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Kentucky Wildcats upset by outcome, not effort in buzzer-beating loss

When Michael Qualls’ dunk went through the net, it undid 44:59.8 of tough road work and sent the Kentucky Wildcats to a heartbreaking 87-85 defeat.
Julius Randle - photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

Julius Randle – photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

If ever there were a time for a young team to fall victim to finger-pointing, this was it.

Kentucky had just fallen in a fashion that will land the Wildcats on the unhappy end of what could be the play of the college basketball season. When Michael Qualls’ thunderous put-back dunk went through the net, it undid 44:59.8 of tough road work and sent the Cats to a heartbreaking 87-85 defeat.

Fielding questions from reporters when he surely would have preferred to be on the team bus with his headphones on, James Young tried to take the blame for missing the box-out assignment of Rashad Madden’s missed 3-pointer.

“It was just my fault,” Young said. “I stopped playing at the last second. I thought it was just going to bounce off, the time was going to run out. I just stopped playing at the last second.”

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Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.

On This Day in UK Basketball History

On March 1, 1912, Kentucky defeats Georgetown College, 19-18, to complete the season with a perfect 9-0 record and earn its first title as Southern Champions.

 

On March 1, 1921, Kentucky upsets Tulane, Mercer, Mississippi A&M and Georgia to win the first Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball championship. Bill King's free throw with no time left on the clock lifted the Wildcats to the SIAA Championship over Georgia.  Hundreds of Wildcats fans await “play-by-play” via telegraph, and greet the team’s train with a celebration and parade in downtown Lexington. It is believed to be the first college basketball tournament ever played.

 

On March 1, 1952, Cliff Hagan scored 42 points against Tennessee.

 

On March 1, 1969, Dan Issel scored 31 points at Vanderbilt.

 

On March 1, 1969, Mike Casey joined the 1,000-point club.  He did it in 51 games.

 

On March 1, 1979, the 1979 SEC Tournament quarterfinals featured Kentucky and Alabama.  In a scintillating display of fast-paced basketball, Kentucky hit 68.3 percent of its shots (43-of-63) and outlasted Coach C.M. Newton’s Crimson Tide and star Reggie King (38 points) behind stellar guard play from Truman Claytor (25 points, 11-of-14 field goals), Kyle Macy (22, 9-of-16) and Dwight Anderson (19, 7-of-11) before 16,300 in the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.

 

On March 1, 1981, on Senior Day, No. 9 Kentucky defeated No. 2 LSU 73-71.  Kentucky denied LSU’s bid for an unbeaten SEC season when Sam Bowie blocked Howard Carter’s potential game-tying jumper just ahead of the final buzzer before 24,011 in Rupp Arena.

 

On March 1, 1987, Richard Madison's basket with eight seconds left enabled the Wildcats to upset the No. 12 Sooners.

 

Wildcats Born on This Date

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