SEC/AP TOP 25

Wiltjer calls for shot, Kentucky obliges

— Kyle Wiltjer was feeling so good about his shot Tuesday night that the Kentucky forward went over to John Calipari and asked the Wildcats coach to run some plays through him.

Calipari allowed it a couple of times and Wiltjer had all the confidence he needed after going scoreless in his previous outing. He rebounded by scoring 17 points, including five down the stretch, and Kentucky avoided back-toback SEC losses by beating Tennessee 75-65.

“For the first time since he’s been here he told me to run a play for him, which I absolutely did,” Calipari said. “He even came back after he made [his first three-pointer] and said run another play for him, and we did.

“But then we came back on the third one and I said, ‘Cool out, man, let somebody else try to shoot it.’ ”

Wiltjer had been shout out by Texas A&M on Saturday in an 83-71 home loss.

“We put in a couple of new plays in practice, so I knew they were there and was just confident in myself and looked over there and just ran it,” said Wiltjer, who finished 6 of 10 from the field, including two three-pointers. He also had five rebounds and two blocks.

On his final points, Wiltjer added, “I just had to keep being aggressive and attacking the basket to help our team win.”

Aggression was the theme of a game between the longtime rivals who had to work hard for everything. Kentucky ultimately came out ahead, bouncing back from Saturday’s loss to the Aggies and being satisfied with a close victory that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.

Nerlens Noel and Ryan Harrow each added 12 points and Alex Poythress 10 while Julius Mays contributed consecutive three-pointers 1:48 apart late in the game to help the Wildcats (11-5, 2-1). In fact, all but Jarrod Polson scored, but Calipari credited his defense for helping swing the momentum toward Kentucky.

“It was a good win for us,” Calipari said. “I came to this conclusion: in the last seven, eight years I have coached teams that have absolutely whomped on people, and this ain’t one of them.

“Every game, we are going to be in a dogfight and instead of going crazy about it, how about just accept it and coach that way.”

Noel, meanwhile, turned in his second consecutive all-around effort to help Kentucky beat Tennessee for the sixth consecutive time.

After recording 15 points, 11 rebounds, 7 blocks, 6 assists and 4 steals against Texas A&M, Noel followed up with 9 rebounds, 6 blocks and 4 steals to make the difference for the Wildcats in a seesaw game.

“In the first half, I was a little off-pace and rushing some things, not staying focused,” Noel said.

“But I think in the second half I brought it back to life. I did what I had to do for my team.”

Jordan McRae’s 23 points led Tennessee (8-7), which lost its fourth consecutive and is 0-3 in the SEC for the first time in 15 years.

But there was a lot for Volunteers Coach Cuonzo Martin to feel encouraged about.

Tennessee didn’t shrink despite trailing twice by eight in the second half. Trailing 47-39, the Volunteers even went on a 15-6 run for a 54-53 lead with 7:19 remaining.

Kentucky outscored Tennessee 11-4 over the next three minutes, with Mays (nine points) making back-to-back three-pointers for a 64-58 lead with 4:20 left. Wiltjer scored the next five points to give the Wildcats a 69-62 lead with 1:37 left.

“They did a good job of making plays,” Martin said of Kentucky.

“I thought our guys put ourselves in position but just didn’t capitalize. But I thought we were aggressive and continued to attack the rim.”

MISSISSIPPI 89, VANDERBILT 79, OT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Marshall Henderson’s desperation heave beat the buzzer to force overtime, and Nick Williams’ jumper put the Mississippi Rebels ahead to stay in rallying to beat Vanderbilt for their sixth consecutive victory.

The Rebels (14-2, 3-0) extended the SEC’s longest winning streak by winning in Memorial Gym for the first time since 2001, and they had to do it by rallying from 13 points with 8:39 left.

Kevin Bright hit the 17th three giving Vandy a 78-75 lead. Henderson flung the ball at the basket from about 35 feet away, and he ran around the court celebrating.

Williams hit his jumper with 4:34 left in overtime, and the Rebels outscored Vanderbilt 11-1 in overtime to snap the Commodores’ five-game winning streak in this series.

Vanderbilt (6-9, 0-3) set a Memorial Gym record hitting 17 three-pointers but couldn’t overcome poor free-throw shooting (10 of 23).

TOP 25

WISCONSIN 64, NO. 2 INDIANA 59

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Ryan Evans had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Traevon Jackson added 11 points as Wisconsin upset No. 2 Indiana to take sole possession of the Big Ten lead. The Badgers (13-4, 4-0) have won seven consecutive and beat two top-15 opponents in four days. They have 11 consecutive victories over the Hoosiers and five consecutive in Bloomington. Cody Zeller scored 18 of his 21 points in the first half to lead Indiana (15-2, 3-1), which had a six-game winning streak and an 18-game home winning streak both end. Christian Watford added 11 points as the Hoosiers finished with fewer than 60 points for the first time this season.

NO. 12 CREIGHTON 79,

N. IOWA 68

OMAHA, Neb. — Doug McDermott scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half and No. 12 Creighton pulled away to beat Northern Iowa.

The Bluejays (17-1, 6-0 Missouri Valley Conference) won their 11th consecutive game and are off to their best start in program history.

Anthony James scored a season-high 25 points and Jake Koch added 19 to lead Northern Iowa (9-9, 2-4).

ST. JOHN’S 67,

NO. 20 NOTRE DAME 63

NEW YORK — JaKarr Sampson scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half and St. John’s handed No. 20 Notre Dame its second consecutive loss at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm (10-7, 2-3 Big East), who had lost two consecutive and four of five, had a 12-point lead midway through the second half and despite giving it all up, they managed to score the game’s final six points for the victory, their third consecutive over the Fighting Irish.

Eric Atkins had a season-high 21 points for Notre Dame (14-3, 2-2), which used an 18-4 run to take a 61-59 lead with 4:27 to play.

Phil Greene had 13 points for St. John’s and Amir Garrett added 11.

Sports, Pages 20 on 01/16/2013

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