The 1990s are celebrated at Kentucky basketball reunion. Will Pitino be at the next one?
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Game day: Kentucky 66, Tennessee 54
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Tennessee in Rupp Arena.
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An unprecedented run — even by Kentucky basketball standards — was celebrated in Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon, a reunion of the 1996, 1997 and 1998 teams that advanced to three consecutive NCAA championship games.
Only four other programs in the history of college basketball have achieved such a feat. None have done it since the Wildcats capped off their three-year run by winning the 1998 national title.
The architect of that era of dominance wasn’t in attendance.
Asked before the ceremony, which came at halftime of the Kentucky-Tennessee game, whether UK should welcome former head coach Rick Pitino back to Rupp Arena, one of the star players from that period, Derek Anderson, comically pushed the microphone away.
Former teammate Jared Prickett took the pass and ran with it.
“I think he should come back,” he said. “Time heals all wounds. He did a lot of great things for the school and brought the program back and helped it out a lot. I got a lot of respect for Coach Pitino.”
Sitting next to Prickett was former UK coach Tubby Smith, who led the Cats to the 1998 title in his first year in charge of the program. He was an assistant coach under Pitino at Kentucky earlier in his career. He took the mic next.
“Well, obviously I think he should be celebrated and honored, because of his contributions to continue the great legacy of Kentucky basketball,” Smith said. “… Kentucky basketball is bigger than any one of us. Any coach. Adolph Rupp had a pretty big impact on it, but it’s bigger than any of us. Any player, anybody else that’s ever been a part of this program. That’s what makes it so great.”
And then it was Anderson’s turn. He explained that he didn’t pass up the opportunity to go first because of any ill will toward his former coach. Quite the opposite. Anderson called Pitino “a great friend” who has always been there for him, even after their time together at UK, and implied that some sort of future ceremony to welcome him back to Lexington should be a no-brainer.
“I think we should always bring him back and keep him close to the university,” he said. “For what he’s done for all of us. Not just the fans or the university, but for the players. I think we’ve all played and gotten something from him, and we should give that back in return and reward him with a kind gesture. … So I think it’s great if we could bring him back.”
Pitino resurrected UK basketball from probation in the late 1980s and had the Cats just one shot away from a Final Four in 1992, the first year they were eligible to return to postseason play. UK made the Final Four the next season, won the title in 1996 and nearly did it again in 1997, losing to Arizona in overtime in the championship game.
Of course, after a stint with the Boston Celtics, the former UK coach took the top job at rival Louisville, staying there for 16 years and becoming Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of many Kentucky fans.
Pitino was invited Saturday, but he had a good excuse for missing the celebration. He’s now the head coach at Iona, which had a game Friday night in New York and plays at Saint Peter’s on Sunday afternoon.
The Gaels entered the weekend with a 12-3 record in the MAAC, good enough for first place in the conference.
The Herald-Leader was told that Pitino was also invited to submit a video message that could be played in Rupp Arena during the halftime celebration, like everyone else associated with those teams who couldn’t be in attendance. Pitino declined that invitation.
Kentucky players come home
Ten UK players from the 1996-98 teams were in attendance Saturday afternoon: Derek Anderson, Myron Anthony, Anthony Epps, Heshimu Evans, Cameron Mills, Nazr Mohammed, Jared Prickett, Jeff Sheppard, Saul Smith and Wayne Turner.
Tubby Smith was also there, as was former Kentucky player Winston Bennett, who was an assistant coach under Pitino for the 1996 and 1997 teams.
Five other players from those teams — Allen Edwards, Tony Delk, Ryan Hogan, Scott Padgett and Mark Pope — recorded video messages that were shown to the Rupp Arena crowd during the halftime celebration.
Kentucky achieved a 104-11 record over those three seasons. The only other four programs to advance to three consecutive national title games are Duke (1990-92), UCLA (1967-73), Cincinnati (1961-63) and Ohio State (1960-62).
