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Rocky Ride
Long Kentucky Cold Spell, Poor Shooting And Repeat Performance From LSU's Wilson Allow Tigers To Claim 65-52 Win, Series Sweep
By Mike Estep
For Eddie Sutton and his Kentucky basketball team, the plane ride from Lexington to Baton Rouge was rough and tumble as inclimate weather conditions caused turbulance for nearly the entire three and a half hour flight.
Maybe it was a bad omen.
Because after the Wildcats touched down safely in Bayou Country, the rocky road continued as Dale Brown's Tigers handed them a 65-52 setback, throwing Kentucky back into a two-way tie with Georgia for third place in the Southeastern Conference standings.
It might have been wet and rainy outside Assembly Center Saturday afternoon, but inside the building it was a drought that led to Kentucky's undoing. UK could manage just eight points during a 14-minute stretch that started late in the first half and lasted until early in the second period, and that allowed LSU to post the win and sweep the season series with the 'Cats.
It was a game that Kentucky would have liked to have won, not only to avenge its worst loss in 30 yearsa 76-41 shellacking at the hands of LSU earlier this season at Rupp Arenabut to solidify its hold on third place in the conference standings and bolster its chances of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Chapman Spurs Early Rally That Puts 'Cats Out In Front
After the homestanding Tigers jumped out in front 12-7, freshman guard Rex Chapman keyed a 14-0 Kentucky outburst that staked his team to a comfortable nine-point advantage with 7:52 remaining in the half. Chapman started the run with a four-footer and a layup, and after a pair of buckets by Richard Madison and Rob Lock, he connected on a couple of long range bombs. Lock ended the surge with a free throw to give UK a 21-12 lead.
That's when LSU put together a streak of its own. Dale Brown assigned Bernard Wood-side to cover Chapman, and he shut down UK's leading scorer from the field for the rest of the half. Meanwhile, the Tigers outscored Kentucky 21-8 over the game's next 14:10 to take a 33-29 lead that they would not relinquish.
Sutton said the long dry spell put his team in a hole it couldn't dig itself out of.
"I felt like it was probably our offense, not so much just (Woodside's defense) on Chapman, but overall our offense just being stagnant." Sutton said. "I think with about four minutes to go until halftime we had that seven-point lead (23-16), and then we went eight minutes into the second half I think with six points or eight points, I'm not sure. So during that 12-minute period we really let that game slip away. And it was really more offensivelypoor execution on our partthan defense on their part."
In Second Half, Cold Spell, Nikita Wilson Doom Kentucky
From that point on LSU extended the lead, thanks in part to poor shooting by UK and the outstanding play of Tiger center Nikita Wilson. Kentucky would connect on just eight of 25 field goal attempts for 37 percent in the second period, while LSU was hitting a nifty 13 of 23 for a 56.5 clip over the same stretch.
"We did a horrible job in the second half on Nikita Wilson, in pivot play," Sutton said. "But he did the same thing to us up in Lexington. He's a great player."
In defense of Lock, who was responsible for trying to defend Wilson, the big redhead got into foul trouble in the second half and could do little but stand and watch the LSU captain score. LSU's senior center made seven of his 10 field goal tries and scored 16 points in the second period.
"I couldn't do anything really aggressive," Lock said. "He started scoring and I couldn't do anything about it."
"I got good picks on the inside, and I was just fortunate to score." Wilson said. "I'm a lot quicker than Lock and my confidence is there. They were playing behind me and that's the biggest sin on the low post. This is probably my best game of the year because I was more active."
When Wilson and Woodside sandwiched a pair of buckets apiece around a Lock layup, the Tiger lead ballooned to 10 at 50-40 with an even six minutes to play.
Kentucky kept scrapping and was still within a pair of three-pointers several times in the final stages, but the Tigers hit their free throws to keep the 'Cats from getting any closer.
The score was at 58-52 with 1:38 to go when Oliver Brown, LSU's worst career free throw shooter at 55 percent, stepped to the line for a one-and-one. Brown threw up a "hellacious brick," as Madison would later call it, and then sank the second shot to make it 60-52.
"Oh yeah, I've been working on that shot," Brown beamed after the game. "I was wondering what the backboard was up there for."
On Kentucky's next trip down the court, Fess Irvin picked Ed Davender's pocket and hit a couple of freebies to put LSU out in front by 10 at 62-52 and put the finishing touches on the game with 1:36 to go.
"When we got it down to six points twice late," Sutton said, "I felt like we still had a chance to pull the thing out because we have pulled some games out before. But their players hit free throws well.
"You can't win shooting 35 percent. I don't believe you can beat very many teams, let alone a quality ballclub like LSU."
The loss dropped Kentucky to 9-7 in league play and into a flatfooted tie for third place with Georgia, setting up a showdown with Hugh Durham's club in Athens this Wednesday, a game Kentucky must winnot only to receive a favorable seed in the conference tourney, but to make itself more appealing to the NCAA tournament selection committee.
"I just told the squad that I felt like losing here doesn't hurt you as much as maybe winning the next two (would help)," Sutton said, "although a victory today would've
been a big bonus for us. We feel like the game in Athens Wednesday is a very big ballgame for us and does put added pressure on us to come out on the winning end."
Wildcat-Tiger Tidbits
With the win, LSU improves to 17-12 overall and 7-9 in SEC play. Kentucky drops to 16-8 and 9-7. . .For the first time this season, the 'Cats failed to hold on to a halftime lead. Kentucky had been 15-0 in games in which it led at intermission. . .Eddie Sutton's record against LSU since he came to Kentucky now stands at 3-3. . .LSU skipper Dale Brown raises his record against the 'Cats to 13-21. . .UK still leads the overall series with LSU 56-15. . .After starting guard Paul Andrews and forward Irv Thomas in place of James Blackmon and Richard Madison against Vanderbilt last Thursday. Sutton went back to his regular starting lineup against the Tigers. . .Wildcat "Super Fan" Steve Rardin made the trip to Bayou Country and has now witnessed 557 con-sectutive UK games dating back to 1968. Among those joining Rardin on the trip were UK president Dr. Otis Singletary and athletic director Cliff Hagan. . .National recruiting expert Chris Wallace was also on hand for the contest. . .Something about the Tigers seems to bring out the worst in Kentucky's shooters. UK shot 19 of 54 from the field for 35 percent, second only to the 25 percent showing in the first game against LSU in Rupp. . .LSU converted 22 of 44 for an even 50 percent. . .Although he connected on just three of 11 three-point attempts, Kentucky's Rex Chapman led all scorers with 24 points, 15 of them coming in the first half. Chapman was eight of 19 from the floor for the game and was the UK co-leader on the boards with seven rebounds, a new career high. Chapman's best rebounding game had come against Vanderbilt earlier in the week when he claimed six caroms. . .UK center Rob Lock also grabbed seven
OFFICIAL NCAA BASKETBALL BOX SCORE
0i|t  Feb. 21/87 3,1,    Eaton Rouge, la
No	KENTUCKY					FT		"mi 1			PF	TP
		re	re*	re	re*		FTA					
1-2	Madison, Richard f		10	S	0	0	1	3	3	6	4	8
10	Blackmon, James g'	1	3	0	0	1	2	Oh		1	0	3
M	Lock, Rob c	4	8	0	0	4	6	5 1 2		7	4	12
3	Chapman, Rex . g	8	19	3	1!	5	8	li	3	7	3	2k
15	Davender, Ed g	1	7	0	1	0	0	I	4	5	4	2
	Miller, derrick	1	2	1	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	3
it	Andrewsr Paul	0	3	o	0	0	0	3	1	4	?	0
30	Thomas, Irving	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
55	Jenkins, Cedric	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
												
