INDIANAPOLIS -- On the same court where Kentucky's vulnerability had been laid bare hours earlier, Cincinnati showed the exact combination of skills required to eliminate the second-seeded Wildcats from the Austin Region.
Soon, Cincinnati will get that chance.
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| Eric Hicks goes up high for one of Cincinnati's eight blocks against Iowa. (AP) |
In the earlier game, Patrick Sparks' struggles on offense spread to the entire Kentucky team, and the Wildcats were outrebounded for the third consecutive game. That combination allowed Eastern Kentucky -- which lost by 49 points earlier this season to Florida -- to linger within five points of Kentucky into the final minute.
Seventh-seeded Cincinnati manhandled Iowa with a strong, squatty frontcourt and James White's perimeter defense. White, a 6-foot-8 physical marvel, split his time between Jeff Horner and Adam Haluska. The Iowa duo, which had been combining for 32.4 points since Pierre Pierce's dismissal, had 22. They were 8-for-26 from the floor.
Horner and Haluska are stronger and quicker than Sparks, whose outlook for Saturday is grim considering he was held scoreless Thursday by 6-foot EKU guard Jason McLeish.
The common denominator in Kentucky's three losses since Feb. 15 has been a Sparks struggle. He had six points in the 73-61 loss at South Carolina on Feb. 15, five in the 53-52 loss at Florida on March 6 and four in the 70-53 loss to Florida in the SEC title game. A line also can be drawn to Sparks in Kentucky's worst wins in recent months -- five points in a 53-50 win against Ole Miss, five in a 68-67 win against Arkansas, five in an 81-73 win against Auburn and zero Thursday against Eastern Kentucky.
Although Sparks isn't the Wildcats' leading scorer, averaging a modest 11.5 points per game, he was the focal point of Eastern Kentucky's defense.
"Everyone knows the stats," said EKU coach Travis Ford. "When Patrick's playing well, Kentucky's going to play well."
The reverse is true, but Kentucky has more to worry about than White's defense of Sparks. The Wildcats also must shore up their interior, an unusual concern considering Kentucky's frontcourt is taller and deeper than Cincinnati's. But a real concern nonetheless.
EKU outrebounded Kentucky 35-31 with three guards and two small post players. In its previous two games Kentucky was outrebounded by an average of 12.5 a game by Florida and LSU.
Cincinnati won't offer a reprieve. The Bearcats are short with 6-7 Jason Maxiell and 6-6 Erick Hicks, but together they weigh nearly 500 pounds. The Bearcats outrebounded their foes by an average of five per game this season, and on Thursday they displayed another unexpected dimension from such a short frontcourt -- blocked shots. Cincinnati is second nationally at 6.9 per game, and had eight against Iowa. Maxiell had six.
Every blocked shot by Maxiell was a warning to Kentucky and a migraine for Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who grimly watched Thursday's loss from a courtside seat across from the Hawkeyes' bench.
Soon Bowlsby will address coach Steve Alford's immediate future -- which is at least as unsteady as Kentucky's.
