Kentucky - 84 (Head Coach: Rick Pitino) - [Ranked 1st by AP]

Player	Min	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	PF	Ast	St	BS	TO	Pts
Rodrick Rhodes	27	5	14	1	3	8	10	4	2	6	4	1	5	0	2	19
Jared Prickett	23	2	3	0	1	3	5	2	1	3	5	0	2	0	1	7
Rodney Dent	18	1	5	0	0	0	0	3	3	6	1	0	0	1	5	2
Tony Delk	32	5	17	4	11	2	4	3	2	5	3	1	1	3	1	16
Travis Ford	36	7	20	3	11	3	3	0	2	2	5	5	3	0	4	20
Jeff Brassow	13	1	4	1	4	2	2	1	0	1	3	1	1	0	0	5
Andre Riddick	20	5	9	0	0	1	4	3	5	8	2	1	1	3	0	11
Gimel Martinez	15	1	3	0	1	2	4	1	1	2	5	2	0	0	3	4
Jeff Sheppard	9	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	0	0	0
Chris Harrison	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Anthony Epps	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Walter McCarty	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Team										5
Totals	200	27	78	9	33	21	32	17	17	39	33	13	14	7	16	84

Indiana - 96 (Head Coach: Robert Knight) - [Ranked 21st by AP]

Player	Min	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	PF	Ast	St	BS	TO	Pts
Steve Hart	17	2	6	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	4	1	1	1	3	5
Brian Evans	27	8	13	1	3	2	6	1	8	9	4	3	2	1	1	19
Todd Lindeman	22	2	7	0	0	0	1	6	4	10	4	0	0	0	3	4
Sherron Wilkerson	10	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	1	2
Damon Bailey	37	6	12	1	1	16	19	1	5	6	3	5	1	0	6	29
Pat Knight (*)	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	3	0
Richard Mandeville	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Todd Leary	27	2	6	0	0	4	4	0	3	3	2	4	0	0	2	8
Alan Henderson	26	7	12	0	0	3	6	5	6	11	2	1	0	2	1	17
Pat Graham	24	3	6	1	2	5	6	1	5	6	3	4	0	0	3	12
Team										9
Totals	200	31	64	4	8	30	42	16	32	57	27	21	4	4	24	96

Game Writeup - Courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey Neil Burch; Dr. J's UK Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 16. (All Rights Reserved)

Wildcats Hammered by a Host of Hurryin' Hoosiers:

It had to end - Kentucky's hopes for an undefeated December vanished last Saturday in Indianapolis as IU beat UK 96-84.

Four factors decided the outcome of this game:
1) Indiana's outstanding execution on defense
2) Indiana player's greater intensity
3) Kentucky's poor defense
4) Kentucky's inability to hit the 3 pointer


An initial surprise came when Coaches Rick Pitino and Bobby Knight walked onto the playing floor together. This was followed by the PA announcer introducing "Roderick" Dent. And, to top it all off, Gimel Martinez finally shaved off his goatee! Kentucky started with several turnovers in their initial possessions, which allowed Indiana to take a 6-0 lead. The Cat press appeared ineffective - Indiana beat it several times with little effort, but UK stayed with it. The Hoosiers benefited from several early questionable calls too.

Slowly but surely the Cats crept back in it, taking their first lead at 20-19. They eventually managed to take an 33-26 edge on a Brassow 3 pointer, but the Hoosiers tied it at 35 and never trailed after that.

[JNB note - Once again, CBS announcer Billy Packer demonstrated either his total bias or ignorance of basketball rules. In one play, IU's Bailey clearly pushed off against UK's Jared Prickett under Kentucky's basket, yet Packer went on and on about how the official's (correct) call was incorrect. Thank heavens Packer isn't an NCAA official - he'd be worse than the ACC's notorious Lenny Wirtz! Every ref makes an error once in a while, but usually not when Packer says so...]

UK had several scoring droughts throughout the game, including one near the end of the first half. IU led 55-44 at the break, due largely to outscoring Kentucky 17-6 in the final 3.5 minutes. IU's Bailey already had 23 points at halftime - UK's leading scorer was Rhodes with 11. Kentucky shot only 31% in the first half.

Indiana started out strong in the second half and blitzed to a 15 point lead. Wildcat defenders seemed to be routinely nailed to the floor as Indiana players drove around them. Martinez seemed to pick up his usual quota of fouls, but several of them appeared to be questionable (particularly Bailey's alleged taking of a charge, when a replay clearly showed him to be still moving).

Several Wildcat storms managed to cut the lead down to 8 points, but Kentucky could get no closer. UK had several chances to score off turnovers or missed IU shots, but could never connect. They continued to use their press despite the fact that it wasn't working, and UK's vaunted 3 point shooting deserted them, particularly at crucial moments. Stellar IU defense forced bad UK shots near the basket, and good blocking out prevented Wildcat rebounds. Andre Riddick had one shining moment as he blocked a shot, then was fed the ball on a breakaway for a terrific dunk, but even though the lead was thereby cut to 5 points, the Cats could not score when it counted. For a long stretch towards the end of the game, when UK was making its run, Pitino kept Dent on the bench even though he had only 1 foul. Perhaps Pitino was upset with Dent for some reason, but the performance of UK's other centers left much to be desired.

UK had never before lost to Indiana while the Cats were rated #1, having won 4 such contests. Indiana is 1-2 when facing the Cats with the #1 ranking.

IU's Damon Bailey makes the SI Cover

Damon Bailey (#22) meets Gimel Martinez (#44)

IU's Todd Leary eludes Gimel Martinez

This page was made with a Macintosh
Use the Best, Don't settle for Less