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Donte Poole is a key player for Murray. AP Donte Poole knows first- hand how life can alter plans. Who knows where Murray State University’s senior guard might be now if he had followed through with his commitment to Colorado State. Instead, Poole is a key component in one of the great- est seasons in Ohio Valley Con- ference history. Murray junior guard Isaiah Canaan, is a virtual lock to be named the OVC MVP this week. But the 14th-ranked Racers (28-1) likely wouldn’t be this successful without the contributions of their second- leading scorer (13.9 points per game). They have likely al- ready secured an at-large NCAA tournament bid and have a double-bye into Fri- day’s OVC Tournament semifi- nals in Nashville, Tenn. The Las Vegas native suf- fered an injury as a freshman and was a role player for most of his career — also going through a coaching change — but he has emerged as an im- portant player in his final year. Poole’s 20 points lifted the Racers to a 76-72 upset victory at then-No. 21 Memphis in De- cember, which propelled them into the rankings. Poole’s 11 first-half points gave the Rac- ers a 34-25 halftime lead en route to beating then-No. 21 Saint Mary’s 65-51 on Feb. 18. Racers bet on Poole to deliver Las Vegas native now indispensable By Michael Grant [email protected] The Courier-Journal See POOLE, Page C5 Sports scores on your cell Go to courier-journal.com/mobile and select your pro or college sport, league, conference and team. Sports KY MONDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2012 C Harry Bryan, Sports editor | [email protected] | 582-4361, phone | 582-7186, fax After narrowly beating Pittsburgh 57-54 Sunday before 22,746 fans at the KFC Yum! Center, University of Louis- ville coach Rick Pitino lamented the slow pace of the game. The Cardinals, he said, have got to play faster. “We keep getting caught in these slow-down, half-court games, and it’s our own fault because we’re not push- ing the pace enough,” said Pitino, add- ing that the Cards were “not going to get open looks unless we start sprinting the floor and beating teams down the court.” The Cards (22-7, 10-6 Big East) al- lowed the Panthers to stay close by missing from the one place they got plenty of open looks. U of L shot just 18 of 28 from the free-throw line. In the fi- nal minute, Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan each missed the front end of a 1-and-1. That gave Pitt a chance to take the lead with 24 seconds left. Tray Woodall took an ill-advised jumper that missed badly with 15 seconds left. CARDS SAVE FACE DESPITE SLOW PACE Louisville’s Russ Smith is fouled as he goes up for a shot in the second half Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center. Smith had18 points off the bench to pace the Cardinals. PHOTOS BY PAT MCDONOGH/THE COURIER-JOURNAL After narrow win, Pitino talking up faster game plan By C.L. Brown [email protected] The Courier-Journal Pitt’s Tray Woodall, playing tenacious defense, knocks the ball away from U of L point guard Peyton Siva. SOUTH FLORIDA AT LOUISVILLE When: 7 p.m. Wednesday TV: WHAS-11 Where: KFC Yum! Center INSIDE: Cardinal women close out regular season tonight at Seton Hall. C4 See CARDS, Page C4 STARKVILLE, Miss. — A’Dia Mathies and Bernisha Pinkett scored 13 points each to lead No. 13 Kentucky to a 76-40 victory Sunday over Mississippi State and clinch the Wildcats’ first women’s regular-season South- eastern Conference title in 30 years. It was a school-record 13th conference win for the Wildcats, despite losing three in a row earli- er this month. “It’s been a long, long process and journey for them,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. “Starting 10-0, you feel like you’re doing good things, and then comes the 3-game losing streak. Battling through that, it’s made the end of the season sweet- er.” Kentucky (24-5, 13-3 SEC) opened the game on a 19-7 run and led 41-17 at the half. The Wildcats shot 40.3 percent (27-of-67) from the floor and hit 15-of-22 free throws. Pinkett was 5 of 7 from the field with two 3-pointers, and Sa- marie Walker added 9 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats. Mathies was 5 of 12 from the field and had 4 steals to lead the UK de- fense. Kentucky was to celebrate its first title since 1982 later Sunday on campus. MSU (14-15, 4-12) shot 26.4 per- cent (14 of 53) from the field in the loss and turned the ball over a season-high 33 times. “They play baseline to