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The Comeback Cats

 1997-98

These Wildcats had strength, but they also had vulnerability. Oh, did they have vulnerability. To get to the 1998 Final Four they spotted Duke a 17-point lead and won. They went down 10 in the second half to Stanford the Saturday before that forcing overtime and prevailing 86-85 to reach the championship game. And at intermission during the NCAA Final game—down 10, outrebounded by 18, unable to hit a single three-pointer—they looked as if they had dug themselves one hole too many, but they rallied to wipe out the largest halftime deficit that any team had overcome to win a title game and came away with a 78-69 defeat of Utah. Therein lies a truth about this edition of the Wildcats: No collection of players in Kentucky’s recent run—the Duke teams of the early 1990s were the last to reach three straight championship games—has been more reliant on one another than the ’98 team. With so many good but not great players, none has more sorely needed to.  The three tournament rallies continued a trend of the entire season, when Kentucky trailed at halftime 12 times, and won 10 of those games. “We practice how to come back,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. “That’s the big key. We teach them how to come back.”

 

 Wayne Turner

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.