NCAA Tournament: Kentucky basketball survives Fighting Irish
If you’re a college basketball fan, then wow you got a VERY entertaining basketball game. However, if you’re a fan of either program in the game, it was pure torture until the final buzzer.
Coming into this ball game everyone expected the Wildcats to be put to their toughest test so far, especially against a team that handled Duke in the ACC Tournament Semifinals. And for majority of the game this evening, that same statement is accurate for Notre Dame over the Wildcats.
It came down to the end, when UK had to finish out going 9-9 from the floor, spanning back until 12 minutes to play. Things spanned all the way down to a tie ball game, and where UK would hold the ball on the final possession without a shot clock, allowing the Cats to run down the time, with an Andrew Harrison drive in the lane that would send him to the free throw line.
Arguably, those had to be two of the biggest free throws of Andrew Harrison’s career, and he would prove to be successful, giving the Wildcats a two point lead with six seconds remaining on the clock. Notre Dame successfully got the ball down to their side of the court, but a Jerian Grant three for the win wouldn’t fall, sending the Fighting Irish back home to the south bend.
The Fighting Irish were led by a man who UK seemed just unable to stop, Zach Auguste, who rallied up 20 points, also going 10-13 from the floor, and finding nine rebounds. Notre Dame also had two other double figure scorers, Steve Vasturia with 17, and Jerian Grant with 16 who also dished out 6 assists.
The Wildcats didn’t seem like themselves for majority of the evening, with the main man Karl-Anthony Towns leading the offensive front, totaling a career high 25 points and going 10-13 from the floor. The other lone double scoring player was Devin Booker, just tallying 10 on the night.
While he went 2-7 for the night, the next major player is no doubt Aaron Harrison. I say that just because of the parking lot three he swished to give the Wildcats better position in the closing minutes.
Now, the Wildcats have punched their ticket to Indianapolis and will play on the final weekend of college basketball. Kentucky survived this evening, but no matter the details, they will move on to the destination that they have been wanting to reach all season long. UK meets Wisconsin for a rematch of last year’s Final Four game next Saturday for what could be an even better ball game than what we saw tonight, if you can even fathom that thought. Now is the time to celebrate BBN, Kentucky has now made the Final Four for the fourth time in the last five years.