With Tubby Smith working the sideline instead of Rick Pitino and
with
former stars Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson in
the NBA,
Kentucky moved one trophy closer to UCLA's record total of 11.
In its third straight comeback of the tournament, Kentucky overcame
the
largest halftime deficit -- 10 points -- in a championship game.
It was the third straight year the Wildcats were in the championship
game -- they lost to Arizona in overtime last season -- and the
third
straight year they ended Utah's season in the NCAA tournament.
Kentucky, the No. 2 seed out of the South Region, fell behind
in the
first half and trailed 41-31 at halftime.The deficit was as many
as 12
points in the opening minutes of the second half before Kentucky
started
hitting its shots and Utah lost the edge it had the last two games.
"I just think it was fatigue," Utah coach Rick Majerus said. "I
thought
Kentucky made some difficult shots and I applaud them because
we had a
hand in their face on those shots. We take our hats off to Kentucky
because they whipped us and they are number one but my guys are
one-A."
"There are three points to the comebacks and coach Smith has stressed
them all season," said Final Four MVP Jeff Sheppard, who sat out
last
season as a red-shirt. "The first is positive attitude, then hard
work
and then teamwork. That's about as simple as it gets, but it got
us a
national championship. We didn't have to be flashy, just fundamental
and
look where it got us."
Utah, the No. 3 seed from the West Region and the second-best
defensive
team in the country this season, had held its five tournament
opponents
to 39 percent shooting and an average of 62.5 points.
"I think it's a mental approach," Smith said of the comebacks.
"We do a
lot of time-and-score situations. We do a lot of practicing in
coming
back. We teach them how to come back."
The Wildcats went on a 9-0 run and took the lead for the first
time
since early in the first half at 60-58 with 7:16 to play. Sheppard
capped the rally with a breakaway dunk after he stole the ball
from
Hanno Mottola.
Utah got the lead back at 62-60 on a driving layup by Andre Miller
with
6:16 left and even extended it by two more points when Miller
fed Alex
Jensen for a layup 23 seconds later.
But a 3-pointer by Cameron Mills, Kentucky's fifth of the game
-- all in
the second half -- and a driving jumper by Sheppard with 4:53
left gave
the Wildcats the lead for good.
Sheppard's jumper was Kentucky's last field goal until a dunk
by Wayne
Turner with 12 seconds to play. The Wildcats went 11-for-12 from
the
foul line down the stretch and Utah's solid offensive game went
to
pieces as it scored on just two of its last 10 possessions.
Scott Padgett led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Sheppard had 16.
Miller led the Utes with 16 points, while Mottola and Michael
Doleac
each had 15 and Jensen 14.
Utah finished with a 39-24 advantage on the boards, but in the
later
possessions Kentucky didn't miss many shots.
Kentucky 78, Utah 69
UTAH (69)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
--- --- --- --- - -- ---
Mottola 28 4-10 6-6 4-8 0 4 15
Jensen 35 5-6 3-3 0-2 2 2 14
Doleac 34 5-12 4-6 5-10 1 2 15
Miller 37 6-15 4-7 2-6 5 5 16
Hansen 32 1-6 0-0 1-5 1 2 2
Johnsen 16 3-4 0-0 0-4 0 0 7
McTavish 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
Jackson 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 0
Caton 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 24-55 17-22 15-39 12 18 69
KENTUCKY (78)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
--- --- --- --- - -- ---
Edwards 24 2-7 0-0 0-1 5 0 4
Padgett 33 6-10 4-4 2-5 1 4 17
Mohammed 13 5-9 0-0 0-2 0 4 10
Turner 27 2-5 2-4 0-2 4 0 6
Sheppard 34 7-14 2-2 2-4 3 1 16
Magloire 22 2-3 3-3 0-2 1 4 7
Evans 23 3-4 2-2 1-6 0 1 10
Mills 12 2-4 2-2 0-0 1 0 8
Smith 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Bradley 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Totals 200 29-57 15-17 6-24 15 15 78
-----------------
Utah 41 28-69
Kentucky 31 47-78
-----------------
Halftime-Utah 41, Kentucky 31. 3-Point goals-Utah 4-14 (Jensen
1-1, Doleac 1-1, Johnsen 1-2, Mottola 1-3, Jackson 0-1, Caton
0-1, Hansen 0-2, Miller 0-3), Kentucky 5-17 (Evans 2-2, Mills
2-4, Padgett 1-5, Turner 0-1, Sheppard 0-2, Edwards 0-3). Fouled
out-Miller. Rebounds-Utah 39 (Doleac 10), Kentucky 24 (Evans 6).
Assists-Utah 12 (Miller 5), Kentucky 15 (Edwards 5). Total
fouls-Utah 18, Kentucky 15. A-40,509.