Kentucky injuries
The Wildcats defeated Tennessee 66-54 on Saturday, but they were short-handed yet again.
UK played without key guards CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler for the third consecutive game Saturday. (Wheeler also missed the Cats’ loss to Arkansas the previous week, so this was his fourth straight game on the sideline.)
Fredrick was injured when colliding with a cameraman on the baseline during the Wildcats’ game against Florida on Feb. 4, then tried to play against Arkansas three days later. He has not played since. Wheeler injured his ankle in practice before the Arkansas game. He wore a protective boot on his ankle Wednesday night in Starkville but did not have that on Saturday.
John Calipari has not provided a timetable for either player’s return.
A rare sweep
The Kentucky win Saturday gave the Cats a two-game, regular-season sweep over rival Tennessee for the first time since the 2011-12 season, when UK ultimately won the national championship.
The teams have played twice in every season since then except for 2014 and 2015 (and the Cats beat the Vols in each of those one-game series). Tennessee swept Kentucky in the 2017-18 regular season, though UK turned the tables and beat the Vols in the SEC Tournament title game that year.
Since that UK sweep in 2011-12, the Cats and Vols have met 23 times. Kentucky has now won 12 of those games. Tennessee has won 11.
1,000 Point Club
Oscar Tshiebwe scored 16 points Saturday against Tennessee, putting him just 15 points shy of 1,000 for his Kentucky basketball career.
That’s an exclusive club. Only 60 players in the history of UK’s program have scored more than 1,000 points for the Wildcats, and the last one to do it was Doron Lamb, who eclipsed the mark in the 2012 national championship game, his final appearance for the team.
Tshiebwe played his first two seasons at West Virginia and hit 1,000 points for his college career in UK’s loss to Saint Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament last season. Saturday marked his 59th game in a Kentucky uniform. Only 10 former UK players have achieved 1,000 points in fewer games than that, with Cotton Nash doing it the quickest. Nash scored his 1,000th point in just his 45th game on Feb. 2, 1963 against Florida.
Star recruit in town
Five-star recruit Justin Edwards was seated behind the UK bench for Saturday’s game.
Edwards — a 6-foot-7 small forward from Philadelphia — was shown on the Rupp Arena big screen talking with Coach John Calipari just a few minutes before tipoff.
Tennessee was assumed to be the leader in Edwards’ recruitment at one point, but he committed to the Cats in July and officially signed with UK in the fall. He’s the No. 2 overall prospect in the country and the best in Kentucky’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class of 2023, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
During the second TV timeout of the first half, Edwards was introduced to the crowd and received a standing ovation. Fellow 2023 signees Robert Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and DJ Wagner have been introduced at Rupp Arena in a similar manner during games this season.
Quickley returns
Former Kentucky guard Immanuel Quickley was back on the Rupp Arena court as the ceremonial “Y” during the first TV timeout of the second half Saturday afternoon.
Quickley was the 2020 SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore and was selected with the No. 25 overall pick in that year’s NBA Draft. He is now in his third season with the New York Knicks, and he’s averaging 12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists so far in 2022-23.
NCAA Tournament bracket
Before Kentucky and Tennessee tipped off Saturday, the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed its top 16 teams to this point in the college basketball season.
Fellow SEC program Alabama was the No. 1 overall seed, with Houston, Purdue and Kansas joining the Crimson Tide on the 1 seed line.
The 2 seeds were Texas, Arizona, Baylor and UCLA.
The 3 seeds were Tennessee, Virginia, Iowa State and Kansas State.
The 4 seeds were Indiana, Marquette, Gonzaga and Xavier.
Kentucky was widely projected as either a 10 or 11 seed going into Saturday, though the win over Tennessee — ranked ninth overall by the selection committee — will be a major boost to the Wildcats’ résumé with Selection Sunday just three weeks away.
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 6:21 PM.
