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Former Kentucky center Mike Phillips has died

A source tells WLEX that Mike Phillips died from a fall in his home in Madisonville, Kentucky on Saturday. Details of the accident are not known at this time.

Sources have informed WLEX 18 in Lexington that former center Mike Phillips, 59, has died.

A source tells LEX 18 that Phillips died from a fall in his home in Madisonville, on Saturday. Details of the accident are not known at this time.

The  6'10” center, who was Mr. Basketball in Ohio in 1973 and 1974, was a big key in UK winning the NCAA Championship in 1978. An all-SEC player, Mike avereged 11 points and 6 rebounds during his UK career.

Following graduation, Phillips was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the 1978 NBA Draft, but never played in the NBA. In 1979, he found his way to Spain where he had a fruitful career. Phillips played six years in Spain's top league (Liga ACB), winning a league championship in 1981 with FC Barcelona Bàsquet. For his ACB career, Phillips scored 4,423 points (23.2 per game) and grabbed 1,765 rebounds (9.2 per game) in his six seasons.

Source.

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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