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Cats’ toughness tested in win over Auburn

Nerlens Noel - photo by Chet White | UK Athletics

Nerlens Noel – photo by Chet White | Athletics

A team of freshman needs a lot of things over the course of their inaugural season. They need to be tested in many different ways, all hopefully preparing them for the toughness of basketball in March.  Saturday, against , UK got the toughness test.

The Cats may not have passed, but they powered through, fighting to a 72-62 win, a game that saw 50 total fouls called.

“We responded really well,” freshman center Willie Cauley-Stein said of the physical play. “They were playing real cheap, but every game is going to be like that from here on out. Everybody wants to win. For us, we've just got to keep on playing through it.”

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On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 27, 1951, UK wins its third NCAA title, defeating Kansas State, 68-58, in the finals in Minneapolis.

 

On March 27, 1978, Jack “Goose” Givens scores 41 points as UK wins its fifth NCAA Championship, 94-88, over Duke in St. Louis.  Givens scored the last 16 points of the first half for Kentucky, bringing his first-half total up to 23 points. Givens poured in another 18 points in the second half.  Givens' helped lead the Wildcats to their first title in over 20 years.  More than 10,000 fans greet the team at Blue Grass Airport and 15,000 more celebrate at Memorial Coliseum

 

On March 27, 1993, Kentucky beat Florida State to advance to the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans. The victory completed a string of four games in which the Wildcats blitzed their Southeast Region opponents by an average of 31.0 points - the largest margin of victory by a team through four games en route to the Final Four.

 

On March 27, 2009, Billy Gillispie is fired as the Kentucky head basketball coach.

 

On March 27, 2011, freshman Brandon Knight scored 22 points and fourth-seeded Kentucky advanced to the Final Four for the first time since the 1998 title with a 76-69 win over second-seeded North Carolina in the East Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.  The last minute of the game became the DeAndre Liggins show, as he blocked a shot on defense, hit a game-winning three-pointer on offense, then blocked another shot on defense to seal the victory. He finished with 12 points..

 

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