Meeks scores 54; hits 10 dimes

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Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks was virtually unstoppable, setting the Wildcats’ and the Thompson-Boling Arena scoring record with 54 points as the Big Blue rolled.
Kentucky (13-4, 2-0 SEC) scored a 90-72 victory over No. 24 Tennessee (10-5, 1-1) Tuesday night to claim early-season SEC East Division superiority.

Former LSU standout Chris Jackson held the previous arena record, scoring 49 points on the Vols on Feb. 10, 1990, two years after UT moved into the spacious facility. Dan Issel had the previous Kentucky scoring record with 53 points on Feb. 7, 1970, against Ole Miss.
Many of the 20,474 in attendance had filed out by the time Meeks put the finishing touches on his masterpiece.

The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter, whose previous career-high was 46 points earlier this season against Appalachian State, was 15-of-22 shooting from the field, 10-of-15 beyond the 3-point arc and a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line.

“After I hit four or five threes in the first half, my confidence got bigger,’’ said Meeks, who surpassed his scoring averaged of 24.2 points by halftime with 26. “I was just trying to do everything I could to help us win the game.’’Tyler Smith led UT with 19 points, and Wayn Chism had 18 points and nine rebounds.UT coach Bruce Pearl said he tried a variety of defenders on Meeks.

“He (Meeks) did anything he wanted to do out there,’’ Pearl said. “We wanted to deny him the ball and put so much ball pressure on him that he had to go to the rim. He did that the first play of the game, but he didn’t have to do that after that.

“Defensively we tried to guard him as a team. None of our guards could guard him.’’
UT battled back from 16 down in the second half to close to within 71-64 on Chism’s three-point play with 6:52 left.