College Basketball / NCAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : SOUTHEAST REGIONAL / AT ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. : Rogers Gets a Look at the Future

When you’ve put together game plans to deal with the world’s best basketball players, are you going to have trouble preparing for Carlos Rogers?

Not Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino, former New York Knick coach. “When I was coaching in the NBA, you knew you’ve got to stop (Michael) Jordan, you’ve got to stop (Larry) Bird,” said Pitino after his Wildcats defeated Tennessee State, 83-70, in the first round of the Southeast Regional Friday at St. Petersburg, Fla. “Our philosophy is to take the opposition out of what they do best. We felt what they did best was to go to Carlos Rogers.”

Rogers, a 6-foot-11 center, is projected as a first-round NBA draft pick, and he experienced the treatment he can expect at the next level.

Andre Riddick, Rodrick Rhodes and the rest of the Wildcats hounded Rogers, who had 11 turnovers, a technical foul and an outburst of frustration.

“They’re killing me! They’re killing me!” Rogers shouted after being called for a foul.

They were also holding him to 15 points, 10 below his average, and only 10 shots.

The technical foul midway through the second half came for slamming down the ball after he was called for a foul. In the next two minutes, Rogers twice had to be separated from Kentucky players after hard contact.

“If you had three people on you, you’d get uptight too,” Rogers said. “The frustration had a tendency to set in.

“I was just saying, ‘God, man, if I’m guarding someone one-on-one, why can’t they guard me one-on-one?’ ”

Because that’s not the way the game is played when the opposition is a one-man team.

“We felt the best way to take it to a shot blocker was to take it to his face,” Pitino said. “Andre did a great job of taking it to him.”

Riddick, a junior center, scored a career-high 22 points and Rhodes also had 22 for Kentucky (27-6).

The third-seeded Wildcats will play No. 21 Marquette in Sunday’s second round.

Curtis Davis scored 17 points for the Tigers (19-12).

Marquette 81, Southwestern Louisiana 59--The Warriors found the answer to Southwestern Louisiana’s full-court offense with patience and defense.

Damon Key scored 24 points and led a 19-0 second-half run that enabled Marquette (23-8), seeded sixth, to pull away from the Ragin’ Cajuns (22-8).

Key scored 13 points in the second half and also had 12 rebounds for Marquette, which shot 51% after making only 38% and falling behind at halftime, 34-31.

Duke 82, Texas Southern 70--The Blue Devils, criticized by Coach Mike Krzyzewski for a lack of intensity in late-season losses to North Carolina and Virginia, turned it up in winning in the opening round for the 10th consecutive year.

Duke (24-5) got 20 points from Chris Collins, 17 in the first half when the Blue Devils held a 45-33 lead over the Tigers (19-11). All-American Grant Hill, content with directing the Duke offense rather than trying to score, had 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Michigan State 84, Seton Hall 73--Shawn Respert scored 25 points and the Spartans held Seton Hall without a basket for nine minutes to start the second half.

Michigan State (20-11) advanced to Sunday’s game against Duke by turning a one-point halftime lead into a 19-point advantage and then coasting.

Arturas Karnishovas scored 23 points for Seton Hall (17-13).