base- line on offense and defense,” MSU coach Sharron Fanning- Otis said. “I think what happened to them over the last few weeks was a wakeup call for what you have to do to compete.” UK forces an average of 28.4 turnovers per game and leads the NCAA in turnover margin. “You’ve just got to be mentally tough, and focused, and know that you’ve got each other’s back,” Mathies said. Kendra Grant led MSU with 9 points. NO. 13 KENTUCKY 76, MISSISSIPPI STATE 40 Kentucky’s Bernisha Pinkett lines up a shot during the second half Sunday in Starkville, Miss. KERRY SMITH/AP SEC title 30 years in the making Cats’ pressure again makes difference Associated Press CARDINALS PANTHERS NO. 17 LOUISVILLE PITTSBURGH Rain delays Daytona The NASCAR season debut was postponed by rain, and they’ll try again today. C2 Hoosiers win on road Indiana’s stifling defense kept the Gophers at bay. C4 INSIDE Danica Patrick shares her umbrella with Tony Stewart as they chat on the grid at Daytona. STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES Back when the University of Louis- ville basketball team was sitting at 2-4 in the Big East with losses in five out of sev- en games, coach Rick Pitino laid out a plan to get to 10 conference wins and, presumably, the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals got their 10th league victory Sunday with a 57-54 es- cape over Pittsburgh in the KFC Yum! Center, but you didn’t get many good vibes — not from the coaches, nor the play- ers, nor from the stands. The simple explana- tion is that this team is building a case for postseason pessi- mism one brick at a time. If not for an 11-0 individual spurt by Russ Smith in the second half, the Cards might well have fallen at home to a Pitts- burgh team that has slipped to depths that are difficult to believe. Half-court offense is like pulling teeth for this bunch. In fact, they’ve started serving Novacaine in the Yum! Center courtside taverns. Despite win, Cards must speed it up See CRAWFORD, Page C4 Eric Crawford Time: 02-26-2012 22:04 User: jpatterson PubDate: 02-27-2012 Zone: KY Edition: 1 Page Name: C1 Color: Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
Transcript of Time: User: jpatterson PubDate: Zone: KY Page Name: C1...
Donte Pooleis a key playerfor Murray. AP
Donte Poole knows first-hand how life can alter plans.
Who knows where MurrayState University’s seniorguard might be now if he hadfollowed through with hiscommitment to ColoradoState. Instead, Poole is a keycomponent in one of the great-
est seasons in Ohio Valley Con-ference history.
Murray junior guard IsaiahCanaan, is a virtual lock to benamed the OVC MVP thisweek. But the 14th-rankedRacers (28-1) likely wouldn’tbe this successful without thecontributions of their second-leading scorer (13.9 points pergame). They have likely al-ready secured an at-largeNCAA tournament bid andhave a double-bye into Fri-day’s OVC Tournament semifi-nals in Nashville, Tenn.
The Las Vegas native suf-
fered an injury as a freshmanand was a role player for mostof his career — also goingthrough a coaching change —but he has emerged as an im-portant player in his final year.
Poole’s 20 points lifted theRacers to a 76-72 upset victoryat then-No. 21 Memphis in De-cember, which propelled theminto the rankings. Poole’s 11first-half points gave the Rac-ers a 34-25 halftime lead enroute to beating then-No. 21Saint Mary’s 65-51 on Feb. 18.
Racers bet on Poole to deliverLas Vegas nativenow indispensableBy Michael [email protected] Courier-Journal
See POOLE, Page C5
Sports scores on your cellGo to courier-journal.com/mobileand select your pro or college sport,league, conference and team.Sports
KY
MONDAYFEBRUARY 27, 2012
C
Harry Bryan, Sports editor | [email protected] | 582-4361, phone | 582-7186, fax
After narrowly beating Pittsburgh57-54 Sunday before 22,746 fans at theKFC Yum! Center, University of Louis-ville coach Rick Pitino lamented theslow pace of the game.
The Cardinals, he said, have got toplay faster.
“We keep getting caught in theseslow-down, half-court games, and it’sour own fault because we’re not push-ing the pace enough,” said Pitino, add-ing that the Cards were “not going to getopen looks unless we start sprinting thefloor and beating teams down thecourt.”
The Cards (22-7, 10-6 Big East) al-lowed the Panthers to stay close bymissing from the one place they gotplenty of open looks. U of L shot just 18of 28 from the free-throw line. In the fi-nal minute, Gorgui Dieng and ChaneBehanan each missed the front end of a1-and-1.
