UK looks for second conference victory against Ole Miss

Posted 6:37AM on Tuesday 15th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - There are no easy games in the Southeastern Conference, especially when players have the word ``Kentucky'' printed boldly in blue across their chests. ``In the SEC, you can't afford to have a bad night or let down at all,'' sophomore guard Gerald Fitch said Monday. ``Because if you do, teams are going beat you. ``Every team gets up and plays their best game against Kentucky.'' The No. 12 Wildcats (10-4, 1-2) finally got their first conference victory in three tries on Saturday, beating a scrappy South Carolina squad 51-50 on a last-second shot by point guard Cliff Hawkins. After back-to-back league losses to Mississippi State and Georgia - games Kentucky seemingly had in hand before relinquishing big leads - Kentucky desperately needed the victory as a confidence builder heading into the rest of the always tough conference schedule. ``That was big,'' sophomore forward Erik Daniels said. ``We were feeling pretty down on ourselves after losing two straight. ``That win should get us back on track. But if we'd lost on Saturday...,'' Daniels began, not allowing himself to actually consider the unthinkable and finish the sentence. The Wildcats' next challenge comes Tuesday against Mississippi (13-3, 2-1), which is shooting an SEC-best 40 percent from 3-point range and has all five starters averaging in double figures. ``They really have turned up the heat and played much more physical the last few games,'' Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said of the Rebels, who have won two straight and nine of their last 10 games. ``They've got good balance in their lineup. There's really no weakness because all five of their starters can score.'' Kentucky has won four of its last five meetings with the defending SEC West champion Rebels, including a surprising 77-55 blowout victory in the championship game of last year's conference tournament. But this year's team which has lost only at Tennessee since Dec. 1 has played well of late behind sophomore forward Justin Reed, the team's leading scorer and rebounder with 15.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Aaron Harper (11.1 points), junior guard David Sanders (10.9) and junior forward Derrick Allen (10.4) also have made big plays on a consistent basis. But it's senior guard Jason Harrison, diminutive in size only at 5-foot-5, that makes the team run. Harrison is averaging 16.3 points in the team's three conference games and 4.5 assists per game on the season. ``He's a very heady player a senior, veteran point guard that can control the tempo of a game,'' Smith said. ``He has a great heart. For a guy his size to be able to compete and have the type of career he's had at this level or any level you have to have a tremendous amount of respect for him.'' Following Hawkins' game-winning shot at South Carolina, Smith and many of his players leaped up into the air and celebrated as if they had won the national championship. Smith admitted Monday that he was more than a little bit anxious as time ticked off the clock and Hawkins was having trouble getting the ball to All-American forward Tayshaun Prince. ``I was worried,'' he said. ``I was concerned because the play broke down, they took some things away from us again and we had to create. I was just glad to see the shot go down for (Cliff).'' Like Mississippi State and Georgia did in their victories over the Wildcats, the Gamecocks immediately double-teamed Prince as Kentucky set up its play. Smith knows that will be the strategy most of the Wildcats' opponents will employ as games wind down the rest of the season. ``When you look at our scoring, we've only got two guys in double figures,'' he said. ``So we need to get better balance in our scoring so that when they do (double Prince), we'll be able to burn them. ``We have to attack the basket better, get fouls and get to the free throw line. We haven't done a very good job at that, either.''

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