Kentucky had just suffered a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville. During the postgame press conference, UK Coach John Calipari 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. Oscar Tshiebwe grabbed 25 rebounds. Antonio Reeves scored 22 points. As the No. 6 seed in the East Region, Kentucky held off No. 11 seed Providence 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 Kansas State 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 NCAA Tournament. Happens all the time. And this is Kentucky, after all. Read full article here.