19X5
Cats Control Tempo, Stop Rebels
Patient as patience can be, the Wildcats played see-saw most of the early minutes of the second half as the score was tied six times before the Wildcats took command for good with a pair of Kenny Walker free throws at 13:54 for a 44-42 advantage.
With Roger Harden engineering the UK offense, the Wildcats played some of their best basketball of the season. Freshman Ed Davender, who has been coming on like gang-busters late in the season, totally shocked the Rebels with some baseline drives which put the Rebels on the ropes.
After Walker's free throws, Davender drove the baseline for a three-point play, then came back for a reverse lay-up after Winston Bennett's two charity shots and offset a pair of long-range bombs from UNLV's Ed Catchings. To top off the Davender drive, the young rookie drove down the middle and pulled up for a short jumper as the Cats roared out to a 53-48 lead.
UK eventually went up by a count of 60-52, thanks to a pair of slam dunks by James Blackmon and Richard Madison which sandwiched Walker's turnaround jumper in the paint.
UNLV wasn't through, however as Spoon James and Anthony Jones went on a scoring spree seven straight points to cut the score to 60-59 at 1:34 when Jones completed a three-point play.
After aKentucky turnover, UNLV called a time-out at 0:55 to set up a play. That's when Sky Walker made his defensive play of the night on Richie Adams. The UNLV star pumped up a semi-hook jumper from the baseline, only for Walker to come roaring across the lane and blocked the shot to the
Cedric Jenkins
(About playing a key role for Kentucky in the NCAA tournament)
Well, I just wanted it real bad and Wanted to contribute in every way that I could. I feel like I've come a long ways since I came up here. But they're areas that I need to improve in.
(About the team, after two straight losses, getting mentally ready for NCAA action)
After we got the bid, it kind of put everybody in a good frame of mind. It kind of fired everybody up and we were ready to play.
(About the Wildcats getting the feeling that 'they're playing to win')
I think that has made a big difference in the team now -- playing to win and not just to keep from losing.
(About St. John's)
It's definitely going to be a tough one, but if we gut it out and play as hard as we can and with a little help from the Man up above, we can do it.
(About facing the Redmen's center, Bill Wennington)
It's going to be a big challenge, but challenges are what it's all about.
Roger Harden
(About being able to control the tempo against UNLV)
I think that's my contribution to this team is to control the tempo. When you want to win, you can't help but exploit what you can do for the team the best you can.
(About if there were any doubts that UK could beat the Runnin' Rebels)
I really didn't doubt it. I knew when we came out and we went up by six I knew right then (UK was going to win). I told coach (Jim) Hatfield and coach (Lake) Kelly when we came off the bench that we were going to win this ballgame.
(About   beine   able   to compete
against Vegas)
We can play with them. I think we can play with anybody in the country.
(About the reserves coming in and really helping out)
Cedric Jenkins came in and had a good jumper in the first half. He also blocked out well, which I'm sure some people probably won't notice and he went to the boards well for us. Richard Madison was my savior today after I threw two (passes) away during the late going. He hit two free throws to ice the game. He's my roommate and I'm proud of him. (About Madison)
You can't measure his talent, he's got so much of it. I think it's just a matter of him maturing and turning it over and letting his mind control his body.
(About getting some help from Blackmon and Davender)
James Blackmon had one of the most fantastic slam dunks on the baseline I've ever seen. He handled the ball awfully well coming off the bench in the second half. He had a lot of poise. Eddie Davender just took over for a four-minute span. He's a freshman from New York City and he's awesome.
(About St. John's)
I'm just going to say that we're all happy right now and I think we're going to go home happy. But I know this team and I know the character of Joe Hall and we're going out to the Mile High City with an upset on our minds. If we fall a little short then we'll start celebrating.
James Blackmon
(About really playing with emotion in the last two games)
I had myself mentally ready to play when I came in. I had my mind in the
corner where Richard Madison saved the ball to Blackmon who in turn hit Roger Harden. By this time Walker was motoring down court and Harden spotted him for a lay-up and a 62-59 lead. Walker was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw.
