Headlines: Kentucky Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen

The Kentucky Wildcats, after defeating Hampton earlier in the week, defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats yesterday evening to move on to the Sweet Sixteen.

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South Bound & Down

"“I thought Cincinnati played well,” Calipari said. “They didn’t back away. They came right at us. I always like it when my team shoots 37, 36, 35 percent and wins in double digits. It shows them they don’t have to make shots to win. You can miss them all. No, you can’t miss them all. You can miss most of them, and you can still win games if you defend, you rebound and you play that way, make your free throws, and they did.” UK would have to make its free throws in this one, as Cincinnati took a physical approach to trying to take down No. 1. The Cats went to the line 28 times and made 20, absorbing 22 Bearcat fouls, including one that triggered the technical. Lyles, who had his second-career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, drove the lane and was fouled hard by Shaq Thomas. As the teams assembled at the foul line, there was some light jawing. Ellis, who battled Lyles all day and was booed regularly by Kentucky fans among the 21,760 in attendance at the KFC Yum! Center, was in the middle of it and eventually was bumped by Harrison for the technical call. “He was just trying to be physical and stuff like that, but nobody let that get to them,” Lyles said. “Kudos to him for going hard, but we were going at them hard too.”"

Mar 21, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Trey Lyles (41) drives to the basket during the second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum! Center. Kentucky wins 64-51. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The Cats’ actually came out of the gates pretty slow Saturday evening. The spark that really got them going? Just watch this:

"What Cincinnati’s 6-foot-8, 232-pound Quadri Moore was trying to do was admirable. He aspired to thwart Cauley-Stein, who’d trailed on a fast break, received a pass from Tyler Ulis and launched from outside the lane, rising up with both hands on the ball and bad intentions in his heart. “I don’t get it. I don’t know why you would jump,” Kentucky point guard Andrew Harrison said. “Just swipe it. Run through, swipe. That’s what I would do.” In other words, take cover. Because he’s seen this movie before. Cauley-Stein has put plenty of opponents on posters, cramming on, over and through them enough times to fill his own personal SportsCenter Top 10. Before Saturday’s monster jam over Moore in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32, his aerial assault on Florida’s Devin Robinson stood as Cauley-Stein’s finest work. But Moore might have stolen that dubious honor after being dunked clean out of the game. Cauley-Stein knocked him to the floor, through a foul, and completed a three-point play that gave Kentucky the lead for good as part of a 10-0 run and 64-51 win over the Bearcats. “It might be worse than ol’ dude’s from Florida,” Cauley-Stein said. “I don’t think they put the kid back in the game. It was nasty.”"

Read more from Kyle Tucker from the Courier Journal

Mar 21, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) dunks the ball against Cincinnati Bearcats forward Quadri Moore (0) during the first half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports