Thurman’s Final Shot Gives Arkansas A Win
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Scotty Thurman made a 3-pointer last April that gave Arkansas its first NCAA basketball championship. He made a 15-footer Sunday that gave the Razorbacks a regular-season victory they really needed.
At Fayetteville, Ark., Thurman’s jumper with 11 seconds to play gave No. 9 Arkansas a 94-92 victory over No. 5 Kentucky, the Wildcats’ first loss in the Southeastern Conference. It was also the Razorbacks’ first game since their first loss in Walton Arena last Tuesday night to Alabama. Coach Nolan Richardson had taken to defending his team.
“When there’s doubt you don’t function as well. I had said there were some holes and said hold on and let us fix them,” Richardson said. “I didn’t doubt we could fix them.”
Thurman helped a lot with his game-winner, the fifth time the junior forward has made a shot to win a game for the Razorbacks (5-3, 16-4).
“The players know who needs to take the last shot,” Richardson said. “Scotty seems to be at the right place at the right time. He knows when it’s his time to take over. He has made a lot of big shots in a lot of big games.”
“I felt that it was good when I let it go. I felt pretty good shooting all day,” said the low-key Thurman who finished with 22 points on 5 for 6 shooting, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range. “I felt we had to win this game because people were doubting us. If we would have lost then it would have been a devastating loss.”
The last chance for Kentucky (7-1, 13-3) ended when Jeff Sheppard was stripped of the ball on the baseline by Clint McDaniel, who was fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws with .6 seconds left.
“I knew Coach wouldn’t want a timeout,” Sheppard said. “He was yelling at me what play to run but I couldn’t get it. I think he is upset that we didn’t get the play he wanted but that is something you learn from.”
Rick Pitino was far from upset with his team that had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
“I feel great about our basketball team,” he said. “We got over the hump offensively. You had to be great to beat Arkansas on this day.”
(16) Wake Forest 63, Vanderbilt 51
At Winston-Salem, N.C., Tim Duncan broke double figures in points and rebounds for the 10th time this season as the Demon Deacons (12-4) overcame a sluggish offense for a non-conference win against the Commodores (9-7).
Duncan scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He’s broken double figures in both categories three times this week, totaling 55 points, 45 rebounds and 13 blocked shots.
(21) Ga. Tech 81, Florida St. 68
At Tallahassee, Fla., Travis Best scored 27 points, and the Yellow Jackets (4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference, 13-6) emerged from a sloppily played first half for a win against the Seminoles (3-5, 9-7).
The Yellow Jackets shot 50.8 percent and had five players in double figures.
Michael Maddox, starting in place of James Forrest - who broke his hand in an auto accident - added 14 points. Eddie Elisma had 15, Matt Harpring had 13 and Drew Barry 10. Barry’s 3-point basket with 1:31 remaining gave the Yellow Jackets a 72-63 lead that proved insurmountable for the Seminoles.