WFU stumped: Kentucky wins by 30 points

For one shining moment, all things looked possible for Wake Forest last night in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament against No. 1 seed Kentucky.

"We matched up good against them," sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu said.

"We came out of the blocks killing them."

The moment was fleeting.

The powerful Wildcats, a team out of central casting, sloughed off the Deacons' auspicious start, assumed total command midway through the first half and romped to a 90-60 victory in front of a crowd of 11,966 at the New Orleans Arena.

After bolting to an 8-2 lead and playing toe to toe with the Wildcats through 8½ minutes, the Deacons were outscored 49-18 over the game's next 15 ½ minutes -- during which time Kentucky drained 21 field goals on 25 attempts against Wake Forest's vaunted Pack Line defense.

The Wildcats shot 60.3 percent from the floor, easily the best by an opponent this season. The previous best was Georgia Tech's 53.7 percent in Atlanta on Jan. 28.

"They're really, really good," Coach Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest said. "A lot of teams don't play that hard on offense. They really challenge your transition defense. They really challenge you on the backboard, and they've got a lot of guys that can really score."

Sophomore Darius Miller hit seven of nine shots from the floor to lead the Wildcats with 20 points and nine rebounds and freshman DeMarcus Cousins made nine of 10 to finish with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Al-Farouq Aminu, limited to 21 minutes by foul trouble, led Wake Forest with 16 points and eight rebounds, but the Deacons shot just 33 percent from the floor and were outrebounded 42-34.

"As far as talent-wise, we can play," senior Ish Smith said. "I don't think we shot it particularly well, and they shot it well. And they're a good team.

"It started adding up and it started adding up, and that's how it got to 30. They got rolling. When you get a big lead you start playing with a little more freedom. But they're a heck of a team."

The beginning of the end came for Wake Forest when Aminu picked up his third foul with 11:39 left in the first half, with the game tied at 19. The Deacons didn't score for almost five minutes, and by the time they did the Wildcats were off and running to a 44-28 halftime lead.

"When Farouq picked up his third foul, it really hurt us," senior L.D. Williams said. "After that we just kind of went soft.

"They made shots. We didn't make them miss like we normally do."

The end, itself, came in the first 7½ minutes of the second half when Kentucky drilled its first 11 field-goal attempts to grab its biggest lead of the game at 68-37.

The Deacons closed their third season under Coach Dino Gaudio at 20-11. Kentucky improved to 33-2 going into Thursday's game against the winner of today's second-round matchup between Wisconsin and Cornell.

Aminu committed his first foul battling for a defensive rebound with 16½ minutes left in the half, and his second on a charging foul 30 seconds later. He sat out for just two minutes, and was back in the game for only four possessions before he picked up his third foul going for a defensive rebound of a missed 3-point attempt by Patrick Patterson.

He strongly disagreed with the first and third personal.

"The first three fouls I got, they were in the first 15 minutes of the game and it's an NCAA Tournament game," Aminu said. "The last game (against Texas), they let us play. They let us be physical.

"And then the call two over-the-back calls on the defensive end, and I barely touched the guy. That changed the whole game when I couldn't play the whole first half. I made my first shot. I was feeling good. I was coming out hard. And then for them to make me sit out 15 minutes, that really affected the game.

"It took me awhile to get back into it, and after awhile I couldn't even focus anymore because we were down so much."

Smith said the Wildcats could well be the best team in the nation.

"Kudos to Coach (John) Calipari and their team," Smith said. "I wish them the best."

The Deacons advanced to the second round by surviving a thrilling 81-80 victory over Texas.

Wake Forest had a chance to win in regulation before Williams' traveling violation on an inbound play with 9.9 seconds left gave the Longhorns a chance to send the game into overtime on Damion James' free throw.

Texas raced ahead 76-68 in overtime before the Deacons responded by outscoring the Longhorns 13-4 over the game's final three minutes.

Ari Stewart's 3-pointer closed the gap to 80-79 with 16 seconds left, Gary Johnson missed two free throws for Texas and Ish Smith won the game with a jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining.

Kentucky stormed through the first round by beating East Tennesee State 100-71.

dcollins@wsjournal.com.

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Aminu 21 6-14 4-9 6-8 1 3 16

Weaver 18 1-1 0-0 1-3 1 1 2

McFarland 18 3-7 2-2 2-3 1 4 8

Smith 33 1-9 0-1 1-3 4 4 2

Williams 26 2-8 2-2 2-3 2 1 6

Clark 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2

Harris 28 3-10 4-6 0-2 1 0 11

Stewart 18 2-8 0-0 0-1 1 1 5

Walker 8 0-2 3-4 1-1 0 1 3

Godwin 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Woods 20 2-3 1-2 3-5 1 1 5

Totals 200 21-64 16-26 19-34 12 17 60

Percentages: FG .328, FT .615; 3-Point Goals: 2-15, .133 (Harris 1-5, Stewart 1-5, Aminu 0-2, Williams 0-3); Team Rebounds: 5; Blocked Shots: 3 (Walker 3); Turnovers: 11 (Harris 4, Smith 3, Williams 2, Stewart, Aminu); Steals: 6 (Weaver 2, Harris, Woods, Williams, Walker); Technical Fouls: None.

KY Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Cousins 26 9-10 1-7 3-8 1 2 19

Patterson 19 2-6 0-0 1-4 1 0 4

Miller 27 7-9 5-5 2-9 2 3 20

Wall 29 5-9 1-2 0-0 7 2 14

Bledsoe 26 6-9 0-1 0-2 5 2 13

Dodson 15 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 3

Hood 2 1-2 0-0 3-3 0 0 2

Harris 6 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 1 0

Krebs 2 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 3

Stevenson 15 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 4 0

Orton 12 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 5 6

Liggins 18 2-5 0-2 0-3 2 2 4

Harrellson 3 1-3 0-0 2-3 0 0 2

Totals 200 38-63 7-17 14-42 21 21 90

Percentages: FG .603, FT .412; 3-Point Goals: 7-21, .333 (Wall 3-6, Krebs 1-2, Dodson 1-3, Miller 1-3, Bledsoe 1-3, Liggins 0-2, Patterson 0-2); Team Rebounds: 4; Blocked Shots: 6 (Patterson 2, Harris, Orton, Cousins, Stevenson); Turnovers: 11 (Wall 5, Bledsoe 2, Cousins 2, Orton, Harris); Steals: 6 (Bledsoe 2, Liggins, Orton, Cousins, Stevenson); Technical Fouls: Orton.

Wake Forest 28 32 -- 60


Kentucky 44 46 -- 90

A--11,966