LAHAINA, Hawaii “”mdash; When UCLA meets Kentucky tonight, it
will be a battle of two traditional powerhouse teams with rich
histories.
The two teams have combined for an almost incomprehensible 18
national titles, with UCLA’s 11 and Kentucky’s seven
taking up the top two spots in NCAA history. And both teams are
expected to be among the top teams in the nation this season.
“Kentucky’s going to make this team go to another
level,” sophomore shooting guard Arron Afflalo said after the
Bruins’ victory over Chaminade. “We’re going to
definitely have to improve for (tonight).”
When the No. 5 Bruins (2-0) take on the No. 22 Wildcats (3-0) at
6:30 p.m. in the second EA Sports Maui Invitational semifinal
match, it will be the first time the two teams have met since
Kentucky defeated UCLA three years ago at the John Wooden
Classic.
But times have changed a lot since then.
UCLA worked its way back to the Final Four last season, while
Kentucky lost in the round of 32 in each of the last three
seasons.
“We’re a much better team than we were at that
time,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We were 11-17 that
year, which I unfortunately remember.”
While the Bruins come into the matchup with Kentucky after
breezing to a victory over Chaminade, the Wildcats had to survive a
tough test from DePaul in the first round of play.
Junior center Randolph Morris led the Wildcats with 20 points
and nine rebounds in the Wildcats’ 87-81 victory over the
Blue Demons.
“We always want to go inside because Randolph is an
excellent scorer inside,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said.
“We had a size advantage tonight that we wanted to take
advantage of and we did that.”
Much of Morris’ production was a result of the dribble
penetration and creativity displayed by Kentucky junior guards Joe
Crawford and Ramel Bradley.
Crawford poured in 13 points and had six assists while Bradley
had 16 points and four assists.
Morris has been the one who has picked up the load for a
Kentucky team that lost eight players from last year.
Morris was originally supposed to be suspended for the entire
season last year after declaring for the NBA Draft and getting some
of the expenses for his workouts paid for.
But the NCAA reduced his suspension to 14 games when they
determined that Morris intended to return to Kentucky from the
beginning. Morris paid back the money and came back to establish
himself as the Wildcats’ primary force inside.
Lorenzo Mata knows firsthand how tough Morris is. Mata matched
up against Morris in two Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) games prior
to both players’ college days.
“Randolph Morris is real strong,” Mata said.
“I’m going to have my work cut out for me
(tonight).”
Besides the talent on Kentucky’s team, the Bruins may face
another obstacle in the Kentucky crowd. Wildcat fans dominated the
arena in their win over DePaul, and were the loudest and most
enthusiastic fans of the entire day.
“We’re probably playing a road game
(tonight),” Afflalo said. “We were here before our game
tonight and the Kentucky fans are just great. It’s going to
be a tougher game for us (tonight).”
GAME NOTES: While Kentucky and UCLA are both
programs full of history, the two teams have only met nine times,
with Kentucky winning six of those games.
One of those meetings was historic, however. In 1975, UCLA,
behind the leadership of coach John Wooden, met Kentucky in San
Diego in the national championship game.
The Bruins won a hard-fought victory to give John Wooden his
10th and final NCAA title.