USC Topples No. 2 Kentucky

P H I L A D E L P H I A, March 23, 2001 -- Not bad for a football school.

Southern California, a longtime powerhouse in passes and puntsbut not dribbles and dunks, ended Kentucky's Final Four plans inthe NCAA tournament. For their trouble, the Trojans next get Duke,another basketball powerhouse.

No problem.

Sixth-seeded USC feels like it's in the zone now after blowingall but one point of a 21-point lead Thursday night, but stillsurviving by defeating Kentucky 80-76. That put the Trojans inSaturday night's East Regional championship game against Duke,which defeated UCLA 76-63.

USC (24-9) will be bidding for its first Final Four berth since1954.

Wildcats Pull Within One Point

Coach Henry Bibby marvels at the resolve of his team, which beatOklahoma State and Boston College before dispensing withsecond-seeded Kentucky (24-10).

"The last three games, I've been speechless," Bibby said. "Ilike being speechless in these situations."

He could have been gulping in the second half as USC's leadmelted away against a relentless Kentucky comeback fueled by KeithBogans and Jason Parker. The Wildcats twice got within a point, thelast time with 32 seconds left.

But then David Bluthenthal, who led all scorers with 27 points,dropped in five straight free throws as USC protected the lead.

It was no accident that Bluthenthal was at the foul line. He'san 80 percent free-throw shooter, and the Trojans made sure thatevery inbounds pass in the last half-minute was in his hands.

For his part, Bluthenthal was happy to carry the burden at theend. "I knew if I was going to the line, I was going to make thoseshots," he said. "It wasn't really hard to knock those freethrows down."

Too Far Down

Meanwhile, Bogans and Parker missed two free throws apiece downthe stretch. But without those two, the Wildcats wouldn't have hada shot at overtaking USC.

Bogans scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, and Parkerfinished with a career-high. 22.

Besides Bluthenthal, USC had three others in double figures withSam Clancy scoring 17, Jeff Trepagnier 14 and Brian Scalabrine 13.Brandon Granville finished with eight assists, going over 200 forthe second straight season.

Kentucky seemed lost in the first half, sinking in a sea ofturnovers and bad shots. By halftime, USC's lead was 43-24, thelargest deficit Kentucky has faced at that juncture all season. TheWildcats were down 42-32 against Arkansas in the SEC tournamentsemifinals, a game they came back to win 87-78.

Bogans remembered that game and the comeback.

"But I think today, we were just too far down," he said."They kept making big shots every time we got back in the game."

USC Is All Over Tayshaun Prince

Complicating Kentucky's task was the defensive shroud USC placedover Tayshaun Prince. The Wildcats' leading scorer was limited tosix points, the first time since November he's been held under 10.

"We knew there were two guys who could beat us, Bogans andPrince," Bibby said. "We concentrated on Prince, forced him toput the ball on the floor and kept him from shooting 3s."

Prince was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc after making 10 of hisprevious 15 attempts from that distance.

Saul Smith, who had five 3-pointers, said Kentucky missedPrince's contribution.

"We kind of expect Tayshaun to be out there, hitting bigbuckets," he said. "But some nights, it's not going to be there.Some nights, defenses are going to run two or three players at him.We still had a chance to win the ball game, no matter how manypoints he scored."

USC just never gave in, tenaciously protecting the lead throughthe final minutes until Bluthenthal's free throws decided theissue.

For Bibby, it was a satisfying application of the game plan andanother win over a highly respected opponent.

"We played No. 7 Arizona, No. 1 Stanford, No. 12 UCLA," hesaid. "We are playing top teams every other night in ourconference."

Now, with Duke next on their dance card, they've got another onewaiting in the NCAA tournament.