Kentucky Uses Three-Pointers to Beat Indiana

Kentucky’s threes were more than enough to offset Indiana’s ones.

Jamal Mashburn scored 21 points and Deron Feldhaus added 19 Saturday as the No. 14-ranked Wildcats took command with a long-range assault, then held off the ninth-ranked Hoosiers’ second-half rally for a 76-74 victory.

Indiana, which was outshot 11-0 on three-pointers but outscored Kentucky 30-9 from the free-throw line, nearly made up a 10-point deficit in the final 4:30 at the Hoosier Dome. Greg Graham missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

“You never know about the threes,” said Feldhaus, a 6-foot-7 senior who had five of Kentucky’s 11 three-point field goals. He hit two in a row midway through the second half after Indiana used a 17-9 surge to turn a 44-38 deficit into a 55-53 lead.

“We’ve put up a lot of threes this year. It’s something we work on in practice, and some days they go in,” Feldhaus said. “We were able to get the ball inside and then kick it back out for the threes.”

Kentucky was 11 for 23 on three-point shots, more than offsetting Indiana’s 21-point advantage from the free-throw line.

A basket by Mashburn, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, tied the game at 55-55 and a 3-pointer by Feldhaus put Kentucky (3-1) back into the lead. Indiana (2-2) tied the game for the final time on a basket and free throw by Eric Anderson, but another three-pointer by Feldhaus, a three-point play by Mashburn and a three-point shot by John Pelphrey pushed the Wildcats’ lead to nine.

“What we had to do is play different levels of defense,” Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino said.

“We concentrated the whole game on not giving Indiana a three. We felt if we could do that, even if we did foul too much, no matter what else they did if we could make our threes, we’d have a chance to win.”

Kentucky led 74-64 with 4:30 to go before a basket by Graham started a 10-2 spurt by the Hoosiers. Two free throws by Graham brought the Hoosiers within two points with under a minute left, but Graham missed from 3-point range as time ran out.

Indiana’s advantage from the foul line -- which included 13 free throws by Graham -- was dissipated by the Hoosiers’ problems from long range. They missed all five of their three-point attempts and their leading scorer, Calbert Cheaney, was held to four points in the second half.

“They had us caught in a bind,” Indiana Coach Bob Knight said. “We really lack an inside game, basically, at both ends of the floor.

“What we were trying to do at the end is get Cheaney the ball, if we can, to try to get a three-point play or to get a shot. We had a good shot and had a chance to win the game,” Knight said.

“Under those circumstances, at the end, we really can’t ask for any more than we got,” he said.

Anderson led Indiana with 18 points. Graham finished with 17.

Sean Woods, who had Kentucky’s only basket during Indiana’s final comeback, added 12 points for the Wildcats.