PAGE 16   THE CATS'  PAUSE, DECEMBER k, 1976
Cats Whip Wisconsin 72-64 But Irk Hall With Individual Play
Although it was a balanced scoring attack, Kentucky coach Joe Hall cited a "bit of selfishness" as the reason for the Wildcats' dismisal showing in a
lackluster 72-64 win over Wisconsin in the opening game of the sparkling new Rupp Arena here last Saturday.
With an overflow crowd of 23,266
looking on, the Wildcats used a sticky defense to jump on top after three minutes of play and never trailed. Kentucky built up. leads of as much
Robey; Goes High For A Basket Against The Badgers
as 20 points in the second half, but Wisconsin refused to surrender and cut the final margin to eight points.
Hall was noticeably upset with the club's overall performance and met with the team for some fifteen minutes after the game before opening the locker room to the press.
"I'm very concerned we had a 20-point lead with about 20-minutes left and dissipated it. I felt it was selfish play. The main thing was we played too much as individuals. We were lucky to win."
Kentucky, which had problems of developing a "killer instinct" last season, survived the problem Saturday and still won.
However, Hall did praise the play of Wisconsin and pointed out the Badgers' strong defensive play.
Badger coach Bill Cofield, who received his master's degree from UK, smiled, even in defeat.
"I think a lot of people are going to be surprised when they see this score," said the coach, referring to Wisconsin's low preseason rating in comparison to UK being in the nation's top ten.
"But I still don't think Kentucky is overrated," he continued, "they're going to be a very good club. I think maybe some of their players may have overlooked us but we hadn't been out there very long when they (Kentucky) discovered they would have to play to win.''
While Kentucky looked particularly good in the second half with a line-up of Givens, Robey, Johnson, Shidler and Lee, Hall said he still hopes to play both Phillips and Robey at the same time.
He pointed out that foul trouble necessiated the playing of only one big man in the second half.
Kentucky was led in scoring and rebounds by Robey with 13 points and a like number of rebounds in 34 minutes of playing time. Givens added 12 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes of playing.
Larry Johnson, who had a miserable night while connecting only two of twelve from the floor, finished with 12 points while James Lee added 11 points in 19 minutes and Phillips totaled 10 points and 4 rebounds in only 16 minutes.
High for Wisconsin was Bob Falk with 20 points followed by Joe Chrnelick with 12 points and Bill Pearson with 10 points.
Kentucky t after hitting 52.2 percent of its shots the first half, finished the evening with a 38.2 percent on 26 of 68 attempts. The Wildcats were iced cold from the line, barely hitting fifty percent, 20 of 39 attempts.
Wisconsin finished the contest with a 32.2 percentage on 19 of 59 and hit only 24 percent the first half, finding the range on only 6 of 25 for the first twenty minutes.
It was the opening game of the
season for both teams. ,
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