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University of Louisville
Kentucky
Men's Basketball Falls To No. 6 Kentucky, 82-62
December 29, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Dec 29, 2001
By STEVE BAILEY
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky gave Rick Pitino and his new team a rude welcome Saturday.
Tayshaun Prince scored 18 points, and Keith Bogans added 17 as No. 6 Kentucky beat archrival Louisville and Pitino 82-62 in his return to Rupp Arena.
Gerald Fitch and Marquis Estill added 10 points each as the Wildcats (8-2) beat the Cardinals for the third straight year.
Reece Gaines, Carlos Hurt and Bryant Northern all scored 10 for Louisville (9-2), which had won eight straight games.
The victory was Kentucky coach Tubby Smith's first over a Pitino-coached team in six tries.
Before tipoff, Pitino - who led Kentucky to the 1996 national championship but left a year later for the Boston Celtics - shook hands with Smith, his former assistant and close friend.
Pitino coached Kentucky from 1989-97, taking over a program ruined by scandal and leading it back to national prominence. He resigned from the Celtics in January after 3 unsuccessful seasons and two months later accepted the Louisville job, vacated by Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum.
"Their coach is still a Crum!" read one sign Saturday in the arena's pulsating sea of Kentucky blue.
Kentucky led by four at halftime but turned up the defensive pressure to start the second half. Louisville missed 13 of its first 16 shots to open the half as the Wildcats took control.
Kentucky hit five of its first seven shots to push the lead to 48-37 by the first TV timeout, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Bogans scored seven points, and Prince four during the 12-2 run that gave Kentucky its largest lead to that point.
Following the timeout, Prince scored on a layup and a rim-rattling two-handed dunk, forcing Pitino to call timeout with 13:41 remaining.
Louisville never again got within double digits.
Leading 63-50, Kentucky scored 10 straight to put the game away with 3:49 left, bringing thunderous chants of "TUB-BY! TUB-BY!"
Louisville shot 36 percent for the game, hitting only 4-of-19 3-pointers (21 percent). The Wildcats, who lead the nation in rebounding margin at 12.9 per game, outrebounded the smaller Cardinals 46-41.
Both teams came out tight - Kentucky made only one of its first seven shots and Louisville made two of its first seven. Midway through the first half, the Wildcats led 16-11.
The Cardinals' defensive intensity kept them close.
An 8-2 run gave the Wildcats a 26-18 lead with 3:30 remaining. Louisville pulled within 33-28 on Larry O'Bannon's two free throws with 1:30 to play.
Erik Brown scored the final two baskets of the half, including a dunk off a steal in the final seconds, to cut Kentucky's lead to 36-32 at halftime.
For the half, Louisville shot 41 percent to Kentucky's 37 percent and outrebounded the Wildcats 24-20.
Before the game, Kentucky renamed the new Rupp Arena floor "Cawood's Court" in honor of former broadcaster Cawood Ledford, the voice of the Wildcats for nearly four decades. Ledford, also a horse racing announcer, died in September after a long battle with cancer.