UNLV came right back and Fred Banks brought Jerry Tarkanian's crew back within one at 62-61 at 0:14. After a time-out, UNLV fouled Madison at 0:09 and the Memphis native promptly hit two free throws to seal the win.
Kentucky-UNLV Game Notes
Walker won game scoring honors with 23 points and led the Cats in rebounds with six, although he got only one the last half. UK outrebounded the Running Rebs 28-27. It gave the Cats the rebounding edge in five of their last six games. UK has outrebounded its opposition in 17 of UK's 30 games. . .Lexingtonian Steve Rardin attended his 500th consecutive Wildcat game Saturday and coach Joe B. Hall awarded him the game ball. He'll start on his second 500 this Friday in Denver . . .Hall took his Wildcats to the famous Park City ski resort on Friday where he taped his weekly television show. The players rode a ski lift, but none took part in any actual skiing . . .Dr. Ken Weaver, a UK graduate and physician in Lexington who also is a free-lance photographer, was one of the first people to help treat victims of the Alta Goldminer's Daughter Ski Lodge disaster last week. A gas pipe explosion ripped apart the lodge which left two dead and seven injured. Weaver had drove out to Alta to ski and had just arrived before the explosion . . .Both Washington coach Marv Harshman and UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian came by to wish Hall and UK luck in the West Regional against St. John's.
game and I was trying to concentrate on the game.
(About the first half against the Runnin' Rebels)
They were shooting from the outside and we got most of our baskets from the inside. I felt that their shots from the outside was going to wear out because they couldn't continue to hit like they were. They were shooting from about 20 out.
(About the team being on the biggest emotional-high since he's been at Kentucky)
We're an underdog team and thev don't expect us to be here.  So we
have a right to be here.
(About St. John's)
We are aware of St. John's. Chris Mullin. and Walter Berry are outstanding players. Once again we're going to be the underdog team and we've just got to go out and play hard.
(About if this team thrives on challenges)
Well, I think that when they (media) picked us to be an underdog team, we don't have nothing to lose, but we've got a whole lot to gain.
Kenny Walker
(About his block of Richie Adams late in the game)
He (Adams) took off on the outside of the lane, so I figured he had no chance of dunking it. I thought that he would throw up a little jump hook, which he did. It was just good timing.
(About UK guard play against UNLV)
They all did one great job, especially James (Blackmon). I was glad to see James have a good game because he's been down a little confidence-wise. When he got that dunk, I knew he was going to be fired up. And hey, what can I say about 'the freshman,' he was sensational tonight -- going down the baseline and making circus shots. Roger (Harden) did a great job of running the offense -- spotting everybody on the fastbreak and getting the people posted up in the inside.
(About the freshmen being almost like sophomores in tourney play)
Well, I think it's that time of the year where they 'graduate'. They are sophomores right now because they've been through a whole year and they know what it's all about now. They've been in the big games and have been
in key situations, so I feel like they have grown up. To me they are sophomores right now.
(About Madison's two free throws near the end of the ballgame)
Richard is a great free throw shooter. He's been hitting them all year, and I think he's probably got the best percentage on the team. I wasn't worrying about him at all.
(About Roger Harden)
I thought that he held his composure. Sometimes Roger gets us a little bit excited and throws some passes. He did today but he held his composure most of the time. The times that he did make some mistakes he just came back and redeemed himself. He never panicked. He got trapped in the corner a couple of times, but he didn't panic. I'll be the first to tell you that I think Roger Harden was the key to the game today, in how he controlled the offense.
(About somebody asking if Kentucky was having fun)
I have a lot to say about that. We are serious, but we are having a good time. I think that everybody is real loose. I think that the coaches are real loose and the players are real loose. When that happens who knows what can happen. I'm having a great time. The thing that makes this victory so sweet is because the critics said we couldn't win and didn't deserve to be in the NCAA. We've done won two games, and that's great.
(About St. John's)
St. John's is going to be a tough ballgame. We must go out and play like we played tonight -- try to control the tempo, try to play with a whole lot of emotions and the main thing is to go out and be loose and have a whole lot of fun.