xt76dj58dc29 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt76dj58dc29/data/mets.xml Wildcat News Company 1988 Volume 13 -- Number 15 athletic publications  English Wildcat News Company Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. The Cats' Pause UKAW University of Kentucky Men's Basketball (1988-1989) coaches Sutton, Eddie assistant coaches Casey, Dwane players Miller, Derrick Mills, Chris Manuel, Eric athletic directors Shively, Bernie Great Alaska Shootout (1988) NCAA investigation (1988) University of Kentucky Football (1988) Claiborne, Jerry Roselle, David statistics schedules polls Cats' Pause Combs, Oscar The Cats' Pause,  December 10, 1988 text The Cats' Pause,  December 10, 1988 1988 2012 true xt76dj58dc29 section xt76dj58dc29 $1.25 PER ISSUE
University Archives Margaret I. King Library -University of Kentuck 40
The Cats' Pause
25590
"spotlighting university of kentucky and southeastern conference
L.   
__
Timid 'Cats ge outrebounded. outscored by Notre Dame in Big Four Classic
page 4
questionnaire esults show readers have strong opinions
pages 15-27
; whotearlieri
LeRebound
UK'sLe
week came down w^the flu, came eM|i with this board against Notre Dame Saturday. Despite his game-high 22 points, Ellis, who had just foxir rebounds, and his jeammates ***were outrebounoW 53-2? In th
*s&)thei.'-/X>iMrw'Wei'News-Sentinel All-SEC freshman team.
Jerry's crew tough in classroom
? ? ?
Last week (Tuesday, Nov. 29) six members of the University of Kentucky Athletics Association were named to the screening committee which now will look for an athletics director.
On Nov. 15, Cliff Hagan resigned from that position which he held for 13 years. Joe Burch currently is the acting AD.
Heading the six-person committee is Charles Wethington. Wethington is chancellor of the institution's community college system and also heads up university relations.
Also on the committee are: Dean of Home Economic, Peggy S. Meszaros; former high school basketball coach, S.T. Roach; UK student representative, Bruce Rector; alumnus of the university and a member of the K-Men's Association, William B. Sturgill; and the university's NCAA faculty representative Robert G. Lawson.
The committee will conduct a nationwide search for candidates and make recommendations to UK vice president for administration Edward A. Carter for his consideration. Carter will then iake recommendations to UK president r ,d Roselle who will make the final rex 5ffij :endation to the UK Board "ctt"'Trustees!  A .'-\\t o' V ;..:,'i' > >yi*
Carter :,aid that he expects the committee to
begin deliberating immediately and have its work completed in early spring.
"We want the committee to take whatever time is necessary to identify the best possible candidates for this important university post, said Carter."
? ? ?
On Nov. 30, the Kentucky Kernel, the university's school newspaper, asked for the resignation of Eddie Sutton and his coaching staff.
Along with a full-length editorialasking for the UK coaching staffs resignationwas a cartoon. The drawing was that of a curly haired pig sitting in a mudhole.
That day Sutton said at his weekly press conference that "I'm very pleased to be here at Kentucky. I plan on coaching here a long time."
At the time, the UK coach had not seen the Kernel's editoral. When told of the paper's response, Sutton said: "That's a little unusual, I think."
In a statement released by acting UK athletics director Joseph Burch, it stated: "I have no comment on the editorial that was run in the student newspaper. It speaks for itself. It's the opinion of the editorial staff of the Kentucky Kernel."
The editorial said that if a resignation did take place then it would "restore integrity and honesty to its program."
The Kernel also went on to add that if Sutton did not resign that the university should buy out the remainder of his contract ($75,000).
"We're not making a statement about Eddie Sutton as a coach or Eddie Sutton as a person," said the paper's editor in chief Jay Blanton in a story with the Lexington Herald-Leader. "The talk is not about the game itself, but about the program and the investigation throughout the country. Regardless of guilt or innocence, it's important to make a fresh start."