That gave Pitt a chance to take thelead with 24 seconds left. Tray Woodalltook an ill-advised jumper that missedbadly with 15 seconds left.
CARDS SAVE FACEDESPITE SLOW PACE
Louisville’s Russ Smith is fouled as he goes up for a shot in the second half Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center. Smith had 18 points off thebench to pace the Cardinals. PHOTOS BY PAT MCDONOGH/THE COURIER-JOURNAL
After narrow win,Pitino talking upfaster game planBy C.L. [email protected] Courier-Journal
Pitt’s Tray Woodall, playing tenaciousdefense, knocks the ball away fromU of L point guard Peyton Siva.
SOUTH FLORIDAAT LOUISVILLEWhen: 7 p.m. Wednesday TV: WHAS-11Where: KFC Yum! CenterINSIDE: Cardinal women close out regularseason tonight at Seton Hall. C4See CARDS, Page C4
STARKVILLE, Miss. — A’DiaMathies and Bernisha Pinkettscored 13 points each to lead No.13 Kentucky to a 76-40 victorySunday over Mississippi Stateand clinch the Wildcats’ firstwomen’s regular-season South-eastern Conference title in 30years.
It was a school-record 13thconference win for the Wildcats,despite losing three in a row earli-er this month.
“It’s been a long, long processand journey for them,” Kentuckycoach Matthew Mitchell said.“Starting 10-0, you feel likeyou’re doing good things, andthen comes the 3-game losingstreak. Battling through that, it’smade the end of the season sweet-er.”
Kentucky (24-5, 13-3 SEC)opened the game on a19-7 run andled 41-17 at the half. The Wildcatsshot 40.3 percent (27-of-67) fromthe floor and hit 15-of-22 freethrows.
Pinkett was 5 of 7 from thefield with two 3-pointers, and Sa-marie Walker added 9 points and10 rebounds for the Wildcats.Mathies was 5 of12 from the fieldand had 4 steals to lead the UK de-fense.
Kentucky was to celebrate itsfirst title since 1982 later Sundayon campus.
MSU (14-15, 4-12) shot 26.4 per-cent (14 of 53) from the field in theloss and turned the ball over aseason-high 33 times.
“They play baseline to base-line on offense and defense,”MSU coach Sharron Fanning-Otis said. “I think what happenedto them over the last few weekswas a wakeup call for what youhave to do to compete.”
UK forces an average of 28.4turnovers per game and leads theNCAA in turnover margin.
“You’ve just got to be mentallytough, and focused, and knowthat you’ve got each other’sback,” Mathies said.
Kendra Grant led MSU with 9points.
NO. 13 KENTUCKY 76,MISSISSIPPI STATE 40
Kentucky’s Bernisha Pinkett linesup a shot during the second halfSunday in Starkville, Miss. KERRY
SMITH/AP
SEC title30 yearsin themakingCats’ pressure againmakes differenceAssociated Press
CARDINALS PANTHERS
NO. 17 LOUISVILLE PITTSBURGH
Rain delays DaytonaThe NASCAR season debut waspostponed by rain, and they’ll tryagain today. C2
Hoosiers win on roadIndiana’s stifling defense kept theGophers at bay. C4
INSIDE
Danica Patrick shares herumbrella with Tony Stewart asthey chat on the grid at Daytona.STREETER LECKA/GETTY IMAGES
Back when the University of Louis-ville basketball team was sitting at 2-4 inthe Big East with losses in five out of sev-en games, coach Rick Pitino laid out aplan to get to 10 conference wins and,
presumably, the NCAATournament.
The Cardinals gottheir 10th league victorySunday with a 57-54 es-cape over Pittsburgh inthe KFC Yum! Center,but you didn’t get manygood vibes — not fromthe coaches, nor the play-ers, nor from the stands.
The simple explana-tion is that this team is
building a case for postseason pessi-mism one brick at a time.
If not for an 11-0 individual spurt byRuss Smith in the second half, the Cardsmight well have fallen at home to a Pitts-burgh team that has slipped to depthsthat are difficult to believe.
Half-court offense is like pullingteeth for this bunch. In fact, they’vestarted serving Novacaine in the Yum!Center courtside taverns.
Despite win,Cards mustspeed it up
See CRAWFORD, Page C4
EricCrawford
Time: 02-26-2012 22:04 User: jpatterson PubDate: 02-27-2012 Zone: KY Edition: 1 Page Name: C 1 Color: CyanMagentaYellowBlack
