Kentucky saw to it that Tulane's worst fears were realized. As a result, the top-seeded Wildcats are in the Southeast Regional semifinals.
Kentucky blitzed the Green Wave with an 18-0 first-half run and went on to an 82-60 victory Saturday afternoon. During the run, which lasted 81/2 minutes, the Green Wave missed nine shots, four free throws and committed seven turnovers."In watching tapes of them, they have shut people down for long periods of time," Tulane coach Perry Clark said. "We got so wrapped up in how we were going to handle the pressure, we didn't focus on running our offense."
Coach Rick Pitino seemed unfazed by the surge, which allowed the Wildcats to breathe easily the rest of the way.
"It happens all the time to Kentucky," he said. "It might not be 18-0, but it'll be a 12-2 run or 14-0. What you hope for during the course of a game is two or three runs.
"It's like a shark feeding to them when they get on that kind of run," he said, referring to his players. "They elevate it until the timeout and keep picking it up point-by-point because they know what's there. Sometimes you only get this one run but it's good enough, if you play fundamental basketball, to win the game."
The Wildcats (27-4), who were upset by Marquette in the second round last year, will play in the regional semifinals next week against No. 5 seed Arizona State, which beat Manhattan 64-54 Saturday. Tulane finishes 23-10.
Rayshard Allen scored 29 for Tulane, but frontcourt mate Jerald Honeycutt, the team's leading scorer with a 17.6 average, was bothered by foul trouble and finished with just nine points.
Jared Prickett scored seven of his 10 points during a 12-2 run that gave Kentucky a 17-8 lead with 121/2 minutes left in the first half. But Tulane was able to answer with an 8-2 spurt and get within 19-16 with 9:34 to go.
Then came the 18-0 run, which was typical Kentucky - six players scored, and no one had more than five points. The run gave the Wildcats a 37-16 lead that they widened to 22 before going to halftime with a 41-24 lead.
"Kentucky is the first team that has ever pressed us like that," said guard LeVeldro Simmons, who went 1-of-9 from the floor. "You might beat your first guy on the initial drive, but another guy is waiting for you.
"They just come at you so many ways."
The Wildcats saw Tulane get within 67-54 with 4:35 to play in the game, but a dunk by Rodrick Rhodes and two free throws by Jeff Sheppard ended Tulane's hopes for a comeback.
Rhodes scored 14 to lead six Kentucky players in double figures. The Wildcats shot 54 percent in the first half and 48 percent overall. They turned it over 16 times themselves, but Pitino wasn't complaining about the sometimes ugly play.
Arizona St. 64, Manhattan 54
Ron Riley scored 21 points and Mario Bennett added 17 as Arizona State rallied from 11 points down in the first half and beat Manhattan in the Southeast Regional.
The victory puts the fifth-seeded Sun Devils (24-8) into the regional semifinals for the first time since 1975. Arizona State will meet either top-seeded Kentucky or Tulane in Birmingham, Ala.
No. 13-seed Manhattan (26-5) led by as much as 11 points and was up 31-27 at intermission. But the Jaspers opened the second half with 5 fouls in five minutes and hit only 3 shots from the floor over the first 12 minutes.
Arizona State, outrebounded 24-11 in the first half, took control underneath. Bennett grabbed 12 rebounds and put Arizona State ahead to stay with eight straight points, the last giving the Sun Devils a 41-38 edge at 12:33.
Manhattan didn't quit. Riley threw a pass to Bennett out of bounds, and Phoenix dunked the ball off a long inbounds pass that pulled the Jaspers within 53-48 with 4:34 left.
Jeremy Veal, who finished with 10 points, hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining, and Riley added a dunk with 1:01 to go for Arizona State's biggest lead at 64-52.
Arizona State, who beat Ball State 81-66 in the first round, shot only 33 percent.
Heshimu Evans led the Jaspers with 14 points, and Justin Phoenix and Keaton Hyman each had 10. The Jaspers shot 37 percent.
Manhattan (26-4) reached the second round by upsetting fourth-seeded Oklahoma 77-67 for only its second victory in four NCAA tournament appearances and first since 1958.
The Sun Devils used their quickness early and forced Manhattan into turnovers they used for their biggest first-half lead at 14-10 on a pair of Riley free throws.