IT’S THE ’CATS MEOW!
Kentucky uses smothering defense to stop Magee, Wofford
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Everywhere Fletcher Magee turned, there was a hand in his face, a body in his way, a relentless wave of blue that was intent on making sure he never found any alone time.
Kentucky totally and completely shut down the most prolific 3-point scorer in Division I history.
Thanks to that stifling defensive effort, the Wildcats are moving on in the NCAA Tournament.
Magee missed all 12 attempts from long range in his final college game Saturday, and Kentucky held off Wofford 62-56 in the second round of the Midwest Region.
“We wanted to make him put the ball on the floor and make a basketball play,” said freshman guard Ashton Hagans, one of the players tasked with shutting down the Wofford gunner. Mission accomplished. Reid Travis scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and made two huge free throws with 17.8 seconds left to help seal the victory for second-seeded Kentucky (29-6). But coach John Calipari knew the key to this game was at the defensive end.
“If they hit a normal amount of 3s, they probably beat us,” the coach said, savoring his eighth trip to the Sweet 16 in a decade as the Wildcats' coach.
Wofford (30-5) certainly had its chances, limiting the Wildcats to 40 percent shooting (21 of 52) and holding its own on the boards.
But Magee simply couldn't make a shot, which was even more stunning since he had hit seven less than 48 hours earlier in a victory over Seton Hall, the night he eclipsed the Division I record for career 3-pointers.
After his 12th and final attempt ricocheted wildly off the rim, skipping out of bounds in front of a stunned Wofford section, Magee rubbed his head in seeming disbelief. A dirty dozen, indeed. “I'm still kind of in shock,” Magee said.
He insisted that his looks weren't that much harder than what he normally gets in the Southern Conference. But something was a little off, and Kentucky's defensive pressure appeared to wear him down by the final horn.
It was only the second time all season that Magee failed to make at least one shot from long range, following an 0for-9 performance at Kansas in early December.
“It just doesn't seem right to end on a game going 0 for 12 from 3,” Magee said. “If I go 3 for 12, we win the game. I'm not sure how that happens. I'm sure I won't get over it for a while.”
AUBURN 89, KANSAS 75
SALT LAKE CITY — Bruce Pearl's Auburn rebuilding project took a massive leap.
The Tigers are headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 16 years.
Bryce Brown scored 25 points and hit seven 3-pointers, leading Auburn to a takedown of mighty Kanas.
The Tigers (28-9) were a surprise last season, earning a share of their first SEC title since 1999 and winning an NCAA Tournament game.
Auburn took another major step Saturday, running past a blue-blood program into the school's first Sweet 16 since 2003 under Cliff Ellis.
Unlike their opener against New Mexico State, when they had to survive a couple of lategame blunders, the fifthseeded Tigers pounced on the undermanned Jayhawks and never let them up.
Auburn had a 17-point lead before the midpoint of the first half and kept pouring in shots, hitting 13 3-pointers while shooting 53 percent against one of the college basketball's premier programs.