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Calipari setting a tone for regular season

John Calipari - photo by Tammie Brown | WildcatWorld.com

– photo by Tammie Brown | WildcatWorld.com

Time is of the essence for John Calipari and his basketball team.

With one exhibition game remaining, five days until the regular-season opener against Maryland and so much preparation left to go over, Coach Cal found himself pushing the limits in practice on Saturday.

“Yesterday may have been the longest we've gone since I've been the coach here,” Calipari said. “We probably went two hours and 40 minutes and some pre-practice stuff, probably another 20 minutes with that before I came down. It was a long one and we'll go twice today.”

The Wildcats are doubling down on practice time and upping their energy level with their final exhibition on Monday at 7 p.m. against . After that, everything counts.

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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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