Looking at those scores, you would believe that the Blazers and the Cats would put on a scoring exhibition. UAB averages 77 points per game on the season, and the Wildcats put up 74 points per game. Both teams thrive in transition, and uptempo basketball. However, Kentucky has the advantage over Birmingham if they slow the game down and grind it out.

The Blazers force 20 turnovers a game on their opponents. Those 20 turnovers include 12 steals per game. They also hold their opponents to 43 percent from the field, and 31 percent from three. Using the same style as his mentor, Nolan Richardson, UAB puts "40 Minutes of Hell" on their opponents with their pressing and trapping style of defense.

Kentucky will need guards Cliff Hawkins and Gerald Fitch to keep their turnovers down, and distribute the ball crisply in the press offense. UAB's pressure defense gives up a lot of easy baskets, and much like the Florida A&M game on Friday, Kentucky should be able to score easily and often. The Wildcats, can't get sucked into the Blazers style of play. Hawkins will need to know when to slow it down and when to push it.

The Cats will need to pound the ball inside to forwards Erik Daniels and Chuck Hayes. Kentucky's "big" men should have the advantage offensively with their craftiness around the hoop. Their passing ability will get easy baskets for slashers like Kelenna Azubuike and Antwain Barbour. Hayes and Daniels will also need to control the boards. The Blazers are outrebounded by four rebounds on average every game this season.

Birmingham's aggressive defense also tends to send their opponents to the foul line a lot. Blazer adversaries have been to the line 722 times this season. A team like Kentucky, who shoots around 70 percent from the line, could take advantage of this statistic.

The Blazers have a balanced offensive attack led by Morris Finley and Forward Gabe Kennedy. They have eight players who play 10 minutes or more, and four others who play atleast seven minutes. Kentucky won't be able to wear them down due to their depth.

Tubby Smth needs to prepare his team to weather the ups and downs of pressure defense. Hayes and Daniels will be key contributors in breaking the press, because they are such great ball-handlers at the forward spots. Taking good shots, and cutting back turnovers are also keys offensively. Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins need to play physical, aggressive defense on Mo Finley and Carldell Johnson. Kentucky's front court players need to stay out of foul trouble, and control the glass.

There is no question, however, that Tubby Smith's Wildcats will have their hands full trying to cool the Blazers.

Brian Eldridge

NCAA Tournament-First Weekend Opponents

The Wildcats (26-4) will look to come out and dominate their overmatched foe early. Defense will be the key for Kentucky as usual. Before giving up 73 points to Florida in the SEC tournament, Kentucky had not allowed 70 points in a game since December 23 against Eastern Kentucky and have only given up 70 plus points five times in 30 games. For the season, they only give up an average of 62.8 points per game.

In addition to the score board, the Tubby Smith's defense allow opponents to shoot only 39.9 percent from the field, and forces an average of 16 turnovers per game. The Wildcats also snatch just under eight steals per game.

Team defense is the name of the game, but without solid one on one defenders, the team defense wouldn't be as good. When talking about one on one defense, Cliff Hawkins is the first guy that comes to mind. Hawkins is a dynamite defender. He rips away just over two steals per game. His defensive prowess can't be measure statistically. Hawkins sticks to his opponent like he's a second skin. Often, he's had his hand smacked away, by his adversary. Forcing several five second calls, Hawkins sparks the UK defense.

Kentucky Forward, Chuck Hayes has also been a strong defender this season. Though often undersized, Hayes pulls down almost eight rebounds per game. At six-foot-six, Hayes amazingly leads Kentucky in blocked shots with 42. Hayes, like Hawkins, is adept at taking the ball away from his opponent. Hayes averages a little less than a steal and a half per game.

Kentucky has struggled offensively at times this season. One constant has been the defense. Just as Hawkins sparks the defense, the defense sparks the Wildcats offense. They are at their best when they get out in transition. A rebound from Erik Daniels or Chuck Hayes has become a run out for Cliff Hawkins, Gerald Fitch and Kelenna Azubuike on several occasions this season.

When Kentucky takes on FAMU on Friday evening, they'll have to be ready for the Wildcat's swarming defense. The Rattlers have played a few upper-level teams, none of which play defense like Kentucky. A&M relies heavily on Terrance Woods three pointers to win. Woods averages 20 points per game, and he's made over 130 threes this season. Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins hope to slow him down, and make him work defensively.

Up front, the Rattlers will look to Michael Ayodele and Michael Harper. They are athletic forwards who crash the glass. Harper has a nice mid range shot that he takes. Ayodele is the teams leading rebounder with just under five per game. Daniels and Hayes will have to handle A&M's outside-in offense much like they handled Arkansas, and to a lesser extent, Florida. Rebounding the ball on, especially off three point shots, will be critical. If the Wildcats outrebound FAMU, the game won't be close. If they allow FAMU to hang close in rebounds, then this game could be much closer than expected.

FAMU scores just one point less per game that Kentucky, but they give up nine points per game more defensively. On average, they are outrebounded by two every game. They also have more turnovers (520) than assists (392) this season.

For the Rattlers to have any success against the Wildcats, they'll have to continue to knock down the three pointers, and cut back the turnovers that Kentucky's defense feeds off.

Mike Gillespie's team will attempt to do something that 26 other teams attempted and failed. Gillespie is looking to make history by being the first 16 seed to beat a one seed. Tubby Smith is looking to make history by winning his second national title. Each coach's journey will continue on Friday evening.

