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Ellis-led 'Cats down 'Dogs 73-61
After watching a few horror flicksgame films of previous UK lossesthe 6-10 center played a starring role in win
By TCP staff writer Jim Easterwood
LEXINGTON  Kentucky center LeRon Ellis oozes with basketball ability.
Unfortunately, the laid-back lad from Los Angeles also seems to snooze at times on the court.
And when you snooze, you lose. At least Kentucky has been when LeRon has failed to set his alarm.
Take Saturday, Jan. 28, when Ellis scored a season-low four points as Kentucky lost to Mississippi.
Last Wednesday night, the "other" Ellis showed up and woke up before some of his severest criticsthe Rupp Arena crowd.
Result: Ellis scores a team-high 21 points and nine rebounds as the 'Cats win 73-61 over Mississippi State.
But scoring and rebounding were just two spokes in Ellis' wheel of fortune last Wednesday. The sophomore also had five assists, no turnovers and played some solid defense.
Ellis said he was just concentrating better. But teammate Chris Mills said his teammate may have been up late watching movies.
No, it wasn't Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grailhis favorite. These, in fact, were horror movies.
Like Kentucky vs. Indiana. Or Kentucky vs. Louisville. Or, the latest, Kentucky vs. Mississippi. In each Ellis played the ghost. You couldn't find him. Mills said the study of the horror flicks showed one thingLeRon was better square than he was leaning sideways.
"We noticed that in every game he didn't play well he would get the ball and turn the opposite way," said Mills.
"From the strong side he would shoot a leaning shot instead of squaring up to the bucket and exploding for the shot. He would be off-balance."
Ellis took the movies to heart. He also became more of an active participant on the floor. Against the 'Dogs, he seemed to be in the flow of the game from the start. He would kick the ball back several times before positioning himself for the pass.
Ellis scored six of Kentucky's first 14 points, including a slam off an alley-oop pass from Mills. This put the 'Cats on top 14-8 at the 12:47 mark.
"He let the offense come to him tonight," said Mills. "When he does that he plays real well."
Richard Williams, the Mississippi State coach, was certainly aware that he caught the Tustin, Calif, native on one of his on nights.
If Ellis hadn't showed up the Bulldogs might have been able to break a horrible string of losses (22 straight) in Lexington.
"Maybe we can win one up here before I die," said Williams. Poor Richard.
The Bulldogs' taskmaster had better not count on it if Ellis and the 'Cats play like they did Wednesday night. Mississippi State played well. But Ellis and Company were exceptional.
Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton said he felt Ellis could have a big night against the 'Dogsif...
If he came to play.
"I told him it makes no difference if you go out and make mistakes," said Sutton in his post-game remarks. "Just go out and play
hard. And I thought he did that tonight. It's the best he's played in a long time."
Indeed. Ellis was the man from whence all things flowed.
He made things easier for Mills, who had 19 points, including three three-point goals.
Guard Derrick Miller had 15 points, Deron Feldhaus had three boards and some hustle plays, and Mike Scott hit two big shots late in the game to snuff out Bulldog comeback hopes.
"A lot of people were on LeRon after the Mississippi game." admitted Mills. "But we knew we needed him to play well for us to be able to win. We feel he can do what he did tonight in every game."
Kentucky, buoyed by Ellis' play, took a 33-23 halftime lead despite the fact the Bulldogs never missed from the field in the first 10 minutes. For the half they were 10 of 15 (67 percent).
However, the 'Cats took advantage of nine Mississipi turnovers, five steals and a big edge on the offensive boards to fashion their 10-point margin. They also were helped when forward Cameron (Smoke) Burns did not set the gym afire.
But, then, how could he since he got the ball only twice?
"Our guys didn't do a good job of getting him the ball," said Williams. "Hey, he's hitting on 70 percent of his shots. Hey, we just had to do a better job of getting him the ball."
They did the second half. Burns was so hot the 'Cats couldn't touch him underneath as he hit on six of six shots, most of them early in the second half.
When the Smoke had cleared Mississippi had pulled within five points twice, at 34-29 and 36-31.
However, Ellis reacted with a 10-foot jumper and Miller hit a three-pointer to up
the margin again.
Mills then got into the flow as UK jumped out to a 52-37 lead with 9:34 in the game. He hit three three-point shots in this stretch.
"Sometimes when I'm out there I don't feel as comfortable shooting that shot," said Mills. "But tonight when I made the first one 1 felt comfortable putting it up."
