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In a crazy NCAA Tournament, Kentucky basketball will do something crazy on Sunday

If Kentucky plays with that same effort and intensity Sunday, it will find itself in Madison Square Garden come Thursday night.

had just suffered a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville. During the postgame press conference, Coach said he needed to get his roller coaster of a team into the mindset of “Let's go do something crazy.”

Friday night the Cats completed Step 1.  grabbed 25 rebounds. scored 22 points. As the No. 6 seed in the East Region, Kentucky held off No. 11 seed 61-53 for the program's first Big Dance victory since 2019.

Sunday presents Step 2. It's a second-round War of the Wildcats for a 2:40 p.m. tipoff on CBS. The Wildcats knocked off Montana State 77-65 in Friday night's second game at Greensboro Coliseum. Coached by former longtime Baylor assistant coach Jerome Tang, the Manhattan Wildcats are 24-9. They are the region's No. 3 seed.

What's that you say? A No. 6 seed beating a No. 3 seed isn't all that crazy. Certainly not in this Tournament. Happens all the time. And this is Kentucky, after all.  Read full article here.

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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