According to Blanton, the paper's editorial steffthad'beemmarking on this editotriahfor weeks. (&uf&3
OSCAR L. COMBS
CATS' PAUSE EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Results are in from recent TCP questionnaire
The long-awaited readers' reaction to the Kentucky basketball program's ongoing battle with the NCAA is here and today you'll be able to read just what fellow subscribers of Tlie Cats' Pause think of the investigation, the current status of the UK program and opinions on just how many of the UK officials have conducted themselves over the past few years.
Over 600 subscribers responded to the survey, a number which totally overwhelmed us and caused us to delay publishing the results for a week due to the huge volume of paperwork.
Quite frankly, we didn't expect the questionnaire to attract such a dramatic response. Because so many of you went to such great lengths to explain your feelings, we felt obligated to present as much of your viewpoint in print as possible.
Thirteen pages of this issue of TCP are devoted to the questionnaire, with the full survey being printed in the special inset section starting on page 15.
Before you begin, we'd like to remind you that this is not a scientific poll with all the safeguards of accuracy within a plus or minus three points, like ail the majors television networks and newspapers proclaim.
What this poll intends to portray is just a sampling of over 630 sports fans who happen to be subscribers to this publication and who took time to fill out an 18-question survey and mail it back to us over the past three weeks.
We took precaution to make sure there was no ballot-stuffing. Only 28 ballots were copies with most commenting they did not want to damage their TCP by removing the page.
Since complimentary copies of TCP are circulated around the administrative offices of the UK athletics department, all those copies were coded. None were returned in the survey.
All but 20 of the ballots came from mail subscribers of 7CP.
Readers weren't bashful about their identity either.
Only 34 ballots were returned to us unsigned. Another 12 were returned signed, but with the request not to reveal their identity. We honored those requests. However, at no time did we quote a comment unless the reader permitted us to use his name with the comment.
Only a few comments were ruled inappropriate for publication. About a dozen comments questioning some people's personal lifestyle were judged as unacceptable for reprinting.
The poll is not intended to say Kentuckians feel a certain way about any of the issues. But we believe it does provide a good barometer on the feelings of the typical UK fan. After all, our subscription list contains mostly sports fans who follow UK.
There will be time when the total percentages will add up to either 99 percent or 101 percent. There is no error. Because percentages are rounded off, the total sum can be off one or two percent.
Also, in regard to one particular question concerning UK assistant Dwane Casey, there appears to be an error because the total number of responses to the question of whether or not you believed he put $1,000 in the Emery Freight package.
The reason why there are more responses to that question than than to the number of "yes" replies in the previous question asking if you believe if there was $1,000 in the package, is because there were some people to vote no to No. 8 although they didn't vote at all in No. 7.
It should be noted that about 85 percent of the ballots were returned to us before UK athletics director Cliff Hagan resigned. You might want to take that into consideration when reading the results and comments of certain questions.
? ? ?
"Home, sweet home."
Those have to be the sweetest words coach Eddie Sutton and his Wildcats could hear after opening the season with five games away from the friendly confines of Rupp Arena.
When the 'Cats lift the curtain for the first time in Rupp Arena Wednesday against Northwesteni (La.) State, it will signal the beginning of a five-game homes-tand for the homesick Wildcats.
I say homesick because the 'Cats have wobbled back home with a 2-3 record on the heels of a disappointing 81-65 loss to Notre Dame in the Big Four Classic last Saturday in Indianapolis.
Rupp Arena will certainly be more friendly than the likes of the Hoosier Dome where the 'Cats and Sutton were greeted with boos. There will be no "Kentucky Cheats" signs hanging from the rafters like the one at the Hoosier Dome either.
It'll be time for the UK family of fans to welcome the 'Cats back. Whether or not the welcome will be unanimous remains to be seen.
After a third-place finish in the Great Alaska Shootout a week earlier, there were those who believed the 'Cats might be on the right track. But all that came to a crashing halt with one of Kentucky's worst performances in memory against Digger Phelps' Irish.
