Kentucky Finds Itself in Second Half

It was an unnerving 38-point victory, if there can be such a thing.

In their world of heightened expectations, the Kentucky Wildcats had to accept Thursday’s 110-72 first-round Midwest Regional victory over San Jose State before 13,554 at Reunion Arena and hope to learn from it.

The San Jose States of the NCAA tournament have left the arena now, and Kentucky (29-2) is pondering a tougher road ahead, beginning Saturday with a second-round game against Virginia Tech.

The Wildcats, the region’s top-seeded team, eventually broke the Spartans. That was only a matter of time. Ten great players beat three good ones every time.

The story was how long Kentucky kept San Jose State’s pipe dreams alive.

“I don’t know if I’m a fool,” San Jose State forward Rich Taylor said afterward. “But I felt we could beat them.”

No one laughed when he said it.

As much as the victory, Kentucky will remember trailing with 4:35 left in the half, 37-35, and being outrebounded in the first 20 minutes, 21-15.

San Jose State is not Massachusetts or Georgetown. It is a team that was 4-15 a month ago and made the tournament on a three-point heave in the Big West Conference title game.

The second half was mostly paperwork. Exhausting the oxygen-sucking Spartans, Kentucky and its chorus line of stars outscored San Jose State, 63-31, and left the impression that it was business as usual.

“We just had to make our press work, and pile up easy baskets,” said Kentucky forward Antoine Walker, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. “We were never worried.”

The Spartans had another take. They spoke of the Wildcats sniping at each other during first-half fits.

“I’ve seen them on TV,” Spartan guard Tido Addison said. “And I know they weren’t playing the way they usually play.”

This was not supposed to be a six-point game, 47-41, at the half. It wasn’t supposed to be six-point game after six minutes.

The Spartans stayed around by shooting a season-best 60% in the first half. Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino kept having to revise his projections for victory.

“Each timeout, I told our guys, ‘Don’t worry, our run will come, our run will come,’ ” Pitino said. “Then I kept asking myself, ‘When will this run come?’ ”

With 7:24 left in the half, and the Spartans down by a point, Taylor looked up at the scoreboard and clenched his fist.

“Wow, we’re playing with Kentucky,” he remembered thinking.

The Spartans (13-17) made a half of it even though their star, Olivier Saint-Jean, played only eight minutes because of foul trouble.

San Jose State was leading, 32-29, when Saint-Jean picked up his third foul with 6:04 left and had to sit.

The Wildcats went on an 18-9 run to close the half and never trailed again after Walker’s basket had made it 39-37 with 3:10 left.

Scoring in double figures for Kentucky were Walter McCarty with 24 points, Tony Delk with 22, Walker with 14 and Derek Anderson with 10.

Saint-Jean led San Jose with 18 points in 23 minutes.

“They were bringing in All-American after All-American,” said Taylor, who scored 10 points in 23 minutes. “It should be illegal to have that many great players.”

“I looked with 11 seconds and said, ‘Thank God.’ ” Taylor said. “I had to foul a guy just to get a rest.”

Iowa State 74, California 64--The Cyclones (24-8) surprised the Golden Bears (17-11) with a full-court press in the opening minutes, jumped out to a 14-3 lead, then held off a second-half rally to advance to Saturday’s second round against Utah.

Iowa State’s defense did a masterful job shutting out Cal freshman forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who made only one of six shots and finished with seven points.

The Bears, trailing 43-29 at the half, made a second-half run, but could not draw closer than three points. Dedric Willoughby led the Cyclones with 23 points, while Kenny Pratt had 18.

Tremaine Fowlkes led Cal with 26 points.

Utah 72, Canisius 43--Star forward Keith Van Horn sat out the game because of a viral infection, but the Utes (26-6) had no trouble with the Golden Griffins (19-11), who made only 33% of their shots and only four of 16 free-throw attempts.

Forward Brandon Jessie led Utah with 23 points, making nine of his 12 shots, while guard Andre Miller had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Utah Coach Rick Majerus said Van Horn will not practice today and that it was “highly doubtful” he’ll play Saturday.

Virginia Tech 61, Wisconsin Green Bay 48--The Hokies (23-5) survived the wrath of the Phoenix’s second-ranked defense and Jeff Nordgaard’s shooting to hold on for the victory.

Virginia Tech guard Shawn Good led the Hokies with 25 points and did a great job checking Nordgaard, who finished with 22 points but went 11 minutes without scoring in the first half.

Wisconsin Green Bay (25-4) made four late three-point shots, two by Nordgaard, to cut a 12-point Virginia Tech lead to 53-48 with 1:14 left, but the Hokies then made six free throws.

Virginia Tech enjoyed a huge advantage in free throws, making 19 of 28. The Phoenix attempted only four free throws.