15.7 ppg .411 FG% .701 FT% .376 3FG% 4.9 APG 1.9 SPG

11.8 PPG .382 FG% .767 FT% .386 3FG%

5.1 RPG 1.6 OFF 3.5 DEF 1.0 BPG

3.4 APG 1.4 SPG 3.1 TOPG

14.4 PPG .401 FG% .747 FT% .373 3FG%

20.1 PPG .413 FG% .870 FT% .398 3FG%

4.6 RPG 1.6 OFF 3.0 DEF

12.7 PPG .439 FG% .851 FT% .358 3FG%

13.1 PPG .478 FG% .789 FT% .231 3FG% 5.2 RPG 1.4 OFF 3.7 DEF

4.6 APG 2.6 TOPG

Kentucky defeated the Cocks 85 to 64, in Columbia, on South Carolina's Senior day. Led by Cliff Hawkins' 21 points, the Wildcats dominated that game from start to finish. In an earlier game in Lexington, however, the Cats squeaked by, with the slimmest of margins, one. Neither team played particularly well in the 65 - 64 slugfest, but the difference in the game was rebounding. Kentucky outrebounded USC 41 - 26.

Dave Odom will have to prepare his group for their third game in three days. After defeating Arkansas 91 to 81 on Thursday, the Gamecocks came back from a 15 point deficit against the LSU Tigers, to win by a whopping 21 points. That victory may have sealed South Carolina a birth in next week's NCAA Tournament. With that in mind, the Gamecocks will play like they have nothing to lose. That won't be the case with Tubby Smith's squad from Lexington.

The Wildcats defeated Georgia yesterday, 69 - 60. In that victory, the Wildcats used a lot of emotion, and could be poised for a letdown today against a team they dominated just a week and a half ago.

Cliff Hawkins and Gerald Fitch led Kentucky over Georgia yesterday with 23 points, and 15 points respectively. The Wildcats hope to quickly put that victory behind them, and get ready for the Gamecocks. Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins are strong defenders from the guard positions, and they will have their hands full. Kentucky will have to shadow USC guard Mike Boynton. Boynton is an early candidate for the SEC Tournament MVP, with a total of 50 points in two games. South Carolina as a team has knocked down 21 of 40 three point shots, in the tournament so far.

Across the frontline, Kentucky will need to rebound with authority. They have the inside advantage in this game, with Erik Daniels and Chuck Hayes. Daniels, who is only six points away from 1,000 for his career, had an off game yesterday against the Bulldogs, with only eight points. Chuck Hayes put in ten points, but it was a quiet effort for the big junior from Modesto California. Tubby Smith will need a stronger performance from his experienced frontline to come out victorious.

Winning against South Carolina is important for Kentucky. The Wildcats could possibly lock up a number one seed in the NCAA tournament. Mississippi State's loss to Vanderbilt last night put the Wildcats in position to pounce on one of the four number one seeds. If the Cats make it to the championship game of the SEC tournament, they will more than likely get the final number one. That makes today even more important.

The Cats should be able to pull away from the Cocks late in the game. Kentucky's smothering defense is a tough task to handle with three or four days of rest. When a team has less than a day of rest, handling the defense can be a physical and mental challenge, too tough to hurdle. The Wildcats have dominated this series, winning 13 of the last 14 meetings. The Wildcats hope to continue that same trend today in Atlanta.

March 11th, 2004

One o'clock eastern, on Friday, marks the time of the battle between these two SEC East foes. In the two previous meetings, Georgia out-muscled the Wildcats. Tubby's crew didn't back down, but it isn't the style of game that the SEC East Champs thrive in.

Georgia, much like Kentucky, is undersized, but they make up for it in heart, and pure physicality. Georgia forwards Jonas Hayes and Chris Daniels are hard workers in the post, and strong defenders, much in the same mold as Kentucky's Daniels-Hayes forward tandem. Chris Daniels finished third in the SEC in rebounding, at just over eight per game, while Jonas Hayes averaged five rebounds per game.

On the perimeter, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Rashad Wright is the engine that makes the Bulldogs go. Wright is knocking down 38 percent of his three point shots on the year, and he leads the Georgia scoring attack with just over fourteen points per game. Senior swing man, Damien Wilkins gives the Athens Dogs another scoring option from the backcourt or in the paint. Wilkins scores almost 13 points per game on the season and is tied for second on the team with five rebounds per game. Levi Stukes, a freshman guard from Maryland, led the Bulldogs in scoring today with 25 points, including an SEC tournament record, eight three pointers. His shooting from outside will be a valuable asset for Coach Felton.

Tubby Smith is looking for his seniors to step up and take a leadership role in the game tomorrow and for the rest of the season. Georgia's style of play has bothered Kentucky in the previous two meetings.

Senior point guard, Cliff Hawkins can't allow his matchup with Rashad Wright to become a one on one game. Hawkins, who may be feeling slighted because of his snub of the Defensive POY, played two of his worst games this season against the Bulldogs. In Lexington, Hawkins scored only one point, and dished out two assists before fouling out. In the second game, Hawkins scored 16 point but he only shot five for 12 from the field, and he had three turnovers.

Gerald Fitch has to step up his performance against his home state school. In his only game against the Bulldogs this season, the Macon native scored 10 points on two of nine shooting from the field. He didn't play in the second game due to a hand injury.

Swingman Antwain Barbour has been playing well as of late, as a starter. The game in Lexington saw Barbour score 6 points, all from the charity stripe, as he missed all four of his field goal attempts. Barbour only scored two points, and turned over the ball four times in Athens.

January 17th, in Lexington, Erik Daniels scored 15 points, but could only wrestle down one rebound against the more physical Bulldogs. Daniels had one of his worst efforts of the season in Athens, with four points, and four rebounds in 37 minutes.

Tomorrow, the Wildcats have to handle the physical, in-your-face defense of the Georgia squad. This will be a physical as well as mental challenge for the guys from Lexington. The Wildcats haven't been beaten three times in a season by any one team, since the 1979 season, when they were swept by Tennessee. Kentucky needs to come out with with guns blazing to keep history from repeating itself.