Bluegrass Wildcats Advance With Mercer Far From His Best

When Ron Mercer was in the game, his shots weren’t falling. When he was out, his cramping legs were on ice.

That combination should have had Kentucky in a bad way. Instead, the Wildcats will get a chance to defend their national title.

Kentucky’s tenacious defense and a sudden burst of balanced scoring by Mercer’s teammates gave the Wildcats a 78-69 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night.

Mercer scored 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting as Kentucky (35-4) advanced to the NCAA championship Monday night against Arizona, which beat North Carolina 66-58.

The one thing for sure is that the winner will be the Wildcats. It will either be Kentucky’s seventh title or Arizona’s first.

“I have tremendous admiration for our basketball team that overcame a lot of problems, from foul trouble to cramping and was still able to dig deep down and win this ballgame,” Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said.

Mercer, who had 20 points in the national championship game against Syracuse last season as a freshman, couldn’t get untracked against Minnesota (31-4). A 50-percent shooter during the season, Mercer was 3 of 13 in the first half as the Wildcats took a 36-31 lead, then was bothered by the leg cramps.

“I just started catching cramps in the second half,” he said. “I tried to continue to play on, but it was worst when I was jumping and it kind of affected my jumping a little bit.”

That would have meant bothering his shooting as well.

“Sometimes you’re going to shoot good and sometimes you’re not,” said the 6-foot-7 sophomore, who has already announced he will enter the upcoming NBA draft. “I had pretty good shots. I didn’t get enough lift on my shot, but I’m just glad we won. I’m not really concerned about my shot right now.”

The Golden Gophers, who were hounded by turnovers against Kentucky’s varied pressure defense, still hung in during their first Final Four appearance.

They took their first lead of the game with 10:51 to play on a 3-pointer by Bobby Jackson. It was also their last.

“Anytime you get a lead like that you have fought an uphill battle,” Minnesota coach Clem Haskins said. “We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the basketball. The pressure got to us and we were forced into quick shots. That’s what happens when you go against pressure.”

Kentucky broke from a 54-54 tie with a 14-3 run with five players, none of them named Mercer, scoring the points. Cameron Mills almost matched his 5.6 scoring average for the season in the run, putting in five points, including the 3-pointer that capped it and made it 68-57 with 4:18 to play.

Anthony Epps had 13 points for Kentucky and Mills finished with 10.

Jackson scored 23 points and Sam Jacobson and John Thomas each had 10 for the Golden Gophers. Jackson, Minnesota’s star throughout the tournament, was also forced to the bench because of cramps in the second half.

“They did a good job of containing us and pressuring us and we just had careless turnovers,” Jackson said. “I wish we could have the game back but we can’t. We came out and we were scared. I think we were scared. We gave it all we could. That was the main point.”

Pitino will try to become the seventh coach to lead a team to consecutive national championships. The last was Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in 1992 - among the others was Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp in 1949.

Kentucky 78, Minnesota 69

MINNESOTA (31-4) - James 2-3 4-6 8, Jacobson 4-12 2-3 10, J.Thomas 5-6 0-0 10, Jackson 8-18 5-6 23, Harris 2-3 0-0 5, Winter 2-3 0-0 4, C.Thomas 2-7 1-2 5, Lewis 1-9 0-0 2, Tarver 1-2 0-2 2, Archambault 0-0 0-0 0, Stauber 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-64 12-19 69.

KENTUCKY (35-4) - Mercer 7-21 4-5 19, Padgett 3-8 0-0 9, Magloire 0-1 1-2 1, Turner 2-6 4-6 8, Epps 3-10 5-6 13, Mills 2-4 4-4 10, Prickett 3-4 1-2 7, Mohammed 2-3 1-5 5, Edwards 1-3 1-2 4, Anderson 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 23-60 23-34 78.

Halftime-Kentucky 36, Minnesota 31. 3-Point goals- Minnesota 3-16 (Jackson 2-5, Harris 1-1, C.Thomas 0-1, Lewis 0-4, Jacobson 0-5), Kentucky 9-23 (Padgett 3-6, Mills 2-3, Epps 2-7, Edwards 1-2, Mercer 1-5). Fouled out-Jacobson, C.Thomas, Padgett. Rebounds-Minnesota 48 (Tarver 9), Kentucky 34 (Prickett 6). Assists-Minnesota 11 (Jackson 4), Kentucky 14 (Epps 7). Total fouls-Minnesota 28, Kentucky 19. Technicals- Minnesota coach Haskins. A-47,028.