Kentucky Serves Notice in Big Way

Kansas may be the nation’s top ranked team, but Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino has this reminder--the Wildcats are still the defending national champions

Pitino’s No. 6-ranked Wildcats were impressive, routing No. 24 Georgia, 95-68, on Sunday at Memphis, Tenn., for their fifth Southeastern Conference tournament championship in six years and 20th overall.

“We don’t have the talent that we’ve had over the last two or three years, but if we can carry the momentum of this three-game span, we can do well in the tournament,” Pitino said.

After watching Kentucky run his Bulldogs into the ground, Georgia Coach Tubby Smith thinks Kentucky has a good shot at winning a second national championship.

“Kentucky may be the best team in the country right now,” Smith said. “They’re playing better than anyone else.”

Anthony Epps scored a career-high 22 points and Ron Mercer had 20 and the Wildcats (30-4) won their third game in three days by wearing out Georgia (24-8), which was playing its fourth game in 62 1/2 hours.

Every Wildcat scored, including Allen Edwards, who had 12 points after sitting out the last two games because of a strained back. Cameron Mills added 16 off the bench and the Wildcats shot 60% from the field.

“Our defensive press got us going, but we wanted to win the game and wear them out since they were playing their fourth straight game,” Pitino said.

BIG WEST

Although it is one of two dozen teams with 23 or more wins, Pacific needed a 63-55 victory over Nevada in the Big West championship game at Reno, Nev., to ensure an NCAA tournament bid.

Tim Bowman scored 25 points, 10 coming in the final two minutes seven seconds, and the Tigers (24-5) advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 18 years.

“This is like a dream come true. You can’t even explain it,” Bowman said. “I wanted this so bad for our team. We just thought we would come out, play hard and show people how good a team we are.”

The victory set off a celebration, with fans pouring onto the court to mob the team representing the 4,000-student private university in Stockton.

“I’m happy for the school, happy for Stockton and I’m really happy for these players,” said Pacific Coach Bob Thomason, who is taking the Tigers to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his nine years with the school.

Rayne Mahaffey scored 14 points, 12 coming in the second half, and Michael Olowokandi had 12 rebounds, part of Pacific’s 43-31 rebounding edge that helped the Tigers (24-5) tie the school record for most wins in a season. Pacific’s 1966-67 team went 24-4.

Pacific won the Big West tournament for the first time since 1979 by becoming the first conference team to beat Nevada at Lawlor Events Center this season.

The Wolf Pack (20-9) was 10-0 against Big West teams at home, including two tournament wins, heading into the final, which pitted the top-seeded teams from the conference’s two divisions.

Pacific was seeded 13th in the NCAA West Region and will meet No. 4-seeded St. Joseph’s on Thursday in Salt Lake City.

Nevada, which joined the Big West five years ago, fell to 0-2 in the conference championship, but still may land an NIT berth.

“The inability to hit shots or the inability to get in position where you can get them off does you in and today was a classic example,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster said.

“We didn’t execute sharply. It’s disappointing but as a player, as a coach, when you do the best you can, that’s all you can do.”

Faron Hand led Nevada with 17 points and had nine rebounds.

BIG TEN

Travis Conlan stole the ball at midcourt and passed to Brandun Hughes, who scored on a three-point play with 11.2 seconds to play in overtime and Michigan defeated Ohio State, 82-79, at Columbus, Ohio.

The Wolverines, 19-11 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten, scored five points in the final 20 seconds of regulation to force the overtime.

Robert Traylor scored 22 points, Hughes had 16, Maurice Taylor 14 points and 13 rebounds and Louis Bullock 12 for Michigan, which hoped to keep alive its hopes of earning an NCAA tournament berth.

The victory, however, was not enough, as the Wolverines failed to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The loss didn’t help Ohio State Coach Randy Ayers, whose performance will be evaluated in the next few days by Athletic Director Andy Geiger.

Before the game, Ohio State President Gordon Gee said Geiger would decide this week whether Ayers would be retained after eight seasons and a 124-108 record.

Damon Stringer matched his career high with 27 points for Ohio State (10-17, 5-13), which lost its final six games and eight of the last nine. Otis Winston had 17 points in his final game, with Neshaun Coleman adding 13.

It was the season-ending game for Ohio State, which completed its fourth consecutive losing season-- the first time that’s happened in the school’s 98 years of the sport.

DIVISION II

All-tournament selection Jermaine Carter registered 22 points and seven rebounds and tournament most valuable player T.J. Trimboli had 14 points as Southern Connecticut State defeated New Hampshire College, 80-61, at Manchester, N.H., for the NCAA Division II Northeast Region championship.

The Owls (28-3) move on to the NCAA Elite Eight on March 19 in Louisville, Ky., against West Region champion Cal State Bakersfield. New Hampshire closes its season 25-5.