The Kentucky Wildcats
overcame an 18-point Arkansas lead Sunday to beat
the Razorbacks for their fourth consecutive victory. The Wildcats needed their best half
of play of the year (55 points) and some terrific play by Randolph
Morris, Rajon Rondo, Ravi
Moss, Sheray Thomas and Patrick Sparks to squeeze out the 78-76 win. Kentucky
improved to 14-6 for the season (4-2 SEC).
“It was a huge comeback and shows a lot of character on our
team," said junior forward Bobby Perry, "It had to be a team effort today and it
was. Randolph (Morris) took control of the boards and Pat (Sparks) kept his poise and was
patient.”
The Wildcats looked sluggish out of the gate. Neither team
scored until the 17:23 mark of the first half when Morris broke the ice with a layup. But
it was all Arkansas the rest of the half. The Razorbacks went on an 18-4 run over the next
four minutes in route to building a commanding 33-15 lead on a Steven Hill layup at the 3:35 mark. Morris would score six
of the Cats' final eight points, however, to keep Kentucky within striking distance at
35-23 at the half.
The Razorbacks would rebuild its lead to 16 early in the second
half before Bobby Perry hit a two pointer that would
begin a 43-21 Kentucky run. “Coach Hobbs made the point that they had big leads on
teams like UConn, but they gave up those leads," said center Randolph Morris,
"We never wanted to back down. We wanted to come out and fight.”
Moss hit a key three pointer at the 16:45 mark of the second half
to cut the Arkansas lead to 10 and the Cats began to steadily chip away at the Razorback
lead. Sophomore Joe Crawford cut the lead to 7 at 40-33
less than a minute later and then Patrick Sparks canned a long range shot to draw the Cats
to within 6 at 42-36 at the 15:11 mark.
Still down by 6 at the 12:27 mark, Patrick Sparks and Sheray
Thomas hit back to back jumpers to pull the Cats within just four points at 49-45.
"Coach Hobbs told us that Arkansas was coming into the game
very confident," said Player of the Game Sheray Thomas, who went 4-5 from the field,
including a critical three point shot at a time when Arkansas had extended its second half
lead back to 10 points, "he really challenged the big guys to step up today and I
think we did."
Kentucky took the lead for the first time since very early in the
first half on a Rajon Rondo layup, followed by a Randolph Morris dunk. Adding a free
throw, the Cats, once down by 18, held a 60-59 lead at the 6:01 mark, a lead the Cats
would not give up the rest of the game. “We had to wake up," said senior Ravi
Moss, "There were a lot of minutes left in the game so we stayed fired up. We knew we
were trying to get back in the hunt to win the SEC.”
Randolph Morris would lead the way for Kentucky with 19 points on
8-12 shooting. Rondo would add 14 points for the Cats, who shot 50.8% from the field
today.
The Wildcats move to 4-2 in the SEC, tied for 2nd place in the SEC
East behind leader Tennessee. Next up for
Kentucky is Mississippi State in
Starkville, where the Bulldogs will be desparate for a win after dropping its fifth
consecutive game on Saturday. Four of those six games were on the road. The game is
Wednesday at 8:00 PM.