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Kentucky Basketball

For Kentucky, it’s time to wake up before North Carolina comes to town

The Lions held the lead for nearly 24 minutes in Rupp Arena against Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation.

Andrew Harrison - photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.com

Andrew Harrison – photo by Walter Cornett | WildcatWorld.com

In some ways, a flat performance against Ivy League visitor was to be expected from the No. 1-ranked University of basketball team.

Its last game was a big win over No. 6-ranked Texas, a game in which the Wildcats were pushed as hard as they have been all season. Its next game, on Saturday, comes in a national TV matchup against North Carolina.

So in retrospect, maybe the Wildcats' lackluster 56-46 win before a Rupp Arena crowd of 22,112 shouldn't be too big a shock.

And yet, it is. Columbia, as an Ivy League member, doesn't give athletic scholarships. Its last basketball All-American was Chet Forte in 1951, and he later became best known not for his hoops exploits, but as the first director of Monday Night Football.

Let's put it this way. Kentucky has produced 43 first-round NBA Draft picks in its storied basketball history. Columbia has produced 43 Nobel Prize laureates. It also has churned out 28 Academy Award winners, 20 living billionaires, three U.S. Presidents and five of the nation's Founding Fathers. That's old school — literally.

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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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