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Nice and smooth Prince goes for 31 as Kentucky takes care of Iowa
Updated: Sunday March 18, 2001 3:07 AM
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- There was a sequence late in Kentucky's 92-79 NCAA tournament rubout of Iowa on Saturday night when the Wildcats were running time off the clock, in no great hurry to shoot. Tayshaun Prince, engaged in a long-range shooting showdown with the Hawkeyes' Dean Oliver, was dribbling away the 35-second clock until there were three ticks left on the clock. Then he launched one more 3-pointer, a sort of exclamation mark on a 31-point night. It was his sixth 3 of the night, matching the six that Oliver had for the Hawkeyes in their personal shootout. And it was the longest one. "I had to laugh when he shot that 30-footer," Kentucky's Saul Smith said. "He's a tremendous player."
The victory sent the Wildcats into Thursday's East Regional semifinals against Southern California, which hung on to beat Big East champion Boston College 74-71 in the first game of the Nassau Coliseum doubleheader. It seemed that every time Oliver nailed a 3, Prince responded. It was a long-range shooting clinic. Prince was typically low-key about the shooting show. "My teammates try to give me the ball in spots I like best," he said. "When I make the first one, it really gets me going. The first one went down for me." It was followed by five others in a 6-for-8 long-range blitz. Oliver tried to keep up and hit six of his own. "I just wanted to try and extend my career," the senior guard said. "I got some outside shots and knocked them down. But Tayshaun Prince is unreal. We just couldn't stop him." Prince also had some important help from Marquis Estill, who scored 22 points and missed just two of 11 shots from the field. Estill was Kentucky coach Tubby Smith's third solution to containing Iowa's Reggie Evans, then nation's leading rebounder with 12 per game. Jason Parker got into foul trouble early and Marvin Stone had some difficulties. Evans had 10 points early. Then the 6-9 Estill bottled him up and did some important scoring of his own. Prince wasn't surprised. "Marquis can shoot the ball as well as I can," he said. "We prefer he get inside. He can really do some damage inside." Prince and Estill played major roles in a 12-0 run at the end of the first half that put Kentucky (24-9) in front to stay. With the score tied at 33 and just over four minutes left in the first half, Kentucky got consecutive 3-pointers by Smith and Prince. Then Estill had a three-point play and punctuated the run with another 3-pointer. When Estill blocked a shot at the end of the half, Kentucky went off the floor with a 45-33 lead. Oliver tried to spark an Iowa comeback, hitting a pair of 3's and eight straight points at the start of the second half. But Prince responded with consecutive 3's that restored Kentucky's double-digit lead. Oliver led Iowa with 26 points, hitting 6-of-9 3-pointers, and Evans finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. But the game belonged to Prince. "Tayshaun put on a show," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "He was phenomenal. He has that potential. He's a tough-minded kid. He has great stamina and great endurance." And a 3-point shot to go with them.
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