From: suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Rick.Suffridge)
Subject: UK 108 SCarolina 82
Organization: NCR MCPD Columbia SC.
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 22:37:49 GMT

Comments on the game:

 - There were a LOT of Kentucky fans at the game, I would estimate about
   1/4 of the crowd at least.  I went out to lunch across the street from
   the arena before the game and the whole restaurant was a sea of blue.

 - I saw some things offensively from UK that I have been waiting for all
   season.  Their execution was excellent - good spacing, good movement
   away from the ball, good shot selection, and some incredible passing.
   UK had 27 assists for the game.  One thing they did often, especially 
   in the 1st half before USC went zone, was to send the 2G (Brown, Braddy,
   or Brassow) back-door and have Mashburn or Martinez hit them with a
   pass from the perimeter.  They got a number of easy baskets out of
   this.

 - UK was excellent in transition.  Ford constantly pushed the ball up
   the floor and Rhodes filled the lanes well.  He is at his best 
   running the floor on the break.

 - USC was not able to handle UK's press which looked as good as it has
   all season.  Several times a USC player picked up the ball near the
   end line or mid-court line, making himself a sitting duck for a UK
   trap.  Even when USC beat the press and looked like they had the
   numbers on a break UK was so quick that they got back before USC
   could complete the break.

 - Mashburn did not have a big scoring game but quietly played well.
   He had 8 boards, 5 assists, was active on the press, played a
   good floor game, and made some incredible passes.  One thing he
   did not do which he had done often this season is force shots
   against multiple coverage.  When he drew the defense to him he
   found someone else open thanks to good movement by the rest of
   the team.

 - It was good to see Dent active and involved in the offense (17
   points in 17 minutes).  He needs to be that aggressive more 
   often.

 - Tony Delk made a couple of big plays late in the first half.
   He was in for Ford, who had 2 fouls, and USC had just trimmed the
   lead to 5 with about a minute left.  Delk was fouled on a 3-ptr
   and canned all 3 FT's.  Then just before the half ended he 
   scored on an 8 footer to give UK an 11 point lead at the half.

 - As strange as this sounds, USC actually did not play that badly,
   UK just played their best game of the season.  USC has really
   improved, they are not the same team which lost to Ga. Southern
   at home and committed 35 TO's against Oklahoma back in December.

 - During the 1st half on one UK possession, the PA announcer yelled
   "How about 3 seconds?!" over the PA system -- that has to be one
   of the most unprofessional and classless things I have seen 
   at a college basketball game.  Amazingly, the refs did not call
   a T.
-- 
Richard D. Suffridge   803-791-6491   | "As part of the conversion, computer
NCR MCPD Columbia                     |  specialists rewrote 1500 programs; a
3500 Module Development               |  process that traditionally requires
<suffridge@ncrcol.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM> |  some debugging."   USA Today