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How a Marvel movie performance saved Kentucky basketball’s teetering season

Oscar Tshiebwe performed like a Marvel movie hero and kept Kentucky’s season on course as the Wildcats rallied for an 85-71 win over Georgia.

There comes a moment in every college basketball team's season in which the boat is rocking. It's either going to capsize, throwing everyone into the water, or it's going to find its way upright and into smoother sailing ahead.

faced such a moment Tuesday night at Rupp Arena. A week earlier, the Big Blue battleship had been torpedoed by lowly South Carolina. Four days after that, 's crew had emerged from the drink to execute a total turnaround with a 63-56 upset of archrival and fifth-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville. Now, here at halftime, the dark skies of regression had reappeared. trailed 42-34.

It was then that, just in the nick of time, up stepped the captain of the Good Ship Wildcat, a sweet smile of a fellow named .

“Oscar was a video game,” said Calipari after his 6-foot-9 star put on a performance reminiscent of his national player of the year season of a year ago, scoring a ridiculous 37 points and grabbing a ridiculous 24 rebounds in the Cats' come-from-behind 85-71 victory over the Bulldogs.

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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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