Williams said the shots down by the old Mills stream were ones he would expect from the California freshman.
"He's supposed to be the best player in L.A. the past 7-8 years," said Williams. "I'd expect him to be able to do that. But do you know Tony (Watts) is the best player in Rolling Fork, Miss.?"
The postgame media horde laughed at that. But Watts is no laughing matter. The son of Slick Watts, the former NBA star, he led the Bulldogs with 17 points.
But even as an outside man looking in. Watts could see it was the man from Tustin who was the difference.
"He (Ellis) really hurt us on the boards... he made a lot of second shots," said the slick son of Slick.
That was the Watts line. But Sutton pointed to two other things that enabled his team to rebound from the disastrous loss to Ole Miss.
First, he pointed to UK's edge on the offensive boards as the reason for their first-half advantage.
As for the second half, a timely shift from a man defense to a zone seemed to confuse the Bulldogs. It came after the Bulldogs had closed to 36-31 with 14:54 left.
"Yes, it did bother us," said Williams. "They are so big with Scott and Ellis underneath and Miller out front."
But, in the final analysis, one big man stood the tallest of all. The real LeRon Ellis stood up. And was counted.
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UK-Mississippi St.			play-by-play
Time	kinlui U	Si , il f	Mississippi si
19:25	Sutton 16 (l.	24}	
18:24	Ellis l.iyup	440	
1 - III		4-2	Lockhart FT, FT
1  il	Miller l.vyup	6-2	
1 ' i ill		6-4	Carter 15 ft.
ll> 1"	Ellis lollow Ijyup	8-4	
|15:41		8-6	Watts 17 ft.
M Al	Miller 12 A.	10-6	
14:15		10-8	Ch. Nichols layup
1 1 -IH	Mills FT. FT	12-8	
12:48	Ellis allevMiop clunk	14-8	
11:39		14-10	lockhart l.iyup
11:07	Miller 18 ft.	16-10	
10:57		16-12	Lockhart 12 It
Mi,	H.mson Ijyu-p	18-12	
9:29	Miller 21 II.	21-12	
H 1 	Mills lolluw l.iyup	23-12	
8 1:		23-14	Wans 10 ft.
		23-16	Watts 8 fl.
-ii	Ellis 12 fl.	25-16	
		25-18	Watts 18 ft
4:55	Scott 9 It.	27-18	
4 ill	Feldhaus 9 ft.	29-18	
3:39		29-21	Hartsfield 20 ft.
-1"	Mills 7 ft.	31-21	
.' 18		31-23	Burns layup
1:55	Ellis 14 ft.	33-23	
HALf		33-23	
19:41		33-25	Burns l.r, up
18:28		33-27	Warts FT. FT
18:01 j Ellis FTA. Fl		34-27	
17:51		34-29	Ca. Nichols layup. FTA
17:33	Ellis 8 ft.	36-29	
17:05		36-31	Burns lollow dunk
15:55	Miller 21 ft.	39-31	
15:37		39-33	Burns dunk
15:08	Mills 21 ft.	42-33	
14:53		42-35	Bums Ft, FT
14:45	Ellis lay-up	44-35	
12:56		44-37	Bums 4 ft.
12:28	Mills 20 ft.	47-37	
11:23	Miller 14 ft.	49-37	
9:34	Mills 20 ft.	52-37	
9:02		52-40	Boykin 22 ft.
8:47	Ellis FT, FT	54-40	
8:42		54-43	Hartsfield 21 fl.
7:21		54-46	Merril 21 fl.
6:49	Ellis FT. FT	56-16	
5:30		56-17	Ca. Nichols FT, FTA
5:05	Scott lip	58-47	
4:37		58-49	Burns 10 ft.
4:01	Scon 10 ft. jump hook	60-49	
3:27		60-51	Burns 12 fl.
2:47		60-53	Walls dunk
2:25	Miller FTA, FT	61-53	
1:52	Hanson FT, FT	63-53	
1:33		63-55	Walls follow l.iyup
1:25	Mills FT, FT	65-55	
111	Farmer FT, FT	67-55	
0:59	Mills FT, FT	69-55	
0:52		69-58	Merritt 22 fl.
0:32	Hanson layup	71-58	
0:22		71-61	Watts 24 ft.
0:01	Ellis lip	73-61	
FINAt		73-61	
Cats' Pause chart			
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