 of the Cats' final 23 to lead a comeback at Vanderbilt, a double-clutch three against St. Bonaventure in the 2000 NCAA Tourney and a runner in the lane with 23 seconds to go that lifted UK to a win at Miami that same season.
Eight in a Row Central Florida finished second in the event, which was held at MGM Grand Studios in Orlando, Fla. Kentucky has won the event in 1985, '87, '88, '92, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000, '01 and '02.
Three-Point Show
Prince Named SEC Player of the Week The 6-9 senior was very consistent in late December, tallying 17 points and nine rebounds against Duke, 17 and 11 against the Hoosiers and 18 and nine against the Cardinals. The double-double against Indiana was his third this season and the 10th of his career. It was his first SEC Player of the Week honor this season and the first by a Cat. Prince won the award once as a sophomore and twice last season.
Stone Dismissed Stone averaged 5.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He saw action in all nine contests, starting the first two, and averaged 13.9 minutes per game. The Huntsville, Ala., native totaled 397 points and 314 rebounds in his career after playing in 75 games with 11 starts. He transferred to Louisville.
Prince On Wooden List
Cawood's Court The ceremony included the unveiling of a logo courtside not far from where he called all the action and a donation by two area businesses to the Cawood Ledford Scholarship Fund at UK. The fund was established in 1992 to assist former student-athletes in completing their degrees.
Hawk's Shooting Eye The sophomore tallied 15 points against Duke, including nine of the Cats' first 11 in overtime. He then returned to score 17 points against Indiana four days later. For the week, he averaged 16 ppg and 4.0 apg.
Within the Borders The Cats fell to Western Kentucky and defeated Morehead State, Kentucky State and Louisville. They faced Kentucky Wesleyan, Cumberland, Georgetown and Centre during the '21 season, posting a 5-1 record in the meetings.
Carruth Burned Devils He finished the game with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and set or tied career highs in every category. Carruth missed the first month of the season with a high ankle sprain and played in only three games prior to the Duke contest.
Vs. Top-Five Teams Under Tubby Smith, UK is 6-6 against the top-five teams. The list is based on the team's ranking in The Associated Press poll at the time the game was played. Against fifth-ranked teams, UK is 16-9 all-time.
Cats vs. No. 1 Teams The Wildcats played Duke two other times when the Blue Devils were ranked No. 1 in the country. Duke won both games, 80-55 on Nov. 19, 1988 and 104-103 in overtime on March 28, 1992. Kentucky's last win over a top-ranked team was an 81-74 victory against UMass at the Meadowlands in the NCAA Semifinals on March 30, 1996.
December to Remember
TREY-Shaun's Game Prince's streak of five three-pointers on five straight possessions to start the North Carolina game were the first of seven for the game, all coming in the opening half. His fifth, just a few inches inside the "U" at center court, measured nearly 30'. His seven 3FGs in a half tied Derrick Miller for the most threes scored in a half at Kentucky. Miller also drained seven to start the Kansas game on Dec. 9, 1989 before finishing with eight threes in the game. Prince's seven, however, were the most treys recorded by a Wildcat in Rupp Arena as Miller's came in the Jayhawks' storied Allen Field House.
Queen City Mark
Season Openers
Home Openers
PRESEASON NOTES
AP Names Prince All-America Prince joined Duke's Jason Williams, Stanford's Casey Jacobsen, Missouri's Kareem Rush and Illinois' Frank Williams. Prince is just the second Wildcat to earn the preseason honor from the AP since the national news organization began naming a preseason team in 1985. Jamal Mashburn was a preseason All-American prior to the 1992-93 season. Prince also was named first-team Preseason All-America by collegeinsider.com, Athlon Sports, Blue Ribbon Basketball, The Sporting News and Basketball News. He was a second-team selection by AP at the end of last season.
Parker Injury Parker will miss the 2001-02 season as a redshirt. He will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Their Old Kentucky Home J.P. Blevins (Edmonton), Marquis Estill (Richmond), Cory Sears (Corbin), Matt Heissenbuttel (Lexington), Josh Carrier (Bowling Green) and Adam Chiles (Louisville) all hail from within the state's borders. In '91, Reggie Hanson, Richie Farmer, John Pelphrey, Deron Feldhaus, Michael Parks and Todd Bearup all came from Kentucky. Much like Sears and Heissenbuttel, Parks and Bearup were both walk-ons 11 seasons ago.
Face Lift Kentucky celebrated its 25th season in the first built-for-basketball arena last year, playing for a quarter of a century on the original floor. Pieces of the original floor were auctioned off prior to the charity game, "A Night of True Champions," on Aug. 11, raising more than $38,000. The money was split between the UK Basketball Museum, the KHSAA and the Lexington Civic Center for the purchase of the new floor. The new floor was designed by UK in conjunction with Lexington Civic Center officials. It was constructed by Robbins, Inc., in Cincinnati, Ohio at a cost of $125,000.
BIG BLUE MANIA
Back In Town Jeff Sheppard, the 1998 Final Four MVP, is back from his professional playing career in Italy. He was spotted updating his resume in CATS in January. He's living in London, Ky., with his wife Stacey, a former star of the women's team, and their daughter, Madison. Allen Edwards, a teammate of Sheppard's, is back in school on the Cawood Ledford Scholarship fund. He's one of three Wildcats taking advantage of the fund, which allows former student-athletes to return to school after their eligibility has expired to complete their degree requirments. Also enrolled is Derrick Miller ('90) and Dale Brown ('93). Jared Prickett ('97) returned from his professional career in Argentina due to the South America country's severe recession. He's now playing in Europe.
Keightley In 41st Season, Works 1,250th Game Keightley, who has a jersey retired in the rafters of Rupp Arena, has worked under five different head coaches at UK -- Rupp, Hall, Sutton, Pitino and Smith.
Wiggins Passes 1,200 Wiggins, who is retired and lives in Falmouth, Ky., saw 615 consecutive games -- home and away -- from 1977 until he suffered a heart attack just before the 1996 Great Alaska Shootout. It's the second-longest streak on record at UK. The illness forced him to miss four games, but he has since returned to see every contest in person, a streak of 202 games. Meanwhile, his home court streak is still intact. Wiggins has not missed a home game in 41 years, a streak spanning 588 games. During that period, which dates back to 1960-61, UK has a home record of 522-66.
UK's NBA Players Derek Anderson Portland Tony Delk Boston Walter McCarty Boston Jamaal Magloire Charlotte Jamal Mashburn Charlotte Ron Mercer Indiana Nazr Mohammed Atlanta Scott Padgett Utah Mark Pope Milwaukee Antoine Walker Boston
In addition, former UK assistant coach Jim O'Brien is the head coach of the Boston Celtics while former UK All-American Pat Riley coaches the Miami Heat.
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