EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Kentucky has its first national championship in 18 years, the one it was supposed to win all season.

The Wildcats got it with a 76-67 victory over Syracuse last night, a loss that earned the Orangemen the respect few gave them going in.

The sixth national title in school history, second only to UCLA's 11, came through the scoring of senior Tony Delk and freshman Ron Mercer. And, of course, the famed pressure defense and the ability to use college basketball's deepest roster.

''We're a little bit like the Green Bay Packers,'' Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said. ''The entire state of Kentucky owns our basketball team.''

Kentucky's rich tradition starts with the sport's winningest coach, Adolph Rupp. Under ''The Baron,'' the Wildcats won four titles from 1948 to 1958. He won 876 games and lost 190 over 42 seasons.

Joe B. Hall was the coach when the Wildcats won it all in 1978 and the program is the winnigest in the history of college basketball with 1,649, two more than North Carolina.

Syracuse, a 14-point underdog, has the most NCAA tournament victories without a title. A 36th NCAA win would have meant a first national championship. Now, this Syracuse team joins the one-point losers to Indiana in the 1987 championship game in sustaining the most bitter defeats in school history.

''We knew it would be tough,'' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. ''Kentucky made a couple of great plays when they had to. Delk is a great senior and a great player.''

Delk, voted the outstanding player, finished with 24 points and tied the championship game record with seven 3-pointers. The Wildcats finished with 12 3s, critical in cracking Syracuse's 2-3 zone. Kentucky tied the championship game record for 3s by a team.

Syracuse played only three reserves. They took one shot and did not score.

Mercer came up with a career-high 20 points, all but six of the points the deep Kentucky bench provided. More important, the extra bodies enabled the Wildcats to keep up the defensive pressure; Syracuse finished with 24 turnovers, 19 more than it had in the semifinal win over Mississippi State.

John Wallace, the senior who returned to school rather than enter the NBA last year, finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds. But he left the game in tears when he fouled out with 1:06 to play and Kentucky leading 72-67.

The blowout that most people expected looked like a distinct possibility when Delk's four-point play with 11:12 left gave the Wildcats a 59-46 lead, their largest of the game and one point less than the point spread.

But the Orangemen came up with a 12-3 run and Wallace's three-point play got them within 62-58 with 7:58 left.

''They showed tremendous heart and guts,'' Pitino said.

Wallace made two free throws with 4:46 left to make it 64-62; the Orangemen were there long after it had been expected to fold up and go away. In fact, Kentucky called a timeout with 5:24 to play because its players looked exhausted.

Delk missed a 3-pointer, but Walter McCarty tipped it in, and after Jason Cipolla missed a driving jumper for Syracuse, Derek Anderson got the backbreaker of the 12 3-pointers with 3:52 left.

The Orangemen were able to get within five points one more time, but soon Kentucky had its title and Pitino was able to cut down the nets.

Anderson and Antoine Walker each had 11 points for Kentucky. Forward Todd Burgan did a great job helping handle the pressure and finished with 19 points.

Lazarus Sims, the Syracuse point guard expected to have trouble against the pressure, finished with six points, seven assists and seven turnovers. He missed a couple of minutes in the second half after he injured his left wrist in a collision. The Orangemen turned the ball over on each of the three possessions he missed.

The Orangemen couldn't have asked for more from the zone in the first half as Kentucky struggled with its shooting from everywhere. With the exception of Delk's three 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes, the Wildcats were missing layups, drives, short jumpers and long ones.

A 3-pointer by Wallace with 3:00 left in the half tied it 28-28, then Mercer and Delk combined for all the points in a 12-2 run over the next 1:49.

Mercer, considered the best high school player in the country last season, started the spurt with a three-point play, and his second 3-pointer of the game was sandwiched by two 3s from Delk.