												
												
												
												
	TEAM REBOUNDS (included in Totals)							0	2	2 1		
!    TOTALS                             j 19   15*   1 * ll*    1 10 J17								17	17  j3* i 24 2			
				
A	TO	atxi s		MSN
0	3	i	!	37
1	0	0	o	2!
c	4	!	c	li
2	4	0	1	38
s	3	0	i	3*
I	1	0	o	7
0	1	0	2	20
0	1	0	0	6
0	0	0	0	H
				
				
				
				
				
9-17 2
20<
TOTAL FG X: 1st Hall 3-Pt. FG X: 1st Hall FT X: 1st Halt_
-29, 3: 2-4, 50.0? 2-6, 33.3;
J* 2nd Half. _ 2nd Half-_   2nd Hall
FIT
Game.,'3-^,
GameZEDiZ 72J\ Ram(, '0-17,
-25. 32.03
28.6* "SOS
Deadtatl Rebounds_2_
No	LSI)					FT	. J	-B1.WBI			PF 1 TP	
		re 1 re* "		li i li< I			I	C-- i Dri ret				
30	Woodside, Bernard f	3  I  5 |		1	2 1	!		3	1	4	5   j B	
3!	Brown, 01i ver f	1	71	0	o 1	4	4	4	9	13	k	6
41	Wilson, Nikita c	9		0	0	4	7	0	5	5	2	22
12	Joe, Darryl g	4		1	2	3	4	2	3	5	5	12
1 1	Wi!son, Anthony g	4	10	2	5	2	2	0	3	3	1	12
4	Irvin, Fess	1	i	0	0	3	6	0	1	1	0   i 5	
12	McDonald, Ben	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	Varoas, Jose	o ! o		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
												
												
												
												
												
							1					
	TEAM REBOUNDS (included in Totals)							3	1	4		
	TOTALS                           122   | 44   ] 4  | 9   | 17  | 26							|12	23	35	19 |65	
A	TO	BLK	s	MIN
5	2	1	0	32
I	3	2	3	39
1	3	1	1	40
6	2	0	1	37
3	3	2	2	33
:	2 ,	0	3	8
0	0	0	0	2
0	0	0	0	k
				
				
				
				
				
				
16   15   6 110 1200
TOTAL FG X: 1st Half 9-2Lj2._91 3-Pt. FG X: 1st Hall. 50-0S FT %: 1st Hall.
5L5*Game. 2ndHal(._"''.i-00;^- Game.
2nd Hal<_'3-_y_ 0-1
2nd Half-
22-44, 50.0% 4-9, 44.4f~ 17-26, (>SM
Deadball Rebounds.
Paul Galvan, John Clougherty 
Al 1le Prescott	KENTUCKY	26	26	XX	XX	52
T.rr,nir*l Fnnlv None	LSU	24	41	XX	XX	65
Attendance.
10,782
UK's 35 Percent Shooting, Dry Spell, Decided This One
rebounds, and was the only other Kentuckian in double figures with 12 points. . .Ed Davender, who had been spectacular for Kentucky in recent games, hit just one of seven shots and was held to two points, 13 below his season average. Davender had scored in double figures in 16 of 22 games coming into last Thursday's Vandy encounter.
[Continued On Page 22]