Be that as it many, no one could serve up a better "healing prescription" that what lies ahead. After Northwestern State comes Western Carolina Saturday and then the annual UKIT next weekend, which includes Arkansas State, Marshall and Bowling Green. Even Indiana at home on Dec. 20 might be beatable if the Hoosiers play as they did against Louisville last Saturday.
So it's possible Kentucky can put together even a six-game winning streak with a victory over Austin Peay in Louisville on Dec. 27. Crazy, I am, you say? Well, it could happen if the 'Cats regroup and play up to their potential.
Any of the six are as winnable as they're likely to be lost. A six-game streak
Don't look for any signs like this one at Rupp Arena this week
would put UK's record at 8-3 and give the 'Cats a real shot at avoiding the dreaded losing season more and more basketball experts are talking about these days.
But for the Wildcats to get on the right track, it'll certainly take a great deal more effort than they put out Saturday.
Without LeRon Ellis and Chris Mills playing to their potential, the 'Cats don't have a prayer. And when UK is playing decent opposition, they'll have to rely on more help, coming from either Reggie Hanson, Deron Feldhaus, Derrick Miller, Sean Sutton or John Pelphrey.
They were all missing in action against Notre Dame. That leaves only scholarship players Richie Farmer and Johnathon Davis, a pair of freshmen who obviously don't fit into Sutton's plans for the season.
Kentucky most assuredly will get well with a pair of victories this week, but two wins in the UKIT won't come as easy. Arkansas State will be tough, but only after the second semester begins when it picks up a new player.
Marshall could be the surprise in the field. Rick Huckabay's Thundering Herd have been making big noise in the Southern Conference the past three years and you can bet they're licking their chops for a shot at the Big Blue.
? ? ?
There's still no word on the status of a contract extension for UK football coach Jerry Claiborne, who is now in the last year of his current contract as head coach.
It's highly unusual for a school to allow a coach to enter the final year of his contract unless it has intentions of not renewing it when it expires.
Kentucky is coming off its fourth consecutive non-winning season, but Claiborne has fulfiled, to the "T", the criteria set forth by UK president David Roselle when he arrived here about a year and half ago.
In fact, Roselle was once quoted he would be satisified with a 5-6 year, if the coach ran a clean program and graduated his players. Claiborne gets an A-plus on both scores.
Unless Roselle acts soon, though, you
can expect UK's recruiting to be hurt because other schools which recruit against UK will use as a weapon the uncertainity of Claiborne's future in Lexington.
Just last week, the Southeastern Conference announced Kentucky and Vanderbilt tied for the lead in Academic All-SEC football players. Kentucky has tied or led the league four of the last five years.
But Claiborne is still waiting for that vote of confidence.
? ? ?
This is from one of those "I still don't believe it" chapters.
Jock Sutherland, the self-proclaimed agitator of UK basketball, says "it ain't so, Joe."
To, of all people, Joe. And not as in "Shoeless Joe Jackson" either.
Prior to the Big Four Classic in Indianapolis last Saturday, Jock walked up, admitted he had been displaced as UK's No. 1 enemy by television commendator Dick Vitale and then uttered words I thought would never, ever escape his infamous lips.
"You'll never hear me say another negative word about Joe B."
Huh? What? Is the world coming to an end?
"We ran into each other in Nashville before the Louisville-Vanderbilt game (Hall was scouting for his role as ABC-TV analyst Saturday) the other night and had a great conversation, about an hour long," confessed Sutherland. "You know, I really like the guy now.
"I sorta bumped into him on the floor during a practice and then walked on because we haven't been the biggest of buddies. A few minutes later, Joe walked over and we went up into the stands and talked for a hour. Man has a lot of class. Why, the way I treated him, had I been him, I would have walked over and punched me in the face."
Added Jock: "Nope, you'll never hear me say another bad word about Joe. He's all right."
And as if it was too good to be true, (Continued on page 38) In the Big Four
Rebounding woes continue to haunt 'Cats as Digger Phelps'Irish subdue UK 81-65
By associate editor Nick Nicholas
INDIANAPOLISAs much as it may have hurt, 6-foot-7 tough guy Deron Feldhaus, sounding like a coach, immediately pointed to the origin of the Wildcats' dismal performance. "The thing that hurt us the worst was the board play," said the UK redshirt freshman, who learned a thing or two from his father and coach while at Mason County, Allen Feldhaus.
Notre Dame's 81-65 smooth sailing victory over Kentucky in the second game of last Saturday's Big Four stirred the already troubled waters of UK's progress.
"They outrebounded us 53-27," Feldhaus said. "There's no way you can win a ballgame when a team outrebounds you that much. . .Plus I don't think we played as hard as we have been."
Feldhaus and his teammates were coming off an impressive 89-71 victory over California. One wouldn't have expected such a lackluster performance coming from UK.
MAYBE JET LAG lag from the Alaska trip could have been the culprit of UK's poor showing at the Hoosier Dome. Maybe.
Maybe the Fighting Irish, led by Kevin Ellery and an impressive team effort on the boards, were the reason for the about-face play of the 'Cats. That's probably more like it.
If the name Ellery sounds familiar to Kentucky fans, it should. The 6-5 sophomore was an all-stater for Washington County a couple years back. Off the bench he inspired his Irish legion by scoring a team-high 15 points, which included four three pointers.
"Our kids call him the pit bull," said Digger Phelps about Ellery. "He had a bad back all week. But he has been shooting the three-
pointer well all fall and we want him to shoot that shot.
"Being from Springfield. I know that he was ready today and that this game was something extra special for him."
AND WHILE ELLERY was doing damage out on the perimeter, Notre Dame's inside strength, both offensively and defensively, was controlled by LaPhonso Ellis. Scott Paddock and Keith Robinson. Those three, who all stand 6-9, combined for 37 rebounds, 10 more than the Wildcats' final total.
Overall. Notre Dame manhandled Kentucky on the boards 53 to 27. Looking closer at the board situation, UK allowed the Irish 25 offensive boards. No doubt that stat indicates why the winners were able to take 20 more shots (73-53).
LaPhonso Ellis, playing only in his second collegiate game, leaped over, around and behind players for a game-high 16 boards. He also was credited with 12 points and three steals. Paddock and Robinson pulled down 11 and 10, respectively. Robinson came off the bench to score 13 points, too.
"They are pretty big inside and we weren't blocking out," Feldhaus noted. "I think they just wanted the ball worse than we did."
LERON ELLIS and Derrick Miller were the only two players for Eddie Sutton's team to reach double figures. UK's Ellis, who did not start because of a bout with the flu, scored a game-high 22 points while Miller added 15.
But it was all in vain as Kentucky found itself behind by 13 at halftime.
"They are a strong rebounding ballclub," said Sutton in his postgame press conference. "But we certainly didn't do a very good job of screening them off the glass."
Following an excellent lesson in fast pace transition when Sean Sutton quickly passed
to Chris Mills who immediately hit Miller for a baseline jumper. Kentucky trailed 24-19. After a Robinson free throw increased the lead to five. Notre Dame regained possession when Mike Scott missed the first of three consecutive short turnaround jumpers.
"We got some good shots in the first half," Sutton said. "We just didn't shoot 'em very well."
(Media timeout: Mills proved to be an exception to Sutton's latter statement. It wasn't because Mills shot poorly. Not at all. Due to Notre Dame's over-shadowing defense Mills took and made just one shot).
MOMENTS AFTER SCOTT'S miss LaPhanso Ellis grabbed an offensive board and drilled a 10-foot baseline jumper.
It was a sign of things to come.
The next time Notre Dame had the ball it had four opportunities to produce one basket. And when Robinson finally cashed in on the fourth try at the 5:19 mark the Irish were in front 29-19.
Following a Reggie Hanson free throw. Ellery let one fly from three-point land on the left side. His third three-pointer of the game gave the squad from South Bend a surprising 12-point cushion (32-20).
"This team is hard to predict." said Phelps of his club. . .Our kids prepare well, they listen and tonight they went out and executed the game plan."
Kentucky was able to cut the 12-point deficit to eight on the strength of two field goals by LeRon Ellis, the second resulting in a goaltending infraction.
THEN NOTRE DAME slammed shut any possible thoughts of a Kentucky rally. First, two misses by the Irish didn't deny Paddock.
(Continued on page 38)
OFFICIAL NCAA BASKETBALL BOX SCORE: Date! VISITORS   (Last  Name, First)		12-03-88 Site:				Indianado1 is.			Indiana					
1 1 INO. 1 Kentucky	ITol_._Ffil3.rE0J Nil 1      1      1 .__B*bQurid*_J IFQ  1FGA1FG  1FQA1 ft  1FTA1 off 1DEF1 tot 1						1        1 1 PF   1 tp II		1 1 1 1	1        I 1 A  IT0 IBLKI			1 1 .SI MINI	
135   1 HANSON, Reajie	1        11101       01 01	7 1	8 1	3 1	4 1	7 1	1 1	3 1 1	1 i	1 1	2 1	4 1	__3 L	
142  IMILLS, Chris	1    31    7 1    01 11	1 1	31	0 1	1 1	1 1	2 1	7 1 1	1 1	3 1	2 1	0 1	3 1	31 1
150  ISCOTT, Mike	1         11        4101 01	01	01	01	2 1	2 1	2 1	2 1 1	___M	1 1	0 1	3 1	0 1	16 1
104   1 MILLER, Derrick	1    61   101    21 21	1 1	31	__01	31	3 1	3 1	151 1	i I	1 1	2 1	0 1	0 1	32 1
120   1 SUTTON, Sean	1     11    51    01 11	01	1 1	01	2 1	21	3 1	2 ! 1	i i	4 1	4 1	0 1	2 1	31 1
125  1 ELL IS, LeRon	1    81111    01 01	6 1	10 1	2 1	21	4 1	1 1	22 1 1	i i	0 1	0 1	1 1	0 1	28 1
134   1 PELPHREY j John_..	1    21    31    01 01	0 1	01	1 1	1 1	2 1	2 1	4 1 1	i i	0 1	3 1	0 1	0 1	12 1
Tl2  1FELDHAUS, Deron	1        11       21       01 01	0 1	01	3 1	1 1	4 1	1 1	1 1	I i	11	2 1	0 1	0 1	" 6 1
132  1 FARMER, Richie	1        01         11        01 01	2 1	2 1	01	1 1	1 1	1 I	2 1 1	i i	0 1	01	01	0 1	_ JLL
133  1 DAVIS,Johnathan	I       01       0|       0| 0|	01	01	0 1	0 1	01	01	01 1	i i	0 1	01	01	0 1	1 1
1        ITEAM REBOUNDS   (INCLUDED  IN TOTALS)			1	1 1	1	1 1								1
i       1 TOTALS	1  23 1  531    21     4 1	17 1	27 1	101	17 1	27 1	161	651 1	i i	1 1 1	151	8 1	6 1	JL&.TlM	1        11        11       0 1       0 1	2 1	21	01	1 1	1 1	1 1	4 1 1	1 1	0 1	0 1	0 i	0 1	1 1
1        1 TEAM REBOUNDS   (INCLUDED  IN TOTALS)			1	1 I	1	1 1								1
1        1 TOTALS	1   341   731    41 121	31	14 1	__25 1	28 1	53 1	25 1	81 1 1	1	201	16 1	1 1	J II	2001
TOTAL FG         1st  HALF  18/40    45.0-/. 2nd HALF 3-POINT FG     1st  HALF    3/ 6    50.0'/. 2nd HALF FREE THROWS   1st  HALF     1/  3    33.3'/. 2nd HALF		16/33 1/ 6 8/ 1 1		48. 5* 1 6. 7V. 72. 7%	GAME GAME GAME		34/ 4/ 9/	73 12 14	46. 33. 64.	6% 3% 3-A	DEADBALL Rebounds			
OFFICIALS:  Paul Houseman, Technicals: None Attendance: 45.214	Peter Pavia,Larry	Rose		.- - *H	SCORE BY PERIODS Kentucky      27      38 = otre Dame-     40      41 						65 81			
UK-Notre Dame play-by-play			
Time	Kentucky	Score            Notre Dame	
|1B:38 17:55	j Mills layup	1 2-0 2-2	j Paddock follow layup
[17:09	| Miller FTA, FT	3-2	
!l6:53	Hanson layup	i 5-2	
15:57		5-4	Ellis 17 ft.
jl4:22		|5-7	Ellery 20 ft.
13:40 113:30 12:44 11:54	! Scott layup	1 7-7 7-9 9-11 9-13	Jackson 17 ft. Robinson 16 ft. Ellis dunk
!ll:30		] 9-15	Jackson 12 ft.
10:41	j Ellis FT, FT	| 11-15	
!10:36		I 11-18	Ellery 20 ft.
10:15	[Miller 18 ft.	13-18	
10:01		|13-20|        Robinson layup	
9:35		;15-2(	II         Pelphrey layup
J 8:52		j 15-22 Paddock follow layup	
8:09		115-241 Sweet alley oop dunk	
7:41	Hanson FT, FT	117-24	
7:16	Miller 8 ft.	J19-24J	
6:43		(19-25 "    Robinson FTA, FT	
! 6:15		Il9-27l       Ellis 6 ft. follow	
j 5:19		Jl9-29J           Robinson tip	
| 4:39	Hanson FT, FTA	J20-29J	
| 4:30		J20-32I             Ellery 20 ft.	
] 4:09	Ellis 10 ft.	22-32	
| 2:58	Ellis 14 ft.	|24-32|	
2:33		J24-34J   Paddock layup, FTA	
2:24		|24-36           Ellis tip dunk	
| 2:11	Ellis FT, FTA	J25-36J	
| 1:49 ! 1:35		J25-38J          Paddock dunk j2540;          Jackson layup	
0:27	Ellis layup, FTA	127-401	
HALF		27-40	
|19:17	Mills 17 ft.	29-40|	
18:48		29-42	Ellis follow layup.
18:16		29-44	Paddock dunk
17:54		29-46J        Singleton layup	
16:13	Ellis 6 ft., FT	32-461	
14:59		32-48	Frederick layup
|14:32	Ellis 10 ft.	34-48J .	
14:05	Miller 20 ft.	37-48	
113:11		37-51	Ellery 8 hook, FT
Il2:51		37-53	Robinson layup
11:46		37-56	Ellery 20 ft.
111:35	Miller 21 ft.	40-56	
10:53	Miller layup	42-56	
|10:34-		42-58	lackson 5 ft.
(10:12	Hanson FT, FT	44-58	
I 9:14		44-60	Robinson followlayup
8:32		44-62	Frederick 9 ft.
8:13		44-63	Singleton FTA, FT
7:12		44-65	Robinson followlayup
6:59	Mills FT, FTA	45-65	
6:53	Miller layup	47-65	
6:28	Mills layup, FTA	49-65	
6:18		49-67	Jackson FT, FT
5:44	Ellis 12 ft.	51-67	
5:25		51-69	Ellis alley oop layup
4:27		51-71	Jackson 18 ft.
4:07		51-73	Singleton layup
3:51	Ellis FT, FT	53-73	
3:26		53-75	Frederick 10 ft.
2:50		53-77	Frederick FT, FT
2:20	Ellis 8 ft.	55-77	
1:40	Hanson FT, FT	57-77	
1:25	Farmer FT, FT	59-77	
0:58		59-79	Crawford FT, FT
0:47	Ellis 5 ft.	61-79	
0:32		61-81	Crawford 15 ft.
0:18	Pelphrey follow layup	63-81	
0:07	Feldhaus 12 ft.	65-81	
FINAL		65-81	
Cats' Pause chart			
 NOTRE DAME STUFFS 'CATS 87-65
Top left: UK's Reggie Hanson battles Notre Dame's Scott Paddock (43) and Kevin Ellery (35) for a rebound. Hanson snared a team-high seven boards during the game, but got little help from the rest of the club as the 'Cats were dominated on the glass. Notre Dame outrebounded Kentucky by a 53-27 margin. Remarkably, the fighting Irish pulled down only two fewer offensive rebounds than UK did total rebounds. Paddock had 11 rebounds, second behind ND's LaPhonso Ellis who had a game-high 16. Ellery, a native of Springfield, led the Irish with 15 points and grabbed three rebounds.
Bottom left: Paddock goes up for a high-percentage shot: an uncontested dunk. Paddock was five for seven from the field and finished v/ith 10 points.
Bottom right: With a few minutes left and the game already decided, Paddock gets ready to give a "high 10" to Irish coach Digger Phelps.
Top right: UK point guard Sean Sutton, who became ill at halftime and was hampered in the second half, puts up a shot over Notre Dame's Ellis. Sutton scored
tWO points and dished OUt four assists. photos by Gary Cromwell &7ie (jots' ^Bourne
Q^ecemlmr 10, /?c?o
Great Alaska Shootout
Miller's 36 points help gun down California Bears; 'Cats finish 3rd
The temperature outside the Anchorage arena would chill even the furriest of polar bears. But that was outstide. Inside, before 3,652 spectators Derrick Miller blazed the nets for 36 points, helping Kentucky capture the third-place game 89-71.
Miller, who did not start, was blistering hot from the field. The 6-foot-6 guard connected on 13 of 15 shots from the field, including a Shootout record seven of eight three-pointers. His torrid jumper was so consistent that he hit his first 10 attempts. Only two points separated Miller from having the highest output in the Alaska Shootout history.
"I've had so many great guards," head coach Eddie Sutton said afterward, "but I don't believe I've ever seen a guard shoot any better. He was on fire. Any time he looked, it was in the basket."
Prior to the start of the season. Miller told Tlie Cats' Pause that one reason his jumper was off target in 1987-88 was because he had changed his shot. According to Miller he went back to the form which produced him into a three-point threat his freshman year.
The junior's previous high came back in his freshman year when he scored 15 points in a losing cause to Georgia. In that game in 1986 Miller scored all of his points from beyond the three-point line.
Freshman Chris Mills, named the Most Valuable Player of the Shootout, scored 21 points while LeRon Ellis added 14. Ellis was the team's leading rebounder, grabbing eight boards.
Mills also turned in an outstanding percentage from the fieldseven of 10.
The 'Cats shot 50.8 percent from the field (31 of 61) while California connected on 45.5 percent from the field (25 of 55).
Five Golden Bears were listed in double figures. Keith Smith led California with 19 points, followed by: Leonard Taylor (16), Ryan Drew (13), Matt Beeuswaert (11) and Roy Fisher (10).
With an incredible shooting performance from Miller, UK was able to overcome the balanced California attack.
"Look where he was shooting from," inquired California coach Lou Campanelli.
He then noted: "Downtown with a hand in his face.
"You roll the dice in a tournament like this. "You know you could always run int a great team and a great player."
The game was close in the first 20 minutes as the Wildcats trailed 38-34. California early even looked like it would send the 'Cats packing with a 1-3 record instead of 2-2.
Nearly matching the temperature outside, Kentucky's shooting percentage after 10 shots was a piercing zero percent. That's right, 0 for 10. And the Golden Bears took advantage by racing out to a 16-6 lead.
"We played about as poorly as you can," noted Sutton of the 'Cats' slow start. "We were flat and I don't know why."
But Kentucky chipped away, thanks in part to two three-pointers by Miller, and entered the final 20 minutes of play trailing by just four.
Sutton and his staff noted on a chalkboard before the game that an "unknown Wildcat" had to appear. . .had to take charge along with the team's top two scorers LeRon Ell