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Report: Kentucky basketball ‘backed out’ of Texas Western 50th anniversary game

Kentucky has reportedly ended negotiations to play a 2016 game against UTEP, formerly known as Texas Western.

Pat Riley

Pat Riley

The University of has reportedly ended negotiations to play a 2016 game against , which Miners coach Tim Floyd had intended to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the national championship matchup between and the school formerly known as .

Floyd, who originally announced the meeting as a possibility in October 2013, told NBC affiliate KTSM on Wednesday that UK “just backed out.”

Neither school had yet to make an official announcement adding it to their schedules.

It was in the original game, also played at Maryland, that Texas Western started five black players for the first time in NCAA championship history and beat an all-white UK lineup coached by . The 2006 film “Glory Road” brought the story of coach Don Haskins' Texas Western team back to the forefront.

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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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