PAGE 10   THE CATS' PAUSE, JANUARY 22, 1977
Vols Come From Behind To Beat Cats 71-67An OT
By MARK BRADLEY
Bill Russell, the noted basketball player and social critic, once said, "the best team always wins. Every time. That's why they keep score."
There are those who will argue that Kentucky would have beaten Tennessee Wednesday night if it had not shot so poorly, or had not gone into a slowdown late in the game.
A Dejected Givens
But the fact remains, UK did not deserve to beat Tennessee last Wednesday.
The Volunteers came into Rupp Arena, the boos of the rabid Wildcat fans cascading down around them, and after playing even with Kentucky most of the way, fell behind by seven points with seven minutes to play. Instead of cracking under the pressure, Tennessee came back with poise and heart and managed to down UK 71-67 in overtime.
For the Wildcats, the loss was a damaging one. It dropped their Southeastern Conference record to 2-1, and left the Cats shaking their heads and muttering to themselves as they prepared to embark on a crucial weekend road trip to Auburn and Florida.
The game also knocked the Cats out of a first place tie in the SEC with Alabama now the front leader and Tennessee right behind, both still undefeated following the Kentucky-Tennessee game.
The heroes in the contest were the leading men in the Volunteers' long-running "Bernie and Ernie Show.
All-American forwards Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld combined for 38 points as both played all 45 minutes of the thrilling game.
But the Vols' answer to the Dynamic Duo got an important boost from freshman center Reggie Johnson, who scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in battling UK's Rick Robey and Mike Phillips to a standstill in the middle. After the game, Grunfeld said, "Johnson would get the game ball for this one if I could give one. He played a great game for a freshman."
Kentucky's biggest breakdown in the game was its shooting. The Wildcats connected on only 32.9 percent of their field goal attempts (far below the season average), and hit a frigid 26.8 percent in the first half from the field.
In that first half, the teams battled on even terms before the VOls broke a 14-14 tie and burst out to a six-point lead late in the stanza. Intermission found the Volunteers leading, 32-28.
UK tied the game early in the second half on a jumper by James Lee, and the Cats seemed to have broken the game open when they scored three quick baskets within a 42-second span.
A Larry Johnson jump shot put Kentucky ahead, 45-44, and successive hoops by Robey on a turnaround and Jay Shidler after a steal staked the Wildcats to a 49-44 lead.
The crowd exploded after Shidler's steal and layup, and as Tennessee called time out, the cacophany of the fans' noise seemed enough in itself to blow the Tennessee squad back to Knoxville. But it wasn't to be.
The roar of the crowd wasn't the only thing raining down on the floor
during that time out. Four oranges were hurled on the court (fortunately, not hitting anyone) during the time out, and time had to be taken to clean up the playing floor. As Grunfeld said later, "the oranges helped us out. UK had just scored six straight points, and it seemed that they (UK) lost their momentum in the huddle."
Whatever the reason, Kentucky did appear to slow down noticeably after that break in the action. A King dunk cut the lead to three points, before the Cats could come back on successive baskets by Jack Givens and James Lee for a 53-46 lead with 7:47 to go.
An alley-oop pass from Johnny Darden to a soaring King resulted in a shattering dunk shot for the UT star, who showed in the late going why he is regarded as one of the finest collegiate players in the land.
If King wasn't dominating the backboards [he had 19 rebounds] or scoring, he was dishing off passes to his teammates for easy lay-ups.
King fed Grunfeld underneath for two buckets, and suddenly Kentucky's lead was cut to three points at 55-52. After Phillips scored on a hook shot for the Cats, baskets by a driving Mike Jackson and Grunfeld cut the lead to one.
With the hearts of 23,271 (a new NCAA home-court attendance record) pounding away, Kentucky tried to run some time off the clock, but the strategy backfired when Jackson stole the ball. The Vols brought the ball downcourt and looked inside to Johnson, who scored on a layup and was fouled by Givens with 1:29 left. Johnson missed the free throw, but his basket gave the Volunteers a 58-57 lead.
Tennessee appeared to be in the driver's seat when King rebounded a Givens miss, but Givens stole the ball from Darden at midcourt and looked to be headed for a layup only to walk. The Vols were granted a reprieve.
With 34 seconds left in regulation, Jackson scored on another drive but charged into Lee. Lee hit both of his free throws, cutting the UT advantage to one again. UK's Johnson fouled Darden with 22 secons to go, as the Vols' little guard was trying to dribble out the clock.
Darden hit the first of his free throws, but missed the second, and Givens rebounded for the Cats. Kentucky sped downcourt, adn reserve guard Truman Claytor sent the game into overtime when he canned a 16-footer with eight seconds left.
The Vols tried a ' 'fly pattern'' on the inbounds play after a timeout with Grunfeld throwing a length-of-the-floor pass to a streaking Jackson, but Jackson was covered closely by Shidler and walked with the ball with three seconds still on the clock.
Kentucky called a time-out, but the best the Wildcats could do was to
throw the ball into Robey who missed a desperation heave from midcourt at the buzzer.
In overtime, the Vols scored first, as King hit Johnson underneath for a basket, after King had his shot blocked. The Cats countered with a Robey tip-in, but Grunfeld put Tennessee back in front with a baseline jumper.
Givens hit a turnaround jumper to knot the score at 65-65, but it was to be the Wildcats' last gasp. King (that man again) hit a shot while he was falling down, reminiscent of the one he made against UK last year.
After Robey lost the ball out-of-bounds, King spotted Johnson under the basket who dumped in a short one as Tennessee led by four with a little over one minute left.
After a furious struggle under the UK basket of a missed shot, Jackson was fouled by Claytor with only thirty-nine seconds to go. Jackson stepped to the line and hit both tries and Tennessee was home free.
Kentucky got its last bucket on a jumper by Claytor, but the game had already been decided in favor of Tennessee.
In the jubliant Tennessee locker room, Grunfeld said he wasn't terribly worried when Kentucky led by seven points.
"We knew anything could happen," he said, "and after all, they were ahead by 14 last year up here and we won. We just happened to get a few breaks, but they got a few breaks, too. I think we capitalized better on ours."
Grunfeld also raised a few eyebrows when he said, "Kentucky has the best fans in the country. I'm serious, they have great fans here, they're the greatest, except at Tennessee."
Grunfeld had been the target of much verbal abuse after his celebrated free throw incident last year when he stepped to the line twice to shoot free throws which were supposed to be awarded to other players.
Tennessee's other star was sitting on a table, winking, smiling, gesturing, slapping hands and holding court for reporters.
"Kentucky was very physical out there. We don't weigh as much, but I feel we're tougher," King sized up, "we didn't get down when we fell behind, because we remembered last year, and I think they did, too."
About his passing, King said, "when they came out on me in the corner, I was looking for Ernie underneath." King finished the game with eight assists.
Down the hall, the Wildcats' dressing room was more subdued. Coach Joe Hall said, "we absolutely ad completely have lost it. We have to regroup now and try to see where our aggressiveness